DOCUMENTARY FEATURES:
THE LAST WHITE KNIGHT
SHOWTIMES WED, 13 Nov | 8:30 pm CAMEO | St. Helena FRI, 15 Nov | 10:00 am JARVIS | Napa SAT, 16 Nov | 8:30 pm YCC THEATER | Yountville SUN, 17 Nov | 5:30 pm GLIDERPORT | Calistoga
The Last White Knight In 1965, two men, a white segregationist and life member of the Ku Klux Klan, and a white SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) civil rights worker, first met violently, in Greenwood, Mississippi. They barely avoided ruining each other’s lives and 43 years later they meet again – on camera – to explore whether reconciliation is possible. Byron (“Delay”) de la Beckwith, Jr. and ex-civil rights worker and filmmaker, Paul Saltzman, met and filmed over a five-year period beginning in 2007. Delay’s father, Byron de la Beckwith, Sr., was a high-ranking official of the KKK and a founder of the White Citizens Council. In 1963, Delay’s father murdered Medgar Evers, then head of the NAACP in Mississippi. Saltzman’s ongoing conversations with Delay forms the narrative of this powerful film. The Last White Knight uses riveting animation to depict the near-death experiences of Harry Belafonte and Jimmy Travis, both civil rights workers, at the hands of the KKK. Director and subject Paul Saltzman returns to Napa Valley after showcasing Prom Night in Mississippi and a work in progress version of this film at our inaugural festival in 2011.
About the filmmaker
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Paul Saltzman is a two-time Emmy Award-winning director-producer with over 300 productions to his credit. His first feature was the award-winning documentary, Prom Night in Mississippi. Paul has toured all over the United States and Canada doing screenings and conversations with adult and youth audiences about prejudice, tolerance, and social justice. His second feature is The Last White Knight.
FILM INFO RUN TIME: 78 min DIRECTOR: Paul Saltzman PRODUCERS: Patricia Aquino Paul Saltzman SCREENWRITER: Paul Saltzman FEATURING: Delay de la Beckwith Harry Belafonte Morgan Freeman Paul Saltzman