Mississippi Messiah
Clay Haskell
Dylan Nelson
United States, 2022, 78 min.
In English.

Civil rights icon James Meredith never fit in -- not as the first Black student at the University of Mississippi, not as a civil rights leader on the Meredith March, and certainly not while endorsing ex-Klansman David Duke. Mississippi Messiah is a nuanced examination of Meredith's complicated life as a public figure.
Director's Statement
Documentaries about the American civil rights movement often focus on simplified, inspiring narratives that present a unified picture and weed out awkward dissenters. That’s not what you’ll get watching Mississippi Messiah. “James Meredith is an individualist,” civil rights leader Myrlie Evers-Williams says in our film – but that’s only one aspect of his fascinating personality. Meredith is not a hero or a martyr. He is a human being who catalyzed tremendous social change and who is still fighting to improve his world. We believe James Meredith’s story rewards exploration, in part because it provokes questions as much as it provides answers.
Category: Documentary.
Friday, April 22
The Screening Room
6:00pm
Filmmaker in Attendance
More in Documentary
-
Going Postal: The Legacy Foretold
Tad Sallee and Jason Sikorsky
United States, 2025, 122 min.Uncensored and unapologetic, this Tucson produced, feature-length documentary delves into the 25-year saga of Postal, the infamous video game franchise by... more ›
-
Wonders of The Universe
Bruna Benčić
Croatia, 2024, 5 min.At first we wanted to make a film only about the solar system, but we expanded the subject a bit. Approximately to the whole Universe. In the film, we... more ›
-
The Light of Truth: Richard Hunt's Monument to Ida B. Wells
Rana Segal
United States, 2024, 66 min.This feature documentary weaves together sculptor Richard Hunt’s process and life story, with that of civil rights crusader, suffragist and anti-lynching... more ›