Beyond Galilee
In 2012, T.D. Antoine and Joey Kent began laying the groundwork for what would eventually become a documentary on Shreveport, Louisiana's role in the national Civil Rights movement. Entitled Beyond Galilee, the project takes its name from a 1958 gathering at the Galilee Baptist Church in Shreveport that featured a voter registration workshop and a hallmark speech by a relatively unknown Martin Luther King, Jr. Local Civil Rights activist, Dr. C. O. Simpkins, invited King to give a one-hour talk, a precursor to his famous "I Have A Dream" speech he would give in Washington five years later. The documentary uses the audio from that speech as a backdrop for the film, exploring the local efforts of that time before looking "beyond" the event to see how those efforts shaped the future.
Dozens of civil rights leaders and key figures in the Shreveport movement were interviewed for the documentary, many whom have since passed on. The entire surviving local television archive was culled through for a fifteen year period, with Kent and Antoine creating a civil rights index of that media and uncovering rare, never before seen footage of Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, Dr. Simpkins, C.K. Steele and other national civil rights leaders in the process.
Hundreds of hours were spent by Antoine and Kent interviewing, researching, filming and editing "Beyond Galilee". Credit cards were maxed out and every possible favor called in for travel to Washington and other interview locations, for duplication fees, equipment, soundtrack, sound and video editing - all out of pocket.
Now, eight years after the journey was embarked upon, and seven years after it was first shown in Shreveport and later served as a cornerstone of Louisiana Public Broadcasting's annual fundraiser, Beyond Galilee has been updated for a new premiere, once more looking to the future.
The documentary cleared up many legends surrounding events during the tumultuous 1960s in Shreveport, and raised awareness of the dilapidated condition of the old Galilee Baptist Church by calling for its restoration as a civil rights museum. Now that the restoration has begun, Beyond Galilee stands tall as THE definitive video chronicle of Shreveport's role in the national Civil Rights movement. Last year it was added to the teaching curriculum of several Louisiana parish school systems and a legislative initiative is currently under way to make the documentary part of the required teachings for the entire state.
Dozens of civil rights leaders and key figures in the Shreveport movement were interviewed for the documentary, many whom have since passed on. The entire surviving local television archive was culled through for a fifteen year period, with Kent and Antoine creating a civil rights index of that media and uncovering rare, never before seen footage of Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, Dr. Simpkins, C.K. Steele and other national civil rights leaders in the process.
Hundreds of hours were spent by Antoine and Kent interviewing, researching, filming and editing "Beyond Galilee". Credit cards were maxed out and every possible favor called in for travel to Washington and other interview locations, for duplication fees, equipment, soundtrack, sound and video editing - all out of pocket.
Now, eight years after the journey was embarked upon, and seven years after it was first shown in Shreveport and later served as a cornerstone of Louisiana Public Broadcasting's annual fundraiser, Beyond Galilee has been updated for a new premiere, once more looking to the future.
The documentary cleared up many legends surrounding events during the tumultuous 1960s in Shreveport, and raised awareness of the dilapidated condition of the old Galilee Baptist Church by calling for its restoration as a civil rights museum. Now that the restoration has begun, Beyond Galilee stands tall as THE definitive video chronicle of Shreveport's role in the national Civil Rights movement. Last year it was added to the teaching curriculum of several Louisiana parish school systems and a legislative initiative is currently under way to make the documentary part of the required teachings for the entire state.
Beyond Galilee. Winner of 60 international film festival awards from 40 countries including 30 "Best Documentary" finishes.