The newly released feature film "Loving," written and directed by Jeff Nichols, has been honored with the Truly Moving Picture Award from nonprofit arts organization Heartland Film. Select theatrically-released titles — entertaining films that do more than just entertain — receive the designation throughout the year. Submissions are received directly from studios and producers for consideration.
“Timely and compelling, 'Loving' is a testament to the power of love and the triumph of the human spirit against seemingly insurmountable odds,” said Heartland Film Director of Film Programming & Marketing Greg Sorvig. “Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton deliver stirringly intimate performances in Jeff Nichols’ nuanced portrait of interracial couple Mildred and Richard Loving.”
"Loving" celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving (portrayed in the film by Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), who fell in love and were married in 1958. The couple had grown 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. 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. Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry. Richard and Mildred returned home and their love story has become an inspiration to couples ever since.
The latest film from acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols (“Take Shelter,” “Mud,” “Midnight Special”), "Loving" stars Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, Marton Csokas, Nick Kroll, Terri Abney, Alano Miller, Jon Bass, and Michael Shannon.
The Truly Moving Picture Award winner "Loving," MPAA-rated “PG-13” and released by Focus Features, is now playing across the country