Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Wilmington -- The film TWO TOWNS OF JASPER is being screened at UNCW at 2 p.m., Friday, Jan.16 at Morton Hall, Bryan Auditorium, and again at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 21 at Kenan Auditorium. Admission is free, and the public is invited.

These film screenings are being supported by various groups at the university, including the Center for Leadership, Education and Service (CLES), Film Studies, the Student Government Association, P.E.A.C.E., PRIDE, the Creative Writing Graduate Student Association, and Working Films.

On June 7, 1998, the most vicious racially motivated murder since the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till occurred in Jasper, Tex. James Byrd, an African American, was chained to a pick-up truck and dragged behind it for three miles until his body disintegrated. Three white men from Jasper, with ties to white supremacist groups, were arrested and later convicted for the crime.

TWO TOWNS OF JASPER, a feature length documentary about the murder of James Byrd Jr., was broadcast on PBS in early 2003. The film received funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Independent Television Service, The National Black Programming Consortium, The Wellspring Foundation, and The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.

TWO TOWNS OF JASPER has screened in over 80 cities nationwide as part of a national outreach campaign. The UNCW screening will be followed by a moderated dialogue between the audience and a panel of UNCW faculty and students.