Birmingham, AL (1888PressRelease)
February 12, 2008 - Award-winning filmmaker Dan Klores and his co-producer former NBA great Earl Monroe will pre-screen their groundbreaking film Black Magic at the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum on February 19, 2008. The commercial free, two-part four-hour film will be televised nationally Sunday and Monday, March 16 and 17 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN. Part One will air immediately following the network’s ESPNU Bracketology show (analyzing the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament selections), and Part Two will be televised after the network’s exclusive live announcement of the 64-team NCAA Women's Tournament on Selection Monday.
Narrated by Academy Award Nominated actor Samuel L. Jackson, jazz great Wynton Marsalis, and New Orleans Hornets star point guard Chris Paul Black Magic tells the story of the injustice which characterized the Civil Rights Movement in America, as told through the lives of basketball players and coaches who attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).
From more than 200 hours of interviews and footage, the film reveals the plight of HBCU players and coaches as a stark but proud one, filled with obstacles at every turn. From separate leagues and facilities, to championship games and titles that never qualified for the history books, all the way to secret games played between blacks and whites in defiance of the law, players and programs at HBCUs not only thrived, but laid the groundwork for the proliferation of the modern athlete. Prominent Alabamians featured in the film are legendary Tuskegee University and Alabama A&M coach Ben Jobe, whose Southern University team upset Georgia Tech in the 1993 NCAA tournament, and current NBA player Ben Wallace of the Chicago Bulls. The Southeastern Athletic Conference headquartered in Birmingham features prominently in the film. Perry Wallace, of Vanderbilt University, the first African American basketball player to play in the Southeastern Conference takes viewers through his trials and triumphs as a basketball player.
Because of the educational content of the film relative to Alabama, Birminham schools superintendent Dr. Stan Mimms has expressed a great interest in showing the film to Birmingham school children. According to Nichelle Gainey, CEO of Silverstone International, one of the persons working with ESPN and Dan Klores, “Black Magic is a film that will resonate with all Alabamians and speaks to the legacy and prowess that Alabamians have brought to athletics.”
The film’s producers Dan Klores and Earl Monroe, former coach Ben Jobe and others will be on hand at the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum screening which begins at 6:15 p.m. and participate in a Q&A session following the film. A meet and greet cocktail session will begin at 5:30 pm.
Online Press Kit: http://www.espnmediazone.com/press_kits/EOE/Black_Magic/index.htm
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Media Contact:
Nichelle Gainey (Silverstone International),
ngainey ( @ ) silverstoneint dot com
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(205) 324-0211 office
http://www.silverstoneintl.com
