Prom Night in Mississippi (2009)

A high school in a small-town in Mississippi prepares for its first integrated senior prom.

Director:

Paul Saltzman

Writer:

Paul Saltzman

Stars:

Highschool Seniors of Charleston, Morgan Freeman

3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Highschool Seniors of Charleston	...	Seniors
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Morgan Freeman	...	Himself

Storyline

In 1997, Academy Award winning actor, Morgan Freeman, who lives in the Charleston, Mississippi community, offered to fund the first-ever integrated Senior Prom in the history of Charleston's one high school. His offer was ignored. In 2008, Morgan offered again... the East Tallahatchie County School Board accepted. In this town of 2,300 people, its high school of 415 black and white students has, to this day, always had separate proms: one black, one white prom. Our film follows the Charleston High senior class of 2008 preparing and attending their historic, first integrated prom, in the context of strong emotions, traditions, and conflict inherent in race relations in the community, and in the deep south. Some of the white parents maintained their whites-only prom.

---

Plot Keywords:

prom | high school | race relations | integration | small town | 

---

Genres:

Documentary

---

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 January 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mustaa ja valkoista

Filming Locations:

Charleston, Mississippi, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Return to Mississippi Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Herself (Jessica): [about a female student against an integrated prom] I feel sorry for her, because she was raised the way I was. But she's sticking to actually being racist.

User Reviews

Interesting subject but falls short of expectations

Several months before I watched it I listened to Morgan Freeman do an interview about this film. That interview was fantastic and it sparked my interest in the film. Now that I've seen the film, I think I actually got more out of listening to the interview. Although there were some interesting moments, there wasn't enough drama throughout to make me really want to keep watching. While, I am glad the film was made for the sake of exposing the kind of racism that still exists in some areas, it's not a film I would recommend to everyone. It was well made but could have been more concise. It's probably best used as a classroom tool to generate discussion.