Southern Rites

This feature documentary visits Montgomery County, Georgia, one year after the town merged its racially divided proms, and during an historic election campaign that many hoped would lead to its first African-American sheriff. Photographer Gillian Laub, whose photographs of earlier segregated proms brought the area unwanted notoriety after being published in the New York Times Magazine, returns to the town of Mount Vernon, GA to document the repercussions when a white resident is charged with the murder of a young black man. The case divides locals along well-worn racial lines, and the ensuing plea bargain and sentencing uncover complex truths and produce emotional revelations. Executive produced by Grammy and Oscar -winning singer/songwriter John Legend, along with Troy Carter and Mike Jackson, this timely film debuts the week of the Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision 61 years ago -- at once highlighting how far we've come, but also how far some communities still have to go to achieve racial understanding.