Thug Life Army

The unconventional Civil Rights film, "Dare Not Walk Alone," cuts between the Civil Rights protests of 1964, led by Dr. King and Andrew Young, and the hip-hop generation's struggle to bridge the poverty gap that still exists in many Southern communities.

Now coming to Atlanta's Independent Black Film Festival, "Dare Not Walk Alone" will be shown at 9:00PM on Tuesday, March 14^th: the screening location is The Cinefé Movie Theatre, Lithona, Georgia.

The film's twenty-something director, Jeremy Dean, takes an unflinching look at themes echoed in current events like hurricane Katrina and recent movies such as hip-hop favorites "Hustle and Flow" and "Crash." The film “Hustle and Flow” has made news recently with the hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia winning an Oscar with the first ever rap song which was also performed live by the rap group.

Startling newsreel footage--some of it never aired before--brings home the bitter reality of the 1964 Saint Augustine protests led by Dr. King and Andrew Young (who was beaten by Klan members and other whites opposed to desegregation).

While Dean tells a story that much of the world has forgotten, the violence and abuse that demonstrators, both black and white, were willing to endure to force the passage of the first Civil Rights Act, he is not content to end the story at that point. He connects with a segment of American society that is still forgotten, African Americans for whom King's "Dream" is still just a dream, kids who feel the only way out of the ghetto is hip hop.

Drawing striking parallels between the role of music in black communities during the Civil Rights movement of the sixties, and the way that music still keeps hope alive today, Dean's film has struck a chord with viewers of all races. His footage of a recent service of reconciliation held at a white church that had barred blacks from attending in the sixties, shows that progress is possible. And audiences have repeatedly been moved to ask: What more can we do to help? At the film's recent West Coast premiere, organizers of the San Jose Film Festival scheduled an encore presentation to cope with demand.

For more information Please visit: www.indieblackfilm.com  and www.cinefe.com .