New Civil Rights Film Opening in Los Angeles April 25, Documents Obama's "Gap Between the Promise of Our Ideals and the Reality of Their Time"

Market Wire, April, 2008

The independent feature film "Dare Not Walk Alone" ( www.darenotwalkalone.com ) opens April 25 at the Laemmle Grande 4-Plex in Los Angeles. Acclaimed as "brave filmmaking" by the San Jose Mercury News, this award-winning documentary delivers a new generation's take on civil rights, set to a soundtrack that flows from gospel to hip-hop.

"Dare Not Walk Alone" vividly portrays the heroism of campaigners for equality, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., alongside grim realities of life today on streets where those campaigns were fought, in a place that symbolizes what Sen. Barack Obama has called "the gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time."

Hailed by critics as "a powerhouse of a picture... a triumph of outrage and empathy" (Aaron Mesh, Willamette Weekly); "a powerful and important film" (Orlando Weekly); "the grittiest version of civil rights history I've ever seen" (Peter Miller, Co-producer of Ken Burns' Jazz).

The film's young writer and director, Jeremy Dean, used rarely seen archive footage, like Dr. King's arrest in Saint Augustine, Florida, during a campaign of non-violent protest against segregation. Says Dean, "A lot of people who visit Florida don't know about the courageous campaign of civil disobedience coordinated here by Dr. King, the SCLC and the NAACP. Tourists of all races now vacation on beaches where blacks once braved club-wielding whites to swim."

The 1964 campaign culminated in passage of the first civil rights act after the world witnessed a motel owner pouring acid into a swimming pool of black and white bathers. The film illuminates these moving images from the past with present day interviews of the participants, including Ambassador Andrew Young, who was beaten up in Saint Augustine. In the only interview such ever filmed, motel owner James Brock describes his encounter with Dr. King.

To this mix Dean adds the perspective of African Americans living in Saint Augustine today, teenagers who see hip-hop as "the only way out" and kids to whom Dr. King's dream of a "Beloved Country" still seems like only a dream.

The film shows signs of hope, like a 2004 service of reconciliation at a church that banned blacks in 1964, but the film lets viewers draw their own conclusions about how far we've come and where we must go from here.

About "Dare Not Walk Alone"

Picked for non-theatrical distribution by THINKFilm after a strong showing at Cinequest in 2006, the film was signed for theatrical distribution by Indican Pictures after winning Audience Award for Best Film at the 2007 Deep Focus Film Festival. Written and directed by Jeremy Dean; produced by Stephen Cobb, Jeremy Dean, and Richard Mergener; executive producers are Stephen Cobb and Chey Cobb.

Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine

Contact: Dare Not Walk Alone Productions, LLC Email Contact Stephen Cobb 904-377-5528 Email Contact Official web site: http://darenotwalkalone.com Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/user/DNWAfriends Also: http://indicanpictures.com/index.cfm?action=trailers&movieID=75