Kim Longinotto to introduce Whicker’s World to a new audience at Sheffield Doc/Fest in June
There will be a special showing of Whicker’s World: Conflict in Kentucky at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival at 5pm on Sunday 7th June 2015. The film, in which Whicker interviews Cassius Clay, as Muhammad Ali was then known, will be introduced by multi-award winning documentarian Kim Longinotto in the swanky, recently refurbished Curzon Cinema in George Street.
This pioneering documentary was first broadcast in October 1967, written and presented by the BAFTA-winning Alan Whicker and produced and directed by David C. Rea for Whicker’s World. On one level it is a witty, observational film about a horse race, the 93rd Kentucky Derby in Louisiana. On another it is a subtle, complex and finely balanced portrait of race relations at a key moment in “America’s gravest crisis since the Civil War”. Along the way Alan meets the brother of Rev. Alfred King, one Martin Luther King and a young boxer called Cassius Clay.
It was chosen as a fine example of a carefully honed, yet apparently effortless script and for its stylish juxtaposition of revealing and observational detail. Although some of the language reflects the terminology of the times, the story still feels very contemporary.
The filming will be followed by an exciting announcement by Alan’s partner, Valerie Kleeman. Watch this space.
You can find out more about the festival at WWW.SHEFFDOCFEST.COM and Youtube.com/sheffdocfest