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Oscar-nominated actress Aunjanue Ellis brings to life civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer in a riveting live-action short, FANNIE. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Christine Swanson, the film examines the acclaimed freedom fighter's gripping account of the brutality Black Americans faced along the journey to full equality and voting rights.

Ellis, nominated last year for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in “King Richard,” is the sole performer in this unflinching cinematic dramatization of one of the most important figures of the civil rights movement.

“Is this America?"

- Fannie Lou Hamer

These three words were part of sharecropper-turned-change maker Fannie Lou Hamer's impassioned plea to defend the right to vote for every citizen regardless of race, creed, or color. 

It was a simple question with a complex challenge to the credentials committee for the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Speaking on behalf of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Hamer detailed the scare tactics and the violence Black Americans faced in their long and storied quest to vote. She recounted her own brushes with brutality at the hands of the police when she was beaten so badly that her vision was impaired, and her kidneys were severely damaged. 

Her gripping testimony was not just a call for the inclusion of Black delegates in the Democratic Party; it was also a prophetic warning that unless the nation extended equal treatment to Black Americans, the fight for voting rights, human rights, and civil rights would persist for years to come. 

FANNIE is produced by Christine Swanson and Aunjanue Ellis. The film is executive produced by Angela Harmon, Abeni Bloodworth, Emil Pinnock, and Stephanie Frederic. 

The nine-minute short, presented by multi-media platform chromatic black in association with Faith Filmworks, is powered by a community of 10,000 Black artists/activists, technologists, community organizers, and journalists. chromatic black builds cultural power through the disruption of the master narrative through good storytelling. Through its signature project, the Ida B. Wells Fund, chromatic black aims to support innovative, brilliant, and creative new voices in a way that the existing system does not.