BEST SHORT COMPETITION - Big Sky Documentary Festival | BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT - Cordillera International Film Festival
George Floyd • Policing in America • Racial Justice • Community Uprising & ProtestDate of Completion: 2021 | Run Time: 21 minutes | Language: English | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Director: Cy Dodson | Producer: Lindsey Seavert
On Memorial weekend in May of 2020, police were called to Cup Foods on 38th and Chicago in South Minneapolis for a report of a counterfeit money transaction. The world watched the acts that transpired as former police officer Derrick Chauvin, aided by three others, pinned George Floyd down by his neck for over nine minutes, murdering him in front of onlookers that broadcasted the tragic scene live to the world. Minneapolis, the country, and the world would forever change, as a global uprising against systemic racism ensued, the epicenter at the Third Precinct Police station in Director’s Cy Dodson’s longtime neighborhood, revealing an immersive observation of unrest in the days between the killing of George Floyd and the charges filed against police officer Derek Chauvin. The film captures how community members perceived the immense changes in their city and offered support to one another.
AWARDS
Best International Short (Academy Qualified) | DocEdge Film Festival
Best Documentary Short | Cordillera International Film Festival
Juror Award | Centre Film Festival
Audience Choice Award | Pittsburgh Film Festival
Audience Choice, Best Documentary Short | Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival
Best Documentary | Big Waters Film Festival
Best Short Competition | Big Sky Documentary Festival
FESTIVALS
Cleveland International Film Festival
Sedona FIlm Festival
Dances With Films
Indy Shorts
Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO) | Reviewed by Erica Swenson Danowitz, Chat Reference Librarian –Pennsylvania’s Chat with a Librarian (CWAL), Independent Contractor at Hosting Solutions & Library Consulting (HSLC); Retired Professor/Reference Librarian, Delaware County Community College
"Say His Name is short enough to screen during a class lecture or assigned as homework. It would support many academic courses including criminal justice, sociology, urban studies and, as the years continue to put a distance between George Floyd’s murder and the present, American history."
Jury Comments | DocEdge Film Festival
"Darnella Frazier captured the death of George Floyd on camera, and the widespread distribution of that footage demanded accountability for the unjust murder. Subsequently, filmmaker Cy Dodson captured in real time the arc of a few days of human emotional expression at the scene of the crime, processing that community’s reaction to the injustice ... This film marks a moment in time that will be studied for decades. While it is very difficult to watch, the jury hopes that it will help the audience look critically at the historical and systemic white supremacy that led to the murder of George Floyd, and commit to dismantling racism in all of our institutions and systems. As one of the subjects says at the end of the film: Let the healing work begin."