New documentary reframes Atlanta's 1996 Olympic Games as a blueprint for overcoming division

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Billy Payne and Andrew Young are the subjects of the 2025 documentary "The Games in Black & White."

Credit: Atlanta Story Partners

What image comes to mind when you think of the Olympics in Atlanta? The tragic bombing that killed 2 people and injured more than 100 others? A parade of chrome-plated pickup trucks in Centennial Olympic Stadium? Gymnast Kerri Strug vaulting the U.S. women's team to gold? Or the triumph of Muhammad Ali lighting the torch as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra played Beethoven's 9th?

The Games in Black & White, a new documentary premiering at the Atlanta Film Festival on April 26, goes beyond the headlines to spotlight the legendary friendship between two Georgia icons who built bridges between Atlanta and the world.

Filmmakers Bob Judson and George Hirthler forget surface perceptions and dig deep into the unlikely pairing of Andrew Young, a Black civil rights leader, pastor, mayor of Atlanta, U.S. congressman and ambassador to the United Nations, and Billy Payne, a churchgoing white real estate attorney, former college football star, and future chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, who came together to win the bid.

Hirthler said he remembers the anticipation and momentum.

“Despite the fact that nobody thinks we've got a chance, we might actually pull this thing off. And then we host these magical games in the middle of the 1990s,” he said. “Who would have thought that today, this story from 30 years ago, would have the kind of social relevance and meaning and importance? And, as Bob said, [it’s] a critical message for our time.”

The Games in Black & White follows Atlanta’s Olympic journey — from the seed of a crazy idea to years of planning, putting on the show and winning America's largest TV viewing audience ever for a Summer Olympics — and how those moments shaped the city's reputation as a hub for diversity and progress.

The film traces a through-line from the Black “Atlanta Nine” students who initiated the desegregation of Atlanta public schools in 1961 to the white “Atlanta Nine” business and civic leaders instrumental in bringing the games to the city in the 1990s, including Peter Candler, Ginger Watkins, Horace Sibley, Charlie Battle, Charlie Schaffer, Linda Stephenson, Cindy Fowler, Bobby Reardon and Tim Christian who worked with Payne and Young to win support.

The process was not without criticism.

In a key scene from the film, Payne explains, “Never ever did I even entertain the thought that we would look as an Olympic organization any different than we looked as a community. I mean, that was out of the question. This is Atlanta, you know. We're the world's best demonstration of different races working together — not perfectly, as Andy would say, but in harmony. And I wanted the world to see that.”

Although the history of the city’s civil rights movement shapes the documentary, the expansion of Atlanta's global reach is front and center, Judson said.

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A 1996 ad promoting Olympic Aid

“With George's script, we told the story that we wanted to tell. And we also wanted to focus, obviously, on the two big stories that most people didn't know: which was the Equal Opportunity Initiative that Andy pushed for and Olympic Aid that, you know, with UNICEF, managed to help over 15 million African children.”

In the documentary, at the public opening of Centennial Olympic Park after the Games in 1996, Andrew Young spoke to his hopes for Atlanta's future.

“And so we say to those who suffered here, that we assure you that your suffering is not in vain,” Young said of the ground where the bombing had occurred. “And we're sure that the 21st century will remember the joy, the wonderful, the celebration, the vitality of the people of the earth gathered in this park.”

The Games in Black & White features a homegrown soundtrack and a theme song by Dallas Austin.

"City Too Busy to Hate" has lyrics were co-written by Hirthler, singer Champp and producer Austin, who wrote the music. The song title is based on a quote from Atlanta’s longest-serving mayor, William B. Hartsfield, in 1955.

“When I heard about The Games in Black & White with its focus on Andrew Young and Billy Payne’s friendship, I wanted to be a part of it,” Austin said in a statement. “Atlanta’s Games had a huge impact our city’s hip-hop and creative community, and I love contributing a voice to the film, which adds another prominent verse to Atlanta’s amazing roles in the global music, film and sports scenes.” 

The film’s score comes from fourth-generation Atlantan and jazz musician Joe Alterman, who was just 8 years old when the Olympics came to town in 1996.

“To me, growing up, I've always seen Dallas Austin as someone who has helped elevate our city through music,” he said. “There is an Atlanta sound that I hear. It sounds kind of Southern, a little country. You hear some jazz, and I thought, ‘We’ve got to bring that sound out.’”

The Games in Black & White premieres at the Atlanta Film Festival on April 26. GPB plans to broadcast the film in the future.