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Freedom Summer (113 min) US |
[watch trailer] |
Tuesay 10/21, 8:00 PM (Session 16)
Director: Stanley Nelson
Producers: Stanley Nelson, Stacey Holman, Cyndee Readdean
Description:
Over ten memorable weeks known as Freedom Summer, more than 700 student volunteers joined with organizers and local African Americans in an historic effort to shatter the foundations of white supremacy in Mississippi, the nation's most segregated state. In the hot and deadly summer of 1964, the nation’s eyes were riveted on Mississippi. The summer was marked by sustained and deadly violence, including the notorious murders of three civil rights workers, countless beatings, the burning of thirty-five churches, and the bombing of seventy homes and community centers. In the face of this violence, these organizers, volunteers, and Mississippians worked together to canvass for voter registration, create Freedom Schools, and establish an alternative challenge to the State Democratic Party — the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Borne of Freedom Summer, and in response to the challenges of registering voters directly within hostile Mississippi, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party registered its own voters outside of the discriminatory system, ultimately sending a delegation of sixty-eight members to attend the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City to confront and unseat the all-white delegation.
Biography:
Stanley Nelson, an Emmy-winning MacArthur “genius” Fellow, is co-founder and executive director of Firelight Media, which provides technical education and professional support to emerging documentarians; and co-founder of the for-profit documentary production company, Firelight Films. His latest films include Freedom Riders, which aired on PBS' American Experience and Wounded Knee, which is part of the landmark series on Native Americans We Shall Remain. His film Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple was subsequently shortlisted for the Academy Awards and won the International Documentary Association Award for its use of archival footage. Stanley has received fellowships from the American Film Institute, the New York Foundation for the Arts, Columbia University and the MacArthur Fellows Program, as well as a Primetime Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award.
Contact Information:
Firelight Media
e: info@firelightmedia.org
w: www.firelightmedia.tv/project/freedom-summer
©2014 United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF)
