PRINTThe Loving Story has recently received several distinguished awards.
It was recently announced that the film was awarded a Gabriel Award. The Gabriel Awards are designed to honor works of excellence in film, network and cable television and radio programs, including those movies and shows that serve audiences through the positive, creative treatment of concerns to humankind.
On May 20, 2013, the documentary will receive the George Foster Peabody Award, which recognizes distinguished achievement and meritorious service by broadcasters, cable and Webcasters, producing organizations, and individuals. The Peabody recognizes the film as "A fresh, poignant reconsideration of the now almost unthinkable arrest and prosecution of Richard and Mildred Loving in 1958 for the 'crime' of interracial marriage."
The Loving Story was also selected to receive the American Historical Association’s John E. O’Connor Film Award. This award recognizes outstanding interpretations of history through the medium of film or video and was established to honor John E. O'Connor, New Jersey Institute of Technology, in recognition of his exceptional role as a pioneer in both teaching and research regarding film and history. The award was presented at the AHA's 127th Annual Meeting, January 3–6, 2013, in New Orleans.
The Loving Story, a documentary film, tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving whose groundbreaking legal case was the turning point in the struggle for marriage equality in the U.S. The Lovings met in the small southern town of Central Point, Virginia, and were married in Washington, D.C., in 1958. Upon their return to Central Point, the married couple was arrested under a Virginia anti-miscegenation law. Initially, the Lovings avoided further legal entanglements by moving to Washington, D.C., but eventually they were arrested in Virginia again. After losing in lower state courts, the Supreme Court ruled in the Lovings' favor by writing that "under the Constitution, the freedom to marry or not to marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the state." The Supreme Court's decision made anti-miscegenation laws illegal throughout the United States.
The filmmakers are Nancy Buirski, director and producer; and Elizabeth Haviland James, producer and editor.