Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma, scores victory as Buffalo Soldier Descendants Agree to Forge Alliance with Apache Tribe

Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma is the most important film of our era - Faizon Love

CENTURY CITY, CA, USA, December 12, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Award Winning Film, Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma, scores another victory as Buffalo Soldier Descendants Agree to Forge Alliance withChihene Nde Apache Tribe in New Mexico.

Descendants of the Buffalo Soldiers were on hand to meet with Knifewing Segura, representative of the ChiheneApache Tribe at an afterparty for the Culver City Film Festival held at the Marriott Hotel in Marina Del Rey. They all came to see, Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma a film now in contention for an Academy Award^® in the Documentary Category of the Academy.

The film’s content led to the conversation that sparked an historical reconciliation of men that for generations were sworn enemies that instantly became fast friends. Knifewing agreed to forge an economic alliance with the men by building a replica of South Central Neighborhoods on his Gallup New Mexico property to be used in creating content meant for the Urban Markets.

“So much rich content comes from America’s Inner Cities and South Central Los Angeles has been a central theme in hundreds of stories that need to be told,” said Award Winning Producer and former Mayor of Compton, Omar Bradley. “The sets in New Mexico will give us a controlled safe environment to reenact scenes that delve into these important stories.”

“For many years the Buffalo Soldiers were used to eradicate our people,” said Knifewing “Now it is time for us to turn all of our swords into ploughshares to plant the next crop of meaningful entertainment. We are happy about our participation in creating Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma that will pave the way.”

Buffalo Soldier Descendants and Native Americans now have forged an economic alliance to bring quality content to life. “New Mexico offers production incentives that can be used in tandem with other economic incentives that make film production more affordable,” said Minnesota Director, Michael Douglas Carlin, “When you look at the financial structures it just makes sense to film urban content in New Mexico.”

Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma was filmed in the aftermath of the George Floyd Murder and has received 13 film festival awards. “There was huge support from Apache descendants in completing the film so it only makes sense that it is used as a catalyst to create these economic ties,” said Executive Producer, Michael Meyer, “We cooperated on this film and see a strong content driven path to keep the team together and expand it by creating a mini South Central on or near tribal lands.”

Recently, Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma won the audience choice best documentary at the Culver City Film Festival and now boasts 14 film festival awards. The film competed among 350 films that screened from December 4th - 11th at the Cinemark 18 in Culver City, home of Sony Pictures, Culver City Studios, Apple Studio and many other entertainment companies.

With the establishment of Apple Studios in Culver City it is only fitting that a documentary utilizing Apple technology should be selected to appear in the Culver City Film Festival. Andy Libby commented, "Carlin's skillful use of iPhone technology to capture the untold stories of police brutality from the mouths of loved ones in Minnesota gives his film a fresh immediacy without sensationalism or sentimentality. He resists the temptation to insert himself into the narrative and dutifully stands his post imbedded among the peaceful protestors and those who would oppose or incite them."

Audience Members commented overwhelmingly that Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma is an immersive film. Said Libby in response, "The success of Michael Carlin's film is that he allows the narrative to tell itself without a droning narration or insertion of a hidden agenda. It is pure documentary without judgement or manipulation. Audiences feel their feet on the ground with the protestors on their sometimes perilous pilgrimage."

"Current technology puts the power of filmmaking into the hands of each and every citizen," said former Mayor of Compton and producer of Minnesota, Omar Bradley, "this is a new era of filmmaking and we are thrilled to be on the cutting edge allowing the story to tell itself."

Voting on the film by the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences^® begins today through the 15th. If the film garners enough support it will be included on the short list of 15 films to be announced on the 21st of December. Faizon Love said, “Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma is the most important film of our era.”

Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma, winner of 13 Film Festival Awards is now live in the Academy Screening Room for Oscar^® consideration. Said film director, Michael Douglas Carlin, “we were in Minnesota when buildings were burning in a dangerous situation capturing the essence of the George Floyd Murder protests. Our Film sheds light on the issue of police violence as several families tell heartfelt stories detailing their loss of a family member.”

At the event, Knifewing Segura said he understood the frustration with law enforcement having worked in their ranks for many years. He agreed that police and communities must sit at the table to sort out their differences instead to simply stripping funds from law enforcement organizations. “Much of what we are facing is due to budget cuts that eliminate valuable training,” said Knifewing. “We must make every dollar count by eliminating the drag on policing due to corrupt police officers. They need to find their way out of police departments.”

Former Mayor of Compton and Producer of Minnesota agreed wholeheartedly. He is widely known as the mayor that stood up to corrupt police officers that stole evidence out of the Compton Evidence Locker. When he left Compton, the city had a $63 million dollar surplus and contracting with the sheriffs eliminated millions of dollars every year from the city budget. Bradley is looking forward to making films with the Apache Tribes as his alma mater is the Centennial High School Apache. “It simply feels like a homecoming to me.”

“Knifewing and Bradley became fast friends at the event as they share so many interests,” said Carlin, “Knifewing came from a background in law enforcement to filmmaking and Bradley as the former Mayor of Compton was able to see film production through the eyes of his friend, Eazy-E. Now Bradley is a full-time filmmaker. Both men shared their stories with each other until late into the night.”

Academy members in the documentary branch can view Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma online and beginning today through December 15th can vote to get the film on the short list of 15 documentaries. So far, Minnesota has won 13 film festival awards including Best Feature Documentary at the Marina Del Rey and Silver State Film Festivals as well as Best Director at the Silicon Beach Film Festival. MVD Entertainment releases the film in January.

The Academy Qualifying Theatrical release was in October in a time, post covid, when almost anything can happen, Minnesota racked up an impressive weekend per screen average of $1,420 on a single screen at the Laemmle Monica Film Complex in Santa Monica. Minnesota beat out big screen films including Disney’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Jungle Cruise, 20th Century Studios The Last Duel, Free Guy, Bleeker Street’s Mass, I’m your Man, A24’s Lamb, National Geographic’s Becoming Cousteau, Universal’s Candyman, Dear Evan Hansen and Searchlight’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye: In most cases by nearly double.

Most people that see the film comment that they never knew that families, other than George Floyd’s, have been impacted by police violence. Minnesota tells the stories of other incidents that happened previous to the George Floyd Murder. These stories are all extremely emotional and audience members get to experience the pain through the family members’ eyes.

Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma is on the list of films in contention for an Oscar^® among a total of 138 films this year:

“Ailey”
“All about My Sisters”
“All Light, Everywhere”
“The Alpinist”
“American 965”
“Ascension”
“Attica”
“Aulcie”
“Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness”
“Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power”
“Becoming Cousteau”
“Beijing Spring”
“Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts”
“Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry”
“Boris Karloff: The Man behind the Monster”
“Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road”
“Bring Your Own Brigade”
“Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D–Man in the Waters”
“The Capote Tapes”
“Captains of Za’atari”
“Children of the Enemy”
“Citizen Ashe”
“Convergence: Courage in a Crisis”
“A Cop Movie”
“Courage”
“A Crime on the Bayou”
“Cusp”
“Dave Chappelle Live in Real Life”
“The Deadliest Disease in America”
“Dying to Divorce”
“Enemies of the State”
“Ennio”
“The Faithful: The King, the Pope, the Princess”
“Far Eastern Golgotha”
“Fathom”
“Faya Dayi”
“Ferguson Rises”
“Final Account”
“Finding Kendrick Johnson”
“Fire Music”
“The First Wave”
“Five Years North”
“Flee”
“45 Days: The Fight for a Nation”
“Found”
“Francesco”
“Hell or High Seas”
“Homeroom”
“In the Same Breath”
“Introducing, Selma Blair”
“Iron Temple”
“Jacinta”
“The Jesus Music”
“Julia”
“The Jump”
“Karen Dalton: In My Own Time”
“Kill the Indian Save the Child”
“Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time”
“LFG”
“The Last Forest”
“The Last Shelter”
“Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong–Torres”
“Lily Topples the World”
“Little Girl”
“The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52”
“Los Hermanos/ The Brothers”
“The Lost Leonardo”
“Love It Was Not”
“Magaluf Ghost Town”
“Man in the Field: The Life and Art of Jim Denevan”
“Marx Can Wait”
“Mayor Pete”
“The Meaning of Hitler”
“Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma”
“Misha and the Wolves”
“Missing in Brooks County”
“Mr. Bachmann and His Class”
“Moby Doc”
“The Most Beautiful Boy in the World”
“The Mustangs: America’s Wild Horses”
“My Childhood, My Country: 20 Years in Afghanistan”
“My Name Is Pauli Murray”
“The Neutral Ground”
“A New Dawn”
“No Ordinary Man”
“No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics”
“Not Going Quietly”
“Nothing but the Sun”
“On Broadway”
“Operation Varsity Blues”
“Ostrov – Lost Island”
“Paper & Glue”
“The Paradigm of Money”
“The People vs. Agent Orange”
“The Phantom”
“Playing with Sharks”
“Pray Away”
“President”
“Procession”
“Qazaq History of the Golden Man”
“Quiet Explosions: Healing the Brain”
“The Race to Save the World”
“Radiograph of a Family”
“The Real Charlie Chaplin”
“Rebel Hearts”
“The Repentants”
“The Rescue”
“Revolution of Our Times”
“Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It”
“Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain”
“Ruth –

Michael Douglas Carlin comes from a well-established Hollywood family having sat on Fess Parker’s lap as a young child. Carlin’s grandfather worked in the movie business as a driver and teamster driving for Cecil B. DeMille, Howard Hughes and many others. His last assignment before retirement was as a driver on the Steven Spielberg film, JAWS. His father worked in the industry as a gaffer before working full-time in the lighting equipment rental business, Keylite PSI, a company that Carlin’s father founded.

Michael was a kid hanging out on the movie sets including: Ode to Billy Joe, (he had a bit part as an actor where he was directed by Max Baer Jr.); the 1976 remake of the movie, King Kong where he worked as a movie extra; and young Michael spent a summer in Chicago on the film The Fury directed by Brian DePalma where he bounced between working as an extra and a set electrician. Both King Kong and The Fury were filmed by acclaimed cinematographer, Richard Kline who would reunite with Michael Douglas Carlin on the film, Body Heat directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Carlin worked on Body Heat as a set electrician.

Carlin would later run family business Keylite PSI that supplied equipment on many notable films like Robert Redford’s Ordinary People; Brian DePalma’s the Untouchables; Oliver Stone’s JFK and Platoon; Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs; Neal Israel’s Bachelor Party; Robert Altman’s Fool For Love; John Frankenheimer’s 52 Pickup; David Lynch’s Twin Peaks; Sean Penn’s The Indian Runner; Aaron Norris’ Braddock; Blake Edwards’ That’s Life; among hundreds of others. Keylite PSI also supplied the equipment for the first night landing of the Space Shuttle Challenger, the 1979 & 1980 Academy Awards^®, and for over a dozen years supplied the equipment on the Hollywood Christmas Parade an event that young Michael worked on every year. Carlin also ran two motion picture studios – Valencia Studios and Osmond Studios. In recent years Carlin directed American Federale, Tupac Assassination Battle for Compton, Larger than Life the Suge Knight Story and he Executive Produced along with Stephen Nemeth, Hearts Road directed by Colin Finlay.

In the mid to late 80s Carlin teamed up with Michael Meyer to produce a dozen low budget movies. Meyer, an entertainment lawyer, came from the management side of the business having worked with David Stewart and Larry Thompson. Meyer, was also a product of the movie business as his father personally represented Jules Stein and Lew Wasserman in the formation of Music Corporation of America, Universal Pictures and Universal Studios. Marvin Meyer of the firm of Rosenfeld, Meyer, and Sussman also represented Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, and hundreds of other notable clients.

Michael Meyer and his company Native Stars reunited with Carlin to work on Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma. Meyer said, “Minnesota, fits in with Native Stars’ mission to inspire others to make a difference wherever they can. We are proud of our participation in this important film and applaud the director, Michael Douglas Carlin, with whom I have had a longstanding business and personal friendship for many decades.”

Producing the movie, Minnesota, is Omar Bradley, the former Mayor of Compton. Bradley brought tremendous depth to the project and shaped the editing process. Bradley is known for closing down the Compton Police Department when it was discovered by internal auditors that a large amount of evidence was missing from the evidence locker including cocaine and weapons. The Los Angeles Sheriffs Department took on the policing of Compton and their contract continues to this day. Bradley was unseated as Mayor in a controversial election that was overturned by a Superior Court Judge. Bradley was unseated by the Appellate Court. When Compton was turned over to the new mayor there was no debt and $63 million in the bank, in stark contrast to the debt laden Compton of today.

Said Carlin, “Who better to produce such as salient documentary than a man from the inner-cities that understands the delicate balance between policing and the community? Bradley served as a City Councilman and Mayor. Additionally, now Omar has become an award-winning filmmaker to add to his growing body of work that includes being a published author.”

The film is likely to remain relevant under the current climate with qualified immunity impossible to overturn at the Supreme Court level. Communities and their police departments must work out their differences much like a family having a meeting at the dinner table. “We hope our film can help facilitate these important conversations,” said Bradley. “Families have experienced pain and every officer should at a minimum be aware of what families feel when they lose a loved one.”

Joyce Chow
Publicist
+1 3108030089
email us here
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Other

Minnesota The Modern Day Selma directed by Michael Douglas Carlin official trailer