For Immediate Release – October 5, 2011
Media contact: Erin Mussolum, Tel: 604-880-5040, erinlm@telus.net
Canadian filmmaker shares screen with Danny Glover at Mississippi International Film Festival to honor the Freedom Riders.
Vancouver, BC – When Myra Williams Ottewell set out to make a film about her home state of Mississippi, she didn’t expect to be sharing the screen years later with Danny Glover in a tribute to the Freedom Riders. “It’s hard to believe,” says Ottewell. “I set out to tell a story about how much better things are in Mississippi, and then years later after so much hard work, I’m finally able to share this film and draw upon a time that was difficult for so many.”
Mississippi ReMixed tells the personal story of Myra’s return to her birthplace of Jackson, Mississippi determined to celebrate the great racial transformations in the state since the 1960s, but discovers that understanding race relations is far more complicated than she bargained for. Mixed with rarely seen archival footage, the controversial documentary explores the state of race relations today, celebrates the transformations occurring, and exposes the struggles and successes Mississippi is having with integration today.
The documentary will be featured along with Danny Glover’s “Freedom Song” at the Mississippi International Film Festival on Friday October 21st. The festival takes place from October 21st- 23rd and has chosen films to reflect two themes: “Honoring the Freedom Riders”, celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, and “Rockabilly” a music genre with Mississippian, Elvis Presley, as its seminal figure.
When asked why Mississippi ReMixed is a good fit for the festival, Edward Saint Pé, Director of the Mississippi Film Institute says, “Myra’s film is perfect for this year’s festival. As a native Mississippian growing up here during those times she has a true understanding of the way it was, and how far relations have come. Since a big part of this year’s festival pays tribute to the Mississippi Freedom Riders, I thought we had to have this film for our film-fest attendees. We are really proud to have her fly in and be a part of the whole thing.”
While Ottewell’s film is gaining momentum on the international scene, it wasn’t an easy one to produce. “Making Mississippi ReMixed has been a bittersweet journey for me,” says Ottewell. “I had to address some difficult things in my past that I didn’t initially want to do.” One of those things involved her father.
As a little girl, she went to an all white church and school, and had the privileges of a typical white middle class family. As the daughter of a Mississippi State Highway Patrolman, she was also protected from the difficult matters of race as were her friends and classmates. Later, as Ottewell dug deeper, she would eventually learn something that would change the way she saw her father. She learned that he paid to keep the neighborhood white.
“I learned recently that it was my father’s idea for my parents and neighbors to help out a white couple who wanted to move into our neighbourhood by giving them the down payment for the house - in order to keep the black people out,” Ottewell says. “Decades later it was very difficult for me to admit that technically, my father was a racist, since keeping the neighbourhood white was as much about racial prejudice as it was about dropping property values.
As I worked on the film and met my black Mississippi contemporaries, I would sometimes think, ‘My Daddy would have loved this person or that person. They would have made great neighbors.’ My father has since passed away, and I don’t want to defile his memory. This is shocking to us now, but then it was very indicative of the climate concerning race in the 50’s and 60’s. It was something that l and others have personally had to wrestle with far into our adulthood.”
When asked how Ottewell feels about being chosen to honor the Freedom Riders with her documentary she replies, “I am moved that they would even consider my film for this occasion. The irony is that when the Freedom Riders originally came down, my family was contemptuous of them. They were seen as Yankee, outside agitators. Now with a new understanding of those days – the horrors that the Freedom Riders endured and their willingness to put their lives on the line for basic human rights, I hope my film could add a little to the heroic efforts they made so many years ago. It would be great if my film would help initiate important discussions, healing and understanding.”
More information on Mississippi ReMixed can be found at www.mississippiremixed.com
Follow Myra and the film on Twitter at @Vanfilmmaker Like it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MSreMixed
Mississippi Remixed is distributed by Distribution Access, and Moving Images Distribution.
Event at a Glance
What: Screening of documentary Mississippi ReMixed at the Mississippi International
Film Festival http://www.mississippifilmfest.com
When: Friday, October 21, 2011
Where: Russell C. Davis Planetarium, 201 E. Pasagoula St. Jackson, MS www.thedavisplanetarium.com
Cost: $8.00
