NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Open Road Films
and BazanED today announced a nationwide student initiative
surrounding the October 13, 2017
release of the new motion picture Marshall,
which tells the story of a pivotal case in U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Thurgood Marshall's early
law career.
The national education program includes pre-release screenings
of Marshall for 11th and 12th
graders in seventeen (17) U.S. cities to take place on October
2, which marks the 50th anniversary of the day Thurgood Marshall was sworn into the U.S.
Supreme Court as its first African American associate justice.
Select screenings will be followed by a moderated post-screening
discussion with historians, judges, attorneys and more. Open Road
Films is also providing bus transportation to all participating
schools in need. The student outreach program is accompanied
by educational curricula developed by BazanED and available to the
education community at BazanED.com. The company has also developed
curricula for lower-grade students to encourage school districts
across the country to honor Marshall by teaching about his life,
times and accomplishments on October 2nd.
"Marshall is a riveting piece of entertainment, but it
also tells the story of a vitally important and hugely influential
American with whom all students should be familiar," said Open Road
CEO Tom Ortenberg. "We are thrilled
to present the film to high schoolers for reflection and
discussion, and work with BazanED, which brings its expertly
crafted teaching materials to classrooms everywhere in conjunction
with the film."
"Thurgood Marshall is a real-life
superhero, and this movie is a great way for kids to be introduced
to a great American without feeling lectured to," say
Marshall Director Reginald
Hudlin. "The movie is fun and exciting, but, both kids and
adults learn a lot while having a good time, which is what
education should be."
The program's special screenings will take place in
African-American museums and other prominent educational and
cultural institutions, as well as commercial theaters. Screenings
have been scheduled in New York,
Compton, Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, Palm
Beach, Pittsburgh,
San Francisco/Oakland, Denver, Kansas
City, New Orleans,
Washington, DC, and Ft. Lauderdale. Full information and updated
locations can be found at BazanEvents.com.
The Compton screening,
organized in partnership with Urban Entertainment Institute, will
take place at the Compton High School Auditorium and will be
followed by a Q&A with director Reginald Hudlin and stars Chadwick Boseman and Josh Gad. Students
from other area schools will be invited to attend and the
discussion will be streamed live to schools throughout the country
so students can watch and ask questions of the panelists in real
time.
Several African American museums in major U.S. cities have
joined the effort to educate students about Justice Thurgood Marshall. In Marshall's hometown
of Baltimore, the film will be
shown to students at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum followed by a
discussion. The Washington,
D.C. event will be hosted by Howard
University, the alma mater of Thurgood Marshall, who studied at its law
school, as well as the film's star, Chadwick Boseman, who studied at its theater
department. Marshall will also screen at Detroit's Charles Wright Museum and
Chicago's DuSable Museum.
Yanick Rice Lamb, Associate
Professor and Chair, Howard
University Cathy Hughes School of Communications, Department
of Media, Journalism and Film said, "Howard has deep
connections to both the subject and the star of this film, and
places special emphasis on producing and supporting the work of
black leaders across a wide array of professions. There could not
be a more appropriate milieu for high school students to see and
discuss a film made by an extremely talented filmmaker, starring an
exciting up-and-coming actor, about a trailblazing U.S. Supreme
Court Justice, who also happens to also be one of Howard's most illustrious law graduates. We
are naturally honored and excited to be a part of this
program."
Educational curricula about Thurgood
Marshall that meet Common Core, Texas Essential Knowledge
and Skills and NCSS state standards will be available at
BazanED.com. BazanED has previously launched successful educational
initiatives in conjunction with the 2014 Academy
Award®-winning film Selma, the 2017 Academy
Award® nominated I Am Not Your Negro, 2016's
DGA and NAACP Image Award-nominated The Birth
of a Nation, the Jesse Owens
biopic Race and Davis
Guggenheim's feature-length documentary film
Teach, among others.
About Marshall
Starring Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, Kate Hudson, Dan
Stevens, Sterling K. Brown,
and James Cromwell, director Reginald Hudlin's MARSHALL,
based on the early career of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood
Marshall, follows the young lawyer (Chadwick Boseman) to
conservative Connecticut to defend a black chauffeur
(Sterling K. Brown) against his
wealthy white socialite employer (Kate
Hudson) in a sexual assault and attempted murder trial.
In need of a high-profile victory but muzzled by a
segregationist court, Marshall is partnered with young Jewish
lawyer Samuel Friedman (Josh Gad) who has never tried a
case. They struggle against a hostile storm of fear
and prejudice, driven to discover the truth in a
sensationalized trial that helped lay the groundwork for the
Civil Rights Movement.
Open Road Films presents
Starlight Media presents
A Hero Film Chestnut Ridge Hudlin Entertainment Production
Chadwick Boseman
Josh Gad Kate
Hudson
Sterling K. Brown Dan
Stevens James
Cromwell
Directed by Reginald
Hudlin
Written by Michael Koskoff &
Jacob Koskoff
Produced by Paula Wagner, p.g.a.,
Jonathan Sanger, p.g.a., Reginald Hudlin, p.g.a.
Executive Produced by Lei Luo, Xu
Yan, Chris Bongirne,
Hunter Ryan, David Ryan,
Tom Ortenberg, John Capetta, Kevin
Lamb, Lai Pan, Lili Sun
OFFICIAL FILM SITE:
http://MarshallMovie.com
OFFICIAL FACEBOOK: http://Facebook.com/MarshallMovie
OFFICIAL TWITTER: http://Twitter.com/MarshallMovie
OFFICIAL INSTAGRAM: http://Instagram.com/MarshallMovie
OFFICIAL YOUTUBE: http://YouTube.com/OpenRoadFilms
About BazanED
BazanED is a free teacher resource
offering free materials for narrative films, documentaries,
curriculum guides and so much more to K-12 and college educators
throughout the U.S. BazanED partners with entertainment, cultural,
scientific and financial organizations to provide teachers with
engaging, grade-appropriate content to supplement and support
classroom instruction and enhance student learning.
PR
contact:
Jackie
Bazan
(212) 643-4664
ext.704
jbazan@bazanpr.com
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SOURCE Open Road Films