In August 1955, Mamie Till-Mobley sent her 14-year-old son, Emmett, from Chicago down to Money, Mississippi to visit relatives. Although she knew that her son was traveling deep into Jim Crow country, she didn't realize she would never see him again.
On Aug. 28, Till, who allegedly whistled at a white woman -- thus violating an unspoken Southern taboo -- was violently murdered. His abduction was a brutal one: Two white men beat him, gouged his eyes, shot him with a pistol and drowned him in the Tallahatchie River.
Keith A. Beauchamp's documentary, The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till, chronicles the event considered by many to be a catalyst of the civil rights movement. The tale of Emmett Till's murder and its aftermath epitomizes injustice, the theme of this year's festival.
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till features archival footage of interviews with Till's relatives such as his uncle Moses Wright of Money, Miss. as well as his mother, Mamie, before she died in 2003. Contemporary civil rights leaders such as Al Sharpton offer reflections throughout the film.
The documentary highlights the blatant prejudice of the law: in September 1955, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, the murderers, were acquitted by a jury of 12 white males.
The next year, Milam admitted to Look magazine that he and his half-brother, Bryant, had killed Till.
Beauchamp's investigation turned into the documentary that prompted the NAACP to call for the reopening of the Emmett Till case.
Hailed by critics, The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till has reaped glowing tributes for its historical, social and judicial significance. New York Magazine regards the movie as "the most important documentary of the year" and "an essential tale of what it means to be American."
See The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till at 4 p.m. Sat. at Regal Downtown #4.
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