''Dare Not Walk Alone'' is a 2006

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by Jeremy Dean. The film played the festival circuit in 2006 and in 2007 received the audience award at the Deep Focus Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio. It was signed by

Indican Pictures Indican Pictures is an American entertainment company and film distributor. The company was founded by Randolph Kret and Shaun Hill. Indican Pictures has distributed such films as ''The Boondock Saints'', ''A Green Story'', ''The Girl Next Door' ...

for theatrical, DVD, and TV release. The film was released on DVD on November 11, 2008. In January 2009 the film was nominated for an

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

for Outstanding Documentary.

Overview

''Dare Not Walk Alone'' is about the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

and its aftermath in

St. Augustine, Florida St. Augustine ( ; es, San Agustín ) is a city in the Southeastern United States and the county seat of St. Johns County on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabit ...

, the site of prolonged interracial tension and protests by the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

and the SCLC. The most notable protests, including the Monson Motor Lodge swimming pool integration immediately preceded, and arguably precipitated, the signing of the

1964 Civil Rights Act The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requir ...

Background

''Dare Not Walk Alone'' was conceived in 2003 by artist Jeremy Dean, who was then living and working in the Florida tourist town of

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...

, "America's oldest city." When Dean volunteered to help restore the stained glass windows in an historically black church he learned of the events of 1964, the protests, the beatings, and the brilliant campaign of civil disobedience that led to the passage of the first civil rights act. While Dean felt honored working to preserve a place where Dr. King had once stood side-by-side with Jackie Robinson to rally supporters, he was stunned that he had never heard of these events before, so he set about researching them. He uncovered archive footage that had never been aired. He sat down with the people who were there, who put their lives on the line in the fight for equality and freedom from segregation. Waiting tables to finance the project, Dean created the first cut of the film in 2005 and in 2006 the first public screening of ''Dare Not Walk Alone'' took place at the historically black

Ritz Theatre (Jacksonville) The Ritz Theatre is an African-American oriented theatre in the LaVilla neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida. The theater, which seats 426, is used for a variety of music, dance and theatrical productions, as well as movies. The spacious lobby is ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in an event attended by Florida State Senator

Anthony C. Hill Anthony C. "Tony" Hill (born September 9, 1957) is an American politician in the Democratic Party, who served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1992 to 2000, and in the Florida Senate from 2002 to 2011. In 2011, Hill announced he was ...

. Within days, Senator Hill had organized a summit of civic leaders to address housing conditions in St. Augustine's African American community. He later introduced legislation to expunge the criminal records of all persons arrested for peacefully protesting segregation in Florida.

Release and reviews

By the end of 2007 the film had been signed for non-theatrical release by THINKFilm and in April 2008 the film began its theatrical release in Los Angeles with Hollywood-based distributor, Indican Pictures. When ''Dare Not Walk Alone'' made its theatrical debut in Los Angeles, Sara Schieron of

Boxoffice Magazine ''Boxoffice Pro'' is a film industry magazine dedicated to the movie theatre business published by BoxOffice Media LP. History It started in 1920 as ''The Reel Journal'', taking the name ''Boxoffice'' in 1931 and still publishes today, with ...

declared it "has the potential to do real good in the world" and Eric Monder of

Film Journal International ''Film Journal International'' was a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It was a sister publication of ''Adweek'', '' Billboard'', ''The Hollywood Reporter'', and other periodicals. H ...

noted, "The racial politics of the current presidential election make this film all the more significant."Film Journal International
/ref> ''Dare Not Walk Alone'' has been screened at universities such as Notre Dame and a number of

historically black colleges and universities Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. ...

. The film was released on DVD in October 2008.

Awards

In 2007, ''Dare Not Walk Alone'' won the Audience Award at the Deep Focus Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio. In January 2009 the film was nominated for an

for Outstanding Documentary and named one of the year's 10 best documentaries.

References

External links