A poster for “Aint No Back to a Merry-Go-Round,” which premieres at Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Photo courtesy Ain’t No Back)
After sold-out screenings across the country and multiple festival awards, the documentary “Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round” will screen at Damariscotta’s Lincoln Theater on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026.
The latest film by Emmy-award winning filmmaker Ilana Trachtman recounts a watershed moment in American history: the first time Black student activists were joined by an organized white community to protest segregation. Together, they demonstrated against Washington, D.C.’s whites-only Glen Echo Amusement Park in 1960, provoking the first counter protests by the American Nazi Party, luring civil rights giants A. Phillip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, and Adam Clayton Powell to the picket line, and addressing the U.S. Supreme Court.
Screening between Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month, the film’s portrayal of unsung Black, Quaker, and Jewish heroes has achieved rare sell out success among mainstream, Black, and Jewish film festivals simultaneously. Awards include Best Documentary Feature (D.C. Black Film Festival & San Antonio International Black Film Festival) the Audience Award (Boston Jewish Film Festival,) Women In Film Award (St. Louis International Film Festival,) and the Building Bridges Award (Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.)
“Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round” features newly discovered archival footage and narration by Jeffrey Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Dominique Thorne, Lee Grant, Bob Balaban, and others.
The film has screened in more than 35 film festivals, and in 30 states.
“As some would ban the telling of the Civil Rights Movement altogether, I’m honored to restore a lost chapter with ‘Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round,’” Trachtman said. “It’s astounding, but this unknown 65-year-old protest offers a playbook for triumph over attacks on democracy and human rights.”
For more information and to watch a two-minute teaser, go to aintnoback.com.
Lincoln Theater is located at 2 Theater St. in Damariscotta. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to lincolntheater.org.
