“The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” is a documentary investigating the murder and subsequent injustice surrounding Emmett Louis Till’s death. Many consider this case to be the true catalyst for the American civil rights movement.
The 12th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival presented its Brizzolara Family Inspirational Film Award, with a prize of $5,000 in cash, to director Keith Beauchamp for this compelling documentary.
In August 1955, Mamie Till-Mobley of Chicago sent her only child, 14-year-old Emmett Till, to visit relatives in the Mississippi Delta. Little did she know that eight days later, Emmett would be abducted from his great-uncle’s home, brutally beaten and murdered for one of the oldest Southern taboos: addressing a white woman in public.
The murderers were soon arrested but later acquitted of murder by an all-white, all-male jury.
However, Emmett did not die in vain. His horrific, senseless death sparked media attention when his mother insisted on having an open casket funeral. Her decision was controversial but her reason was simple. She defended her decision by stating, “I want the world to see what they did to my son.”
Beauchamp has produced a documentary unfolding a drama that has haunted society for the last 50 years. He reveals the end product of nine years of research and investigation, finally bringing justice to a family and a nation’s agony.
Unlike any other work produced on the Till case, “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” reveals unprecedented accounts by firsthand eyewitnesses, many of whom are speaking out for the first time. This documentary is an historical and investigative journey aimed to inform and educate all walks of life.
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