Emmett Till

A documentary examining the 1955 murder of a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago while visiting relatives in Mississippi, and the broad impact of his death, his funeral, and the subsequent trial and acquittal of his accused killers.

Emmett Till was brutally killed in the summer of 1955. At his funeral, his mother forced the world to reckon with the brutality of American racism. This short documentary was commissioned by "Time" magazine for their series "100 Photos" about the most influential photographs of all time.

Never-before-seen testimony is included in this documentary on Emmett Louis Till, who, in 1955, was brutally murdered after he whistled at a white woman.

Based on A Few Days Full of Trouble by Reverend Wheeler Parker, Jr. and Christopher Benson, the feature doc will explore two parallel tracks of the Till story. One set in motion by the last four years of an FBI investigation with details never before revealed, including significant new revelations of the case and its discoveries. The traumatic memory of Parker Jr., last surviving witness to the crime and Till’s cousin, drives that investigation. The second track is a deep immersion into the latest, proprietary findings, as high schoolers prepare for a reenactment of the murder trial of two of Till’s killers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam.

There have been numerous treatments, in various media, of the horrific 1955 murder in Money, Mississippi, of 14-year-old Chicagoan Emmett Till, but none like this concise, stunning dramatization in which actor-writer Mike Wiley plays all 36 roles--black, white, male, female, young, and old. What might sound like a distracting stunt is in fact the film’s distinctive strength. Relying on subtleties of acting rather than heavy makeup, with seamless digital compositing in multi-character scenes, Wiley’s tour de force defamiliarizes the material with startling effectiveness and compels us to get under the skins of all the major players in the tragic events. (Gene Siskel Film Center)

Documentary taking a look at the murder of Emmett Till.

The true story of Mamie Till Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14 year old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi.