The Barber of Birmingham

Last updated
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
The Barber of Birmingham.jpg
Directed by
Produced by
Cinematography
Edited byKim Roberts, Jacob Steingroot
Distributed byThe Video Project (educational) [1]
Release date
  • January 2011 (2011-01)(Sundance)
Running time
25 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement is a 2011 documentary film about James Armstrong, one of the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement.

Contents

Summary

A World War II veteran and an original flag bearer for the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, Armstrong has run a voter education program out of his barbershop in Birmingham, Alabama for 50 years. The film was co-directed and produced by Gail Dolgin and Robin Fryday.

Accolades

It premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, three months after Dolgin's death in October 2010 from breast cancer. It was named best short documentary at the Ashland Independent Film Festival. [2] [3] The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) at the 84th Academy Awards. [4] It later aired on television on the PBS series POV .

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald L. Hollowell</span> American lawyer

Donald Lee Hollowell was an American civil rights attorney during the Civil Rights Movement, in the state of Georgia. He successfully sued to integrate Atlanta's public schools, Georgia colleges, universities and public transit, freed Martin Luther King Jr. from prison, and mentored civil rights attorneys. The first black regional director of a federal agency, Hollowell is best remembered for his instrumental role in winning the desegregation of the University of Georgia in 1961. He is the subject of a 2010 documentary film, Donald L. Hollowell: Foot Soldier for Equal Justice.

<i>4 Little Girls</i> 1997 film by Spike Lee

4 Little Girls is a 1997 American historical documentary film about the murder of four African-American girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963. The film was directed by Spike Lee and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Nancy Kates is an independent filmmaker based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She directed Regarding Susan Sontag, a feature documentary about the late essayist, novelist, director and activist. Through archival footage, interviews, still photographs and images from popular culture, the film reflects the boldness of Sontag’s work and the cultural importance of her thought, and received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Sundance Documentary Film Program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamala Lopez</span> American actress and director

Kamala Lopez is an American filmmaker, actress, writer, director, and political activist. She has had starring roles in Black Jesus, Medium, 24, Alias, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, and 21 Jump Street. She has been a featured actress in films including Born in East L.A., Deep Cover, The Burning Season, Clear and Present Danger, Lightning Jack, and I Heart Huckabees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Nelson Jr.</span> American documentary filmmaker

Stanley Earl Nelson Jr. is an American documentary filmmaker and a MacArthur Fellow known as a director, writer and producer of documentaries examining African-American history and experiences. He is a recipient of the 2013 National Humanities Medal from President Obama. He has won three Primetime Emmy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abby Ginzberg</span> Film director and producer

Abby Ginzberg is an independent documentary film director and producer and founder of Ginzberg Productions. For the past 30 years, Ginzberg has been creating films that tackle discrimination and the legal profession.

<i>Freedom on My Mind</i> 1994 documentary film by Connie Field and Marilyn Mulford

Freedom on My Mind is a 1994 feature documentary film that tells the story of the Mississippi voter registration movement of 1961 to 1964, which was characterized by violence against the people involved, including multiple instances of murder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodrigo Dorfman</span> Latino Visual Storyteller

Rodrigo Dorfman is a film director, producer, cinematographer, multimedia artist, film critic and commentator living in Durham, North Carolina. He has worked with P.O.V., HBO, Salma Hayek's Ventanazul and the BBC among others.

<i>A Time for Justice</i> 1994 film

A Time for Justice is a 1994 American short documentary film produced by Charles Guggenheim. In 1995, it won an Oscar for Documentary Short Subject at the 67th Academy Awards.

<i>Mighty Times: The Childrens March</i> 2004 American documentary film by Robert Houston

Mighty Times: The Children's March is a 2004 American short documentary film about the Birmingham, Alabama civil rights marches in the 1960s, highlighting the bravery of young activists involved in the 1963 Children's Crusade. It was directed by Robert Houston and produced by Robert Hudson. In 2005, the film won an Oscar at the 77th Academy Awards for Documentary Short Subject. The film was co-produced by the Southern Poverty Law Center and HBO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debra Chasnoff</span> American filmmaker (1957–2017)

Debra Chasnoff was an American documentary filmmaker and activist whose films address progressive social justice issues. Her production company GroundSpark produces and distributes films, educational resources and campaigns on issues ranging from environmental concerns to affordable housing to preventing prejudice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marshall Curry</span> American film director (born 1970)

Marshall Curry is an Oscar-winning American documentary director, producer, cinematographer and editor. His films include Street Fight, Racing Dreams, If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Point and Shoot, and A Night at the Garden. His first fiction film was the Academy Award-winning short film The Neighbors' Window (2019).

Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks is a 2002 American short documentary film directed by Robert Houston and produced by Robert Hudson about the 1955/56 Montgomery bus boycott led by Rosa Parks.

James Michael Spione is an American director, producer, writer and editor of both documentary and fiction films. Early on in his career, he developed a reputation for suspenseful dramatic shorts; his later career, however, has been marked by a new focus on short and feature-length documentaries for both theatrical release and public television broadcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gail Dolgin</span> American film director

Gail Dolgin was an American filmmaker. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Daughter from Danang, and The Barber of Birmingham. Daughter from Danang also won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Monument</span> Civil rights monument in Florida

St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Monument is located near the corner of King St. and Charlotte St. in the Southeast corner of the Plaza de la Constitución, a historic public park in downtown St. Augustine, Florida. It is in remembrance of the people who engaged in various forms of peaceful protest in St. Augustine in the early 1960s to advance the cause of civil rights, contributing to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The monument, commissioned by the St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Remembrance Project, Inc., was installed and unveiled in May, 2011.

<i>Incident in New Baghdad</i> American film

Incident in New Baghdad is a 2011 short documentary film about the July 12, 2007, Baghdad airstrike, directed by James Spione.

The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306 is a 2008 documentary short film created to honor the 40th annual remembrance of the life and death of Martin Luther King Jr. Directed by Adam Pertofsky, the film received a 2008 Oscar nomination in the "Best Documentary Short Subject" Category at the 81st Academy Awards.

The history of the 1954 to 1968 American civil rights movement has been depicted and documented in film, song, theater, television, and the visual arts. These presentations add to and maintain cultural awareness and understanding of the goals, tactics, and accomplishments of the people who organized and participated in this nonviolent movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassie Jaye</span> American film director

Cassie Jaye is an American film director, best known for directing the 2016 documentary film The Red Pill about the men's rights movement.

References

  1. "The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement". The Video Project. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  2. "TRIBUTE TO GAIL DOLGIN". IFC Center. Thom Powers. Archived from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  3. Miller, Jeff. "Special Screening Announced of 'The Barber of Birmingham'". The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  4. "THE BARBER OF BIRMINGHAM: FOOT SOLDIER OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT". 84th Academy Awards. ABC.com. Retrieved 6 April 2012.