2025-06-28 –, Medallion CD
The Louisville-produced documentary "City of Ali" examines Muhammad Ali's deep connection to Louisville and chronicles the global celebration of his life that took place following his death in 2016.
The film offers a local perspective on Ali’s evolution from an aspiring boxer who faced racial segregation in his hometown to a global icon who was once banned from his sport for his stance on the Vietnam War.
Yet on the day of Ali’s funeral, more than 100,000 people lined the streets of Louisville to celebrate his life and an estimated global audience of one billion people watched his hometown and the world say good-bye to The Greatest.
Ali’s life and legacy embody the 34th World History Association's conference themes of protest, prohibition, and pugilism. "City of Ali" features insights from local and national scholars, journalists and historians including Pulitzer Prize-winners Doris Kearns Goodwin and David Maraniss.
This session will feature an introduction by "City of Ali" director Graham Shelby, who will also take questions afterward and discuss how the city of Louisville responded to the sudden influx of diverse groups of people who gathered here to pay their respects to Muhammad Ali.
"City of Ali" premiered in 2021 and has an 88 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film has aired over 400 times on PBS stations nationwide and is featured on Delta Air Lines and Prime, AppleTV, Tubi and other streaming services.
The U.S. Department of State selected "City of Ali" for inclusion in the American Film Showcase and other cultural diplomacy programs and the film has been screened in the UK, France, Colombia, Nigeria, the UAE, and many other countries in multiple languages.
Curriculum guides to the film are available for classroom instructors at cityofali.com.
Graham Shelby is a multimedia storyteller from Louisville. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Reader's Digest and Creative Nonfiction and aired on NPR, The Moth Radio Hour, Marketplace and many other outlets. In 2016, he was working as a speechwriter in the office of Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer when Muhammad Ali passed away. Soon, the mayor gave Graham the responsibility of leading the effort to create a video about the city's response to Ali's passing and the global interest in honoring The Greatest. That assignment eventually became the documentary "City of Ali," which is Graham's first film.
"City of Ali" premiered in 2021 and has an 88 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film has aired over 400 times on PBS stations nationwide and is featured on Delta Air Lines and Prime, AppleTV, Tubi and other streaming services.
The U.S. Department of State selected "City of Ali" for inclusion in the American Film Showcase and other cultural diplomacy programs and the film has been screened in the UK, France, Colombia, Nigeria, the UAE, and many other countries in multiple languages.
Curriculum guides to the film are available for classroom instructors at cityofali.com.
Graham Shelby is an experienced multimedia storyteller based in Louisville. He has written for The New York Times, Reader’s Digest, Creative Nonfiction, Salon, and many other outlets. His audio stories have appeared on NPR, The Moth Radio Hour, Marketplace, and Voice of America.
A veteran speaker and stage performer, he also hosts The Moth Story Slam in Louisville, Kentucky and frequently performs, lectures and conducts workshops on storytelling and related subjects.
He directed the documentary "City of Ali," which is first film. Graham holds an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from Spalding University.