2015 Little Rock Film Festival

The Crisis at Central High put Little Rock at the center of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950's and 60's. In this special program three short films explore the past and future of the Civil Rights movement in America. Featuring: The Road to Little Rock, Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot, and Code Oakland. Following the screenings Arkansas based Artist and Activist Crystal C. Mercer, daughter of legendary civil rights Attorney Christopher C. Mercer, Jr., will lead a discussion with filmmakers in attendance and local Civil Rights leaders. 

Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot is the story of a courageous group of Alabama students and teachers, who along with other activists, fight a nonviolent battle to win voting rights for African Americans in the South. Standing in their way - a century of Jim Crow, a resistant and segregationist state, and a federal government slow to fully embrace equality. They would face intimidation, violence, jail and even murder, to achieve one of the most significant victories of the civil rights era.

Road to Little Rock: This is the courageous story of one judge and nine teenagers who demonstrated enduring positive human qualities of courage, honor, determination, and responsibility. In 1957, nine African-American teenagers sought enrollment at an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. This untold story features never-before-seen interviews with three members of the Little Rock Nine and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. It blends current interviews with archival footage to tell the story of the integration of Central High School. Federal Judge Ronald Davies, from Fargo, North Dakota, followed the law, ignored political pressure and required the school district in Little Rock to integrate. His ruling provided great urgency for the desegregation of public schools and the course of the civil rights movement in America.

Code Oakland: As Silicon Valley spreads into Oakland in search of cheaper real estate, local social entrepreneurs are working to ensure that black youth not be left on the sidelines, but instead become leaders and even transformers of the tech revolution. But is Silicon Valley ready to be hacked?