Sewee Clears Marian Anderson Film On ABC O&Os

Sewee Entertainment has nationally cleared Once in a Hundred Years, the Life and Legacy of Marian Anderson, a film celebrating legendary Philadelphia opera singer Marian Anderson timed with the 80th Anniversary of her famous concert at The Lincoln Memorial on April 9, 1939.

Major affiliates clearing the event for the April Anniversary include WABC New York, KABC Los Angeles, WLS Chicago, WPVI Philadelphia, WCVB Boston and WSB Atlanta, among others.  Stations will air the one-hour film the weekend of April 6-7 and again during February’s Black History Month in 2020.

Once in a Hundred Years, the Life and Legacy of Marian Anderson is directed and produced by Bill Nicoletti and Going The Distance Films. The film traces the arc of Anderson’s life and most notably her struggles against racism and poverty.

Culminating with her battle against the Daughters of the American Revolution which led to her historic concert at the Lincoln Memorial with the assistance of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Anderson’s quest for equality was one to be heard around the world.

The film was inspired by Bill Nicoletti’s admiration and interest in Marian Anderson. “As Americans, we have seen pictures and heard stories about the American civil rights movement. We know about Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas, Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson. We know the events of Selma and Montgomery and the stories of Dr. King and Malcolm X. But there is one great American story too many of us have never been told. That of young girl from South Philadelphia who, armed with only a voice, fought to break down one of the most daunting barriers closed to black Americans in the 1930s—the classical music stage,” said Nicoletti.