Ferguson Rises: Film screening + Q&A panel
Birrarangga Film Festival presents a special screening of award winning film ‘Ferguson Rises’ with the Director Mobolaji Olambiwonnu and Michael Brown Snr in attendance. There will be a panel after the screening with special invited guests to discuss the film and the Black Lives Matter movement here in Australia and America.
The screening will be on Sunday 20th Nov at 5pm at RMIT's Capitol Theatre, purchase your tickets here https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/ferguson-rises-tickets-461573196857
or click on our Facebook event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/3224242447814518
Main Synopsis
Before the explosive global uprising condemning the murder of George Floyd, there was a small town in Missouri that erupted in protest after the Aug 9, 2014 killing of unarmed Black teen Michael Brown Jr. by a white police officer. It was this small town and its people that propelled Black Lives Matter to international prominence and inspired a new global civil rights movement. To understand this present moment, we must understand what happened in Ferguson.
FERGUSON RISES goes deep into the aftermath and protests. It also highlights the diverse voices of community members: from residents to police officers, to business owners and those who chose to say "enough is enough" by taking to the streets for a record 400 days straight. These varied perspectives are interwoven with a rarely seen portrayal of a Black father’s grief, to help us understand the human side of this tragedy and to give us an intimate view of what it means to be a Black man in America. Director Mobolaji Olambiwonnu shows us the indomitable nature of the human spirit and how people can take something so tragic and build something beautiful around it.
FERGUSON RISES is ultimately about empathy. We sit with a grieving father, with police officers, with community members who are outraged at this murder and with community members who are angry at protesters. We see that they are all human, and ultimately, they are capable of growth and healing, and that we may have something to learn from them.
THE TRUTH - Director Mobolaji Olambiwonnu
“You can plead guilty or we will find you guilty,” the police officers said to me as they interrogated me for a crime I did not commit. I was a naïve nineteen-year-old, working my summer job in door-to-door sales when the police arrived and told me that I fit the description of someone wanted for rape and robbery. After hours of interrogation and manipulation by the police, alone and terrified without my parents or a lawyer, I nearly confessed until I realized that on TV crime shows, the person who is being interrogated can always demand a phone call. I decided to call my employer’s staff attorney and he got me released on my own recognizance pending the trial. After months in court I was finally exonerated, thanks to that lawyer, two other lawyers and more than one hundred character witnesses. I was incredibly fortunate, far more so than countless others. I would never be the same.
When Michael Brown Jr. was killed, he was just one year younger than I had been when I had my life-altering experience with the police. I couldn’t help but think that it could have been me; what happened to Michael Brown Jr. could have easily happened to me or to any other Black or Brown teen.
At the time of Michael’s killing, my wife was seven months pregnant with our only child, our son. I knew that if nothing changed, he would have to face these same dangers and injustices every day of his life too. It became clear to me, at that time, that I could not just sit there and do nothing. I wanted to someday be able to tell my son, when he asked what I did at that crucial moment in history, that I did something meaningful, that I at least tried to make a difference for him and other people. It is because of this that I made Ferguson Rises.
With this film, I have tried to convey several things: the reality of what happened in Ferguson and what happens to Black people on a daily basis; the generally unrecognized human suffering, the rarely seen vulnerability and strength of Black fathers and Black men in this country; the common humanity that we all share; and the reframing of our suffering into hope, community and action.
What started in Ferguson is now everywhere. The story of Michael Brown Jr, his father and his community is not limited to the city boundaries of Ferguson. It’s a story about all of the world because what happened there, as we have seen since, could happen anywhere.
This country has a lot to learn from black people about resilience, courage, and how to find purpose in the face of ongoing tragedy. These qualities are exemplified by Michael Brown Sr. who has never been featured in a film before this. I hope that people see that African Americans are an extraordinary people who have never stopped persevering despite centuries of abuse in this country, and that they deserve to be viewed through a lens of compassion, respect and support.
I also hope that through Michael Brown Sr. and the community of Ferguson people will learn how to find purpose in their pain - how to channel what could be destructive into a life affirming and community building force.
Finally, I want people who might be losing hope to know that we are not alone. People all across the country and around the world are standing with us and because of this, it may finally be possible to begin to have transformative conversations around race and new forms of humane policing in America that leave all people feeling protected and served.
What Ferguson showed me, and what I hope it can show many more people, is that injustice and cruelty must ultimately answer to the greater forces of love and compassion... and that when you fight for Black lives you fight for all lives. This was a 7 year independently financed project that we are offering to the world as an opportunity to heal the division that divides us.