Mighty Times: The Children's March

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Movie
Original title Mighty Times: The Children's March
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2004
length 40 minutes
Rod
Director Robert Houston
script Robert Houston
production Robert Hudson
music Don Davis
camera Geoffrey George
cut Mark Brewer ,
Sean P. Keenan
occupation

Mighty Times: The Children's March is an American documentary - short film by Robert Houston in 2004. The story tells American US from the children demonstration in the city of Birmingham during the race riots in 1963. Mighty Times received in 2005 an Oscar in the category Best documentary short film .

action

After the imprisonment and re-release of Martin Luther King in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, protests by black people against the segregation laws stalled. Reason for the city's black children and youth to organize and on May 2nd, 1963 at eleven o'clock sharp, thousands of them leave schools and march in groups into Birmingham city center. The city leaders felt provoked and had the demonstrators taken into custody by the police. After the prisons became overcrowded, hundreds of children and young people were interned outdoors in makeshift camps.

The following day the situation escalated as the majority of the black population joined the protests. There were riots. The city authorities used water cannons and dogs against the protesters. The press photos of the incidents had their effect. President John F. Kennedy intervened and, after negotiations, part of the city of Birmingham's discriminatory racial segregation laws were repealed in anticipation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .

The incidents are conveyed through commented archive photos, re-enacted scenes and contemporary witnesses who talk about their impressions at the time.

background

Mighty Times: The Children's March was produced by Tell the Truth Pictures production company in collaboration with the HBO Family and the Southern Poverty Law Center . The documentary was published by the Southern Poverty Law Center as part of their Teaching Tolerance project , which provides teaching materials to US educational institutions. The television premiere took place on an HBO channel in 2005.

After winning the Oscar, the film sparked a debate about the extent to which re-enacted scenes falsified the content of a documentary. The impetus was the letter of complaint from the producer of a short documentary film that was also nominated to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . An examination showed that around 50% of the film consists of re-enactment scenes which, due to the camera technology and the props, cannot be distinguished from the archive material used. In addition, Mighty Times contains archive material not only from Birmingham, but also from other scenes of the race riot. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was then forced to revise the criteria for documentaries within the Oscar competition.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Corky Siemaszko: Birmingham erupted into chaos in 1963 as battle for civil rights in South exploded. Daily News , May 3, 2012, accessed March 1, 2015 .
  2. ^ Lottie L. Joiner: How the Children of Birmingham Changed the Civil-Rights Movement. The Daily Beast , February 5, 2013, accessed March 1, 2015 .
  3. ^ Mighty Times: The Children's March. In: Southern Poverty Law Center . Tolerance.org, accessed March 1, 2015 .
  4. ↑ HBO / Cinemax Documentary Films Presentations Born Into Brothels And Mighty Times: The Children's March Receive Academy Awards. Time Warner , February 28, 2005, accessed March 1, 2015 .
  5. ↑ John Horn: Rival criticizes Oscar-Winning Documentary's re-enactments. Los Angeles Times , March 29, 2005, accessed March 1, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Errol Morris : Play It Again, Sam (Re-enactments, Part One). The New York Times , April 3, 2008, accessed March 1, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Irene Lacher: Documentary Criticized for Re-enacted Scenes. The New York Times , March 29, 2005, accessed March 1, 2015 .