“The Games in Black & White” highlights Atlanta’s Olympic legacy and Civil Rights roots

On Saturday, April 24, the 49th Annual Atlanta Film Festival hosted the world premiere of The Games in Black & White. A documentary about the genesis of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games at the historic Rialto Center for the Arts. Located a short walk away from Centennial Olympic Park.

Before the film began, festival executive director Chris Escobar welcomed the attending crowd, speaking about the film’s deep connection to Atlanta’s history and announcing two major distribution deals that will bring the documentary to an even wider audience. The film will be available to passengers worldwide through Delta Studios, Delta Air Lines’ in-flight entertainment system, starting September 1. Additionally, it will enjoy a statewide prime-time broadcast on Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) in July.

Following Escobar’s remarks, writer and producer George Hirthler discussed making The Games in Black & White. Hirthler recalled growing up in Pennsylvania, where his parents instilled a lifelong principle: “Always give credit where credit is due.” That lesson echoed throughout his career, especially during his work with Billy Payne, who hired him in 1989 to help craft Atlanta’s pitch for the 1996 Olympics.

While researching past Olympic bids at the International Olympic Committee’s headquarters in Switzerland, alongside designer Brad Copeland, Hirthler happened upon a photograph of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the mustachioed founder of the modern Olympic Games. Coubertin’s vision—to create a movement that would unite the world in friendship and peace through sport—immediately captured Hirthler’s imagination and ignited a lifelong passion for Olympic history.

Watching Payne and former Atlanta Mayor and United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young lead Atlanta’s bid, Hirthler saw a living embodiment of Coubertin’s ideals. Together, Payne and Young assembled a diverse team willing to set aside their own lives to bring the Games to Atlanta, believing that the city’s civil rights legacy and message of unity had global significance.

Reflecting on the film’s origins, Hirthler shared how he and producer Bob Judson decided in 2019, over a glass of red wine, that of all the stories to emerge from Atlanta’s Olympic journey, the partnership between Payne and Young was the one most deserving of being retold for future generations.

“Billy and Andy believed that Atlanta had a special message for the world. That message was that the Civil Rights movement born here shares the same values as the Olympic movement,” Hirthler said.

Narrated by Atlanta native Greg Alan Williams, The Games in Black & White tells the story of two men whose vision and love for the city helped bring the Centennial Olympic Games to Atlanta in 1996. Opening with a sweeping overview of Atlanta’s history as the cradle of the civil rights movement — famously dubbed “the city too busy to hate” — the film reveals how the 1996 Olympics were about more than athletic achievement; they became a defining expression of civic pride.

The film chronicles how Payne and Young’s team secured Olympic funding and convinced the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to select Atlanta.

Directed with a keen sense for both history and personal narrative, The Games in Black & White features appearances from key figures such as Olympic champion Janet Evans, and members of the “Atlanta Nine” such as Charlie Battle, Cindy Fowler, and Ginger Watkins (to name a few). Additional voices include Dan Corso of the Atlanta Sports Council, musician Dallas Austin discussing the House of Blues he ran during the Olympics, community leader Martin Luther King III, and former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

The story also highlights initiatives like the Equal Economic Opportunity Program (EEOP), which helped secure major construction contracts and financing to ensure that Atlanta’s Olympic success included broader community participation.

Hirthler emphasized that Payne and Young’s partnership — a white man and a Black man working together to showcase a city shaped by the civil rights movement — embodied the spirit of unity and racial harmony that the Games hoped to project. As Hirthler said, “They wanted to bring the world here to celebrate the centennial of the hundredth anniversary of the modern Olympic Games, to celebrate the values of diversity and inclusion and racial harmony that the city so uniquely represented and that they emblematically represented as a White man and a Black man.”

Following the screening, a panel discussion featuring Payne, Young, and Hirthler offered further reflection. Payne and Young remarked on Atlanta’s achievement, with Young observing, “It was a constellation of little miracles that occurred in the street,” and continuing, “I saw the ability in the people of Atlanta to rise to the occasion.”