''Traveling While Black'' is a Canadian-American coproduced virtual reality documentary film project, directed by
Roger Ross Williams
Roger Ross Williams (born September 16, 1962) is an American director, producer and writer and the first African American director to win an Academy Award (Oscar), with his short film '' Music by Prudence''; this film won the Academy Award for Be ...
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', September 3, 2019. An examination of
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...
in the United States, the film is an immersive experience which places the viewer inside the context of
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
travellers seeking safety and security with the help of the '' Negro Motorist Green Book''; Williams has contrasted it with the 2018 film '' Green Book'', labelling it as "a totally different story because this raveling While Blackis a story of life or death, and danger, and community, and all of those things. But it’s our story. It’s for us to tell. It’s not for anyone else." The film is based on a 2010 play called ''The Green Book''.
The film premiered in the New Frontier program at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, before being released later in the year on
Oculus VR
Reality Labs is a business of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook Inc.) that produces virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) hardware and software, including virtual reality headsets such as Quest, and online platforms such as Horizon ...
Ben's Chili Bowl
Ben's Chili Bowl is a landmark restaurant in Washington, D.C., located at 1213 U Street Corridor, U Street, next to Lincoln Theatre (Washington, D.C.), Lincoln Theatre, in the U Street Corridor (a.k.a. Cardozo/Shaw neighborhood) of Northwest, W ...
, a famous restaurant in Washington, D.C., founded in 1958.
71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards
The 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards honored the best in artistic and technical achievement in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2018, until May 31, 2019, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ...
in 2019, and won the
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series ...
RealScreen
Brunico Communications is a Canadian magazine publishing company."Desktop tabloid publishing firm sports 2 publications and a profit". ''The Globe and Mail'', October 9, 1989. The company specializes primarily in online trade magazines serving medi ...