2019’s official selection for The Roxbury International Film Festival, Murder in Mobile takes up the red carpet and will be featured in the international film festival. The film will be shown at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
“We’re thrilled with the exposure that Murder in Mobile is receiving, spreading its message of resistance and restorative justice—potentially in many film festivals all over the world,” says the creative director of the film, Adam Fischer.
Murder in Mobile is a 24-minute short documentary film which was created by Northeastern films. It was made by Adam Fischer with his fellow creative director Benjamin Bertsch.
The film revolves around a story of a hate crime. Rayfield Davis, a black man was murdered in 1948, in Mobile and never brought to justice as it he was killed by a white man. Alabama, the murderer was never prosecuted. Seven decades after the Jim Crow era of hate crime, a student at Northeastern University brought this film to the audience.
The story of the documentary revolves around the real-life story of middle-aged African man, Rayfield Davis who on March 17, 1948, was beaten and left on the high edged bank of a shallow creek in Mobile. The murderer, a white man, Horace Miller was spared from prosecution. The crime was later uncovered by Chelsea Schmitz who was a part of Northeastern’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project. The council was founded by a law professor at the university, Margaret Burnham.
The film was also presented at various other film festivals which include – Azalea Film Festival in Mobile, San Francisco Black Film Festival as well as Melbourne Documentary Film Festival in Australia on July 25th and in the five-day film festival, Melbourne Documentary Film Festival in Australia, from August 5th to 10th.
“It’s an important and powerful story, and one we hope creates a lasting legacy for Mr. Rayfield Davis and his family,” says Adam Fischer while talking about the film and its significance.
Disha Mazumder