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Join us to watch award-winning documentary Mr. Emancipation and discuss it with the director, Preston Chase.
Mr. Emancipation is the story of Walter L. Perry's determination to put on a celebration that would transcend divisions of race and class, in spite of racism. He staged an Emancipation Day festival that was where everyone wanted to be like Jesse Owens, Dr. William Borders, Joe Louis, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Dr. Benjamin Mays, and Mary McLeod Bethune. Future stars of the Motown sound were witnesses and/or talent show acts, all in the celebration of the abolition of slavery. As civil rights activist Dick Gregory said "The largest Juneteenth celebration was not in America, it was in Windsor, Canada.”
Presented in partnership with the Grande Prairie Intercultural Association.
Watch the Trailer
Director Bio
Preston Chase is a seventh generation African Canadian, born to a single mother in the Black community in downtown Windsor, Ontario. He went on to become a high school teacher in Ottawa. He is also the family historian and a passionate advocate for greater awareness of his historic Black community, founded by those who escaped American slavery.
Mr. Emancipation: The Walter Perry Story is his first film. It’s also deeply personal to him, Walter Perry was his great uncle. The film has been screened at 46 film festivals, on five continents. The film premiered at Houston WorldFest 2020, where it won a Platinum Remi Award in the Documentary Short category, and then went on to win 10 other awards, most recently Best Historical Film at the Helsinki Educational Film Festival in Finland.
Photo Credit: Martin.Luther King Jr., Russel Small, Rev. Theodore S. Boone, and Walter Perry. Windsor Star, 1956.
PRESTIGIOUS FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS
Platinum Remi Award, 1st Documentary Award
The 53rd annual World-Fest Houston International Film Festival 2020 - Texas, USA(Canadian screen qualifier)
Best Documentary
Detroit Trinity International Film Festival 2020 - Detroit, Michigan, USA
Gary International Black Film Festival 2020, Gary, Indiana, USA
New York Movie Awards 2021, New York, New York, USA
International Diversity Film Festival 2021, Los Angeles, California, USA
Director’s Cut International Film Festival 2021 - Vancouver, British Columbia, CANADA
Best Documentary History & Biography
Yorkton Film Festival 2021 - Yorkton, Saskatchewan, CANADA (Canadian screen qualifier)
Helsinki Education Film Festival 2021 - Helsinki, FINLAND
Best International Documentary
Soo Film Festival 2021 - Sault St. Marie, Michigan, USA
Best Educational Film
Cult Valley Global Cinefest(February) 2021, Bengal, INDIA
Best First Time Director
Chicago Indie Film awards 2021, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Audience Award
Soul West Festival 2020 - Phoenix, Arizona, USA
