The world premiere of a long-awaited documentary about an iconic event in Atlanta lore has finally been announced.
“Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told” will screen at the South By Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, on March 12.
Atlanta rap legend and producer Jermaine Dupri, who is an executive producer on the project, made the announcement on Instagram on Wednesday night.
“This is something that a lot of y’all have been asking about,” he said in the video. “Freaknik — what’s up with Freaknik? So here we go.”
Dupri then read off an email he received from Hulu saying the documentary would premiere at the world-renowned film and television festival.
The film will screen a second time at SXSW on March 14, according to the festival schedule. An Atlanta premiere and the Hulu premiere dates have not been announced.
The yearly Freaknik festival began in Atlanta in 1982 as a picnic for local college students and evolved into a meeting ground for Black spring breakers and people of all ages around the nation. The peak of its popularity was in the mid-’90s when hundreds of thousands of people would descend on the city.
Crime and complaints led to the infamous end of Freaknik in 1999. Attempts in recent years to revive the event have not drawn nearly the same interest as the original.
Hulu announced the Freaknik documentary in April. Atlanta rapper 21 Savage and Miami rapper Luke Campbell join Dupri as executive producers on the project, which is directed by P. Frank Williams.
Dupri, 21 Savage, Campbell, Too $hort, Killer Mike, Ceelo Green, Jalen Rose, Kenny Burns, Lil Jon, Legendary Jerry and the original Freaknik founders Sharon Toomer, Emma Horton, Monique Tolliver, Amadi Boon and Stacy Lloyd will appear in the documentary.
