This year the winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject was “Mighty Times: The Children’s March.”
The showing in Carrboro at the Century Center tonight followed closely the burning of three large Klan-style crosses in nearby Durham.
The Carrboro showing was very very well attended the Century Center filled to near overflow. I would guess over 200 people there. The showing was followed by a panel made up of Chuck Stone, Reginald Hildebrand and Tim Tyson. The panelists provided some acute descriptions of the contexts, events and people elided or left out of the movie as well as praise for its strengths. Frankly the movie is a triumphalist tale aimed at children and young adults and focused on the role, the very important and pivotal role, that children played in the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement. As Tim Tyson noted, the running time of 40 minutes is perfect for showing to a class, then to have a 20 minute discussion afterwards. The film is part of the Teach Tolerance series from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
I understand from the Cybrarian that the DVD will be available for checkout from the Cybrary.

Among those in the audience were Lois and T J Anderson. T J, an avant garde composer, was just inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters last week.