Hulu recently announced they are producing a documentary about the notorious Atlanta festival, ‘Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told.’
Freaknik was originally created in 1983 by Atlanta University students decided to organize a picnic for students who were unable to travel home for the university’s Spring Break. Over the years, the event gained popularity and quickly went from a picnic to a week-long party taking place in the streets of Atlanta. An estimated 250,000 people nationwide flocked to Atlanta for the event, causing problems for the city and its residents.
Within 10 years of Freaknik starting, Atlanta’s city leaders faced a lot of pressure to shut the event down due to noise complaints, public disturbances, and major gridlock within the city. In 1995 Freaknik ended with many reports of sexual assaults, lootings, and shootings – leading to the demise of the event. There have been attempts in recent years to start Freaknik again, which have so far been denied.
Hulu’s description of the documentary states it is a glance into “the rise and fall of a small Atlanta HBCU picnic that exploded into an influential street party and spotlighted ATL as a major cultural stage.” The documentary will feature real footage from the events captured in the 80’s and 90’s. The announcement of the documentary is creating quite a bit of concern on social media; those who attended Freaknik are worried about what old footage will reveal of their partying days. At this time, there is not a release date set for the documentary.