PROM NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI (2008)
- Run Time: 90 min.
- Rating: Not Rated
- Director: Paul Saltzman
Stills
Plot Summary
In 1997, Academy Award winning actor Morgan Freeman went to his hometown of Charleston Mississippi and offered to fund the town’s first ever integrated Senior Prom. His offer was ignored. In 2008, Freeman made his offer again, and the school board finally accepted.
The film follows the graduating class of Charleston High as black and white students alike cope with old prejudices and deep rooted racism while planning their first integrated prom. When a group of white parents try to hold their own whites-only prom, strong emotions and fragile race relations seem to threaten the whole project.
This is a deeply inspiring story of determined young people succeeding in the face of longstanding prejudices.
“An upbeat portrait of youth anxious to shed their elders’ prejudices, this inspirational Canadian-produced documentary is a perfectly timed crowd pleaser”
– Dennis Harvey, Variety
About the Director
Paul Saltzman
Although Prom Night In Mississippi is his first feature-length film, Saltzman is a two-time Emmy Award–winning film and television director-producer with 300 productions and many other awards to his credit. In 1965, he did civil rights work with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in Mississippi.