Student films to be featured in local school curriculums

The RiverRun Film Festival has selected The Legitimate Child and The Impetus to Desegregate, two documentary shorts produced by both former and current DFP students, to feature in their Films With Class program. The FWC program screens films in local classrooms to enhance the schools’ social studies curriculums.

The Legitimate Child, co-directed by third year DFP student Kelly McKenna and 2013 DFP graduate Michele Ferris, profiles the Safe Bus Company in Winston-Salem, the only African American-owned and operated bus company of its time. The film also screened at both the National Black Theatre Festival and the Dayton Film festival this year. Co-director Kelly McKenna says, “Michele and I believe that the Safe Bus Company is an important part of Winston-Salem’s history and of the local African-American community… The film offers schools a tool that may enhance interest in both history and social studies as it lightly addresses many topics, from transportation and economics to civil liberties and politics.”

The Impetus to Desegregate, directed by 2013 DFP graduate Chris Zaluski is the story of how Wake Forest became the first major private university in the South to desegregate, following a series of student petitions and protests in support of the move.

Both were featured at the 2013 RiverRun International Film Festival in April.