The march continues: Locally produced film traces education for black students

Jane Barr and Tre Berney discuss “The Long March” recently at Panera Bread.

Jane Barr and Tre Berney discuss “The Long March” recently at Panera Bread.

It's not often that locals create an award-winning documentary featuring hard-to-reach public figures, famous historians and rare archival footage.

But such is the case with "The Long March," a film by recent University of Tennessee alumni that airs locally on PBS station WETP-TV at 7 tonight.

"The Long March" coincides with the 45th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, and, as co-creator Jane Barr says, it is focused on "education of today through the lens and lessons of the civil rights movement."

With interviews from civil rights activists and Martin Luther King Jr. historians such as Andrew Young and C.T. Vivian, former presidential candidate and activist Jesse Jackson, CNN news anchor TJ Holmes and University of Tennessee professors, the film delves into subject matter not examined so frequently anymore.

The 55-minute film, which is bookended with the audio of the Fisk Jubilee singers performing "I Shall Be Released," starts with a historical look at the civil rights movement with archival footage - including rare photos of a young Martin Luther King Jr. Footage of an episode of Richard D. Heffner's "The Open Mind" interviewing Dr. Kenneth Clark launches into the film's investigation of today's school system, paralleled with the investigation of failing Alabama schools in mostly black areas.

Although "The Long March" isn't based specifically on Knoxville, residents will recognize a handful of locations, such as the WDVX Blue Plate Special and Highlander Center.

The film prominently features a study conducted by University of Maryland psychology professor Melanie Killen. In short, she conducted an identity experiment with inner-city students. When asked to draw themselves, the minority students often drew themselves without arms or legs, or otherwise misshapen.

The conclusion, as film narrator Barr says, "is chilling."

Created by UT alumni Jane Barr and Tre Berney, "The Long March" arose from Berney's independent study with communications professor Robert Legg. Berney was studying video production at UT and wanted to use Legg's class as "a platform to be able to make a film," but he lacked an idea.

Berney, 32, and Barr, 25, met while working at McKay Used Books. Barr, who studied political science and African-American studies at UT, was inspired by the documentary "Eyes on the Prize" as well as Bill Cosby's 1978 film "Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed," and wanted to re-examine the African-American situation. Barr was also working at Jupiter Entertainment at the time, and the company provided some of the funding for "The Long March."

Politician and human rights activist Andrew Young was interviewed for the film, which airs on PBS.

The two shared their idea with Legg, who approved it and served as the film's director, along with Berney. In January 2008 they added photography director Josh Richard and hit the ground running. With nothing more to go on than being students working on a documentary, Barr simply sat down at the computer, looked up contact information, and started calling people for interviews.

They were shocked at the results.

"We were surprised about how many people agreed to do it," says Barr. "Especially since we had no credentials."

"It blew my mind that we got Andrew Young and Jonathan Kozal," Berney says. "Those were the two big ones. Just getting them to sit down and talk to us blew my mind. Andrew Young is a high-priced consultant and international humanitarian."

The interviews, which were all set up by Barr, took the directors all over the country - New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Alabama, to name a few locations - and even to Tanzania, where the footage of Jesse Jackson was taken. Through UT, Jupiter Entertainment and their own money, they were able to fund these trips.

And they almost got Bill Cosby.

"I phone-tagged with his agent and lawyer," says Barr. "I never got to speak to him specifically but I talked to him through (them)." Cosby was working on a book and film of his own at the time, so he didn't commit to interviewing with her, but he not only advised them to interview district court judges but also allowed them access to footage from "Black History: Lost, Stolen or Strayed."

Unfortunately, this didn't pan out, as the BBC owns the rights to the documentary. Because none of the people involved in "The Long March" are British citizens, they would have had to pay for the footage. Berney says it would have cost thousands of dollars to use even a few minutes.

"The Long March" already has had international screenings and won several awards. Last year, the film won an Award of Excellence from the Broadcaster's Education Association at its yearly festival. In Los Angeles, the film won an Indie award for Best Independent Documentary, an award voted on in the online community. And it was even shown in Romania at the International Documentary Film Festival.

Closer to home, it also had a recent screening in Nashville at the International Black Film Festival.

"The film is not made specifically for the advancement of black kids," says Berney. "It's made for the advancement of everybody. It's about asking yourself these questions (addressed in the film)."

Barr says it's important for everyone to know these African-American issues, and she was shocked while taking classes at UT that even higher education institutions "act like it's something that people don't need to know."

"Why doesn't everybody know this? Why isn't this taught at an earlier age? Even at the college level it's irresponsible to be taught as a separate class," Barr says.

The two have submitted the nonprofit publication to the PBS database, opening the door for national airings. "Once we get in that, any program manager at any PBS affiliate can look through and find it," Berney says.

Greg Wood is a freelance contributor to the News Sentinel.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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