Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tonight, Tuesday, February 3: OUR MOCKINGBIRD
Sandra Jaffe’s exploration of race and class in America has had various work-in-progress and community screenings since 2010, including Sidewalk, Newburyport Doc, Roxbury, and the Boston Jewish film fests.
Using TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD as its focal point, Jaffe’s film considers the progress – and lack thereof – of race relations in the more than five decades since the publication of Harper Lee’s seminal novel. At its core is the collaborative staging of a play adapted from Lee’s singular work by two Birmingham AL high schools – one exclusively white, the other exclusively black – demonstrating the lingering shadow of segregation in areas of the South. While Jaffe follows the teens in their preparations, tackling the story’s themes of racism and injustice even as they navigate their first real encounters and friendships with peers of a different race, the filmmaker supplements their stories with those of familiar figures who speak to the influence and lasting impact of Lee’s book, from civil rights leaders like US Congressman John Lewis and cast members from the film adaptation, to US Attorney General Eric Holder and television journalist Katie Couric. Culminating with the successful mounting of the play – attended by Nelle Harper Lee herself – the film proves watchable, even if it occasionally meanders, attempting to cover too much territory in its relatively brief running time.
what (not) to doc 