Loving had its world-premiere at Cannes this week and, after the premiere, is being hailed as an early Oscar contender.
Loving tells the story about a real interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving (Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga) whose civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court. Married in 1958, the union violated Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited marriage between people classified as “white” and “colored”.
From Focus Features:
The couple grew up in Central Point, a small town in Virginia that was more integrated than surrounding areas in the American South. Yet it was the state of Virginia, where they were making their home and starting a family, that first jailed and then banished them. Richard and Mildred relocated with their children to the inner city of Washington, D.C. and while relatives made them feel welcome there, the more urban environment did not feel like home to them. Ultimately, the pull of their roots in Virginia would spur Mildred to try to find a way back.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled the law unconstitutional, reversing a previous case from 1883, Pace v. Alabama, and ending all race based legal restrictions on marriage in the country. Several states still maintained anti-miscegenation laws on the books, but they were unenforceable after the ruling. The case was also cited as precedent in decisions on restrictions on same-sex marriages, including the 2015 Supreme Court decision of Obergefell v. Hodges.
You can check out the newly released poster below.
Loving is written and directed by Jeff Nichols.
Loving will be in theaters across the country in November.
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