2009 AFI Dallas Film Festival - The Least Among You

(USA, 2008, 95 mins)
Digibeta
World Premiere
Directed By: Mark Young
Producers: Mark Young, Julia Verdin
Cinematographer: Zoran Popovic
Editor: Omar Daher
Music: Mark Kilian
Cast: Louis Gossett Jr., Lauren Holly, William Devane, Cedric Sanders

Winner of the 2009 Texas Black Film Festival Best Texas Film award, The Least Among You is inspired by a true story. During the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles, Richard Kelly had to serve a two-semester probation at an all-white racist seminary. Rejected by the school’s administrators, he meets Samuel Benton, the school’s black janitor who lives in the basement. Benton acts as Richard’s guide through the trials of racism and his personal demons. But eventually Richard must make a choice that affects his destiny.

Dallas director Mark Young met the real “Richard Kelly,” Rev. Dr. Charles Marks, in 1993, just after the L.A. riots.

Information from the festival's website