For Immediate Release – April 27, 2010
Documentary on Mississippi racism sparks parallels with Canada’s First Nations.
Surrey, BC– On April 21st after more than five years, Myra Williams Ottewell had the opportunity to screen her film Mississippi Remixed on Canadian soil. The one-hour television documentary, commissioned by Mississippi Public Broadcasting and presently airs on the US station, has been a labour of love for Ottewell since she retired from a career teaching in Surrey, BC.
Ironically it was back in a Canadian classroom that Ottewell’s film began. In 2004 she was asked to speak to a group of students fresh from watching the Hollywood blockbuster Mississippi Burning. After sharing her recollections growing up in Mississippi during the notorious 60’s, the grade 12 students didn’t believe that Ottewell had had peaceful and loving relationships with African Americans in the South, and instead called her naïve and challenged her.
Angered and determined to prove them wrong, Ottewell, now retired, set out for Mississippi with a film crew to record the positive changes taking place in her home state, but as the filming progressed Myra found herself having to face her past head-on, uncovering the real and sometimes painful truth about her family’s racist past.
It was at this point in the journey that the film changed direction for the first time filmmaker. “I had not set out in the beginning of making the film to be a focal point of the documentary, but as the film progressed it begged me to be its voice. I’ve learned that sometimes you have to be vulnerable as a filmmaker and the project then morphed into a personal and at times emotional journey. In the end it’s a stronger more relatable film," says Ottewell.
The program initially screened in Jackson, Mississippi in early February to rave reviews but for Ottewell the opportunity to present the private screening in her Canadian hometown of Surrey, BC., was a big motivator to finish the project.
“In the audience were friends, colleagues, church associates, neighbors and relatives. I had talked with them for years about the project and the process,”Ottewell comments. “It was like a big reunion, and after some substantial media coverage there was a great deal of anticipation for my supporters and team to finally celebrate the documentary’s ‘birth date’!”
After watching Mississippi Remixed, audience member and BC teacher Kerry Richardson said, “I think the thing that made it so powerful was Myra’s willingness to be so honest. She was modeling for the rest of us what real repentance has to do, how unflinchingly we have to examine the legacy, the repercussions, and the gains wrongfully made as a result of the sins of the past. Naturally, it leads us to look at the story of our own aboriginal people.”
According to Ottewell even though the documentary takes place in Mississippi and discusses racism from the 60’s through to today, the themes and subject matter are proving to be universal for international viewers. She hopes that it will be used as a catalyst for discussion and potential social change both in Mississippi, and here in Canada regarding the treatment of First Nations groups.
“As I have reflected on the parallels between Mississippi and BC, this comparison is, I think, the one that is the most appropriate. The history of each group is horrific starting with early contact with European North Americans,”says a sober Ottewell. “Blacks and First Nations were treated as essentially less than human. The destruction of the family unit devastated both groups, and that coupled with physical and sexual abuse, backbreaking work with little or no compensation and contempt by the dominant culture has left a heartbreaking legacy.”
When asked what is next for the project Ottewell says, “We are looking to see the documentary broadcast nationally in both Canada and in the US. It is proving to be a discussion starter, and I am extremely pleased about that. I don't think there is a country where the film could not be used to either begin or extend the conversation on race and culture.
Ottewell, with a heart for teaching, has begun discussions to solidify an educational distributor for the project as well. She shares, “I recently showed the film to a group of Surrey secondary teachers and the discussion that resulted was fascinating. Mississippi Remixed sparked dialogue about the caste system in India – and in BC, the shortage of administrators of colour in the school system, historical Asian discrimination, the comparison between First Nations in Canada and Blacks in Mississippi, and the legacy of white privilege.”
More information on Mississippi Remixed can be found by visiting: www.mississippiremixed.com
