(MENAFN- Arab Times) LOS ANGELES Nov 15 (Agencies): 'Selma' a powerful new film about civil rights icon Martin Luther King triumphed at its premiere in Los Angeles this week while critics are predicting awards season glory. Co-starring Oprah Winfrey and rising British star David Oyelowo the film received a standing ovation in Hollywood as industry journal Variety forecast 'considerable box-office and awards-season gold.'
The film due for limited release on Dec 25 to qualify for the Oscars focuses on a short period after the 1964 passage of the Civil Rights Act the law that abolished segregation in the US South. But African Americans still faced bullying tactics to prevent them registering to vote. The movie opens with a racist bomb attack on a church in Birmingham Alabama which killed four black schoolgirls but rapidly turns to Selma another town in the southern US state known as the cradle of the civil rights struggle. Former talk show queen Winfrey plays Annie Lee Cooper a modest and dignified nurse trying to register to vote but being blocked and humiliated by a small town official. King who had already won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 heads to Selma to lead demonstrations and a celebrated march on the Alabama capital Montgomery. The violent clampdown on so-called Bloody Sunday March 7 1965 sparked a national scandal and triggered a movement that forced president Lyndon Johnson to proclaim the Voting Rights Act later that year. Co-produced by Pathe Winfrey and Brad Pitt's Plan B production company the film has Oyelowo currently starring in 'Interstellar' and soon to be in 'A Most Violent Year' playing King as determined and charismatic yet human. It depicts the US Secret Service's attempts to trip him up by bugging his conversations shadowing him and trying to get at him through his wife Coretta Scott King played by Carmen Ejogo. Coretta was in fact harassed by the FBI with anonymous racist threats and also with recordings of her pastor husband allegedly frolicking with other women. King's doubts struggles and disagreements with other civil rights leaders including Malcolm X and student activists in Selma are also portrayed in detail. Reason 'David (Oyelowo) is the reason I came on board' the movie said Winfrey at the American Film Institute festival in Los Angeles which wound up Thursday. She said they had become 'fast friends' on the set of 'The Butler' last year's film by director Lee Daniels which was widely tipped for Oscar glory but in the end failed to earn any nominations. Oyelowo of Nigerian origin said he dreamed in 2007 that he would one day play Martin Luther King. Director Ava DuVernay stressed that the film shoot which mostly took place in Selma itself resonated strongly with local people. 'Everybody knew Annie Lee Cooper there' she said. She said at times she had to make dozens of white people feign hatred for blacks to recreate actual events of the 1960s. She told them 'that this is part of something important so they had to give us that hatred that rage' she said. US rapper Common said that seeking inspiration for the soundtrack 'I just had to turn on the TV and see what was happening in Ferguson' the Missouri town torn by racial unrest in the last few months. Any festival director wants at least one movie that stirs audience buzz and media attention. The just concluded AFI Fest (Nov 6-13) hit the jackpot with two such films. And they both premiered on the same night. And were last-minute additions. In the festival circuit as in movie scripts dramatic plot twists are always fun. Paramount's 'Selma' and Warner Bros' 'American Sniper' immediately entered the awards conversation. And the Nov 11 double bill was an interesting climax to the year's festivals-and-awards scene which offers both perils and rewards for awards hopefuls. The praise wasn't universal for 'Selma' or 'Sniper.' But the fans of the two films were passionate and there was enough positive chatter to encourage the filmmakers and studios. The next few steps are crucial because a film can be embraced by the social-media world journalists and festival-goers but those people are often very different from awards-voters. After passing the first set of hurdles the studios are working to spread the need-to-see factor within the industry. 'Selma' was directed by Ava DuVernay and written by Paul Webb; 'American Sniper' was helmed by Clint Eastwood and scripted by Jason Hall. The films made for an interesting contrast: Both are fact-based with one focused on non-violent protest while the other is about a man centered on violence. 'Selma' started at 6 pm followed by a Q&A including the director star David Oyelowo and Oprah Winfrey among others which got the crowd even more revved up. 'Sniper' began a few minutes after its 9 pm scheduled start eschewing the Q&A but boasting an intro by Eastwood. Impact Logistically the double-feature was worrying to some studio and fest reps fearing the back-to-back screenings would lessen the impact of each film. As it turned out both did fine. 'Selma' got a standing ovation and it's a testament to 'Sniper's' adrenaline-fueled filmmaking that people were enthused even after a marathon evening at the Egyptian theater in Hollywood. The fest had scheduled a 30-minute preview of 'Selma' followed by a 'surprise screening' of an unnamed film. At the last minute DuVernay felt the entire film was ready for an audience and the day before its 'surprise screening' AFI announced 'Sniper.' AFI hosted premieres of other kudos hopefuls including A24's 'A Most Violent Year' and Par's 'The Gambler.' Each gained some admirers especially for the actors but the question is whether they will be seen by enough voters to move the needle. The festival also showcased some contenders that had premiered at other fests including 'The Homesman' 'Inherent Vice' 'Mr. Turner' and 'Still Alice.' And the AFI Fest closed with Sony Pictures Classics' 'Foxcatcher' which is the poster-child for the awards-fest link. It debuted at Cannes in May appeared at multiple fests since then and closed AFI a year after it was scheduled to open the festival. Through it all the film has maintained its heat which isn't easy to do. Companies began rolling out their 2014 awards hopefuls at Sundance in January including 'Boyhood' and 'Whiplash' continued through 'Grand Budapest Hotel' in Berlin then Cannes the Venice-Telluride-Toronto trio and New York Festival. All of these festivals are growing in importance in the awards scheme. Also becoming strategic stops are such diverse locales as Carmel Hamptons Mill Valley Palm Springs Santa Barbara Whistler and this weekend's Napa. Of course no festival is dedicated solely to awards contenders. But AFI Fest is LA-based so that's always a factor even in the foreign-language and documentary offerings. But arguably the fest highlight was the Nov. 12 conversation between director Rob Marshall and Sophia Loren. She charmed the audience by talking about her career life family costars and of course her Oscar.
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