"The
Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306” premiered in the spring of 2008
during a daylong commemoration to Dr. King on the 40th anniversary of
his death, which was held by the National Civil Rights Museum in
Memphis. Nominated for a 2009 Academy Award® in the Best Documentary
Short Subject category, the film has also been awarded Best Documentary
Short at the Palm Springs International Film Festival 2008 and the
Cinema St. Louis International Film Festival.
You can see the trailer here - http://www.witnessroom306.com/trailer.html
About the film
On
April 4,1968, the Revered Samuel “Billy” Kyles stood beside Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis,
Tennessee and bore witness to his brutal assassination. Through Rev.
Kyles’ recollections of those fateful moments and the days leading up
to them, “The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306” helps us remember
why Dr. King made that fateful trip to Memphis, and takes us inside the
last hours of his life. With moving testimony from civil rights
luminaries such as Maxine Smith and Dr. Benjamin Hooks as well as other
contemporaries of Dr. King, “The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306”
is a poignant retelling of a crucial turning point in the civil rights
movement and a vibrant reminder of Dr. King’s impact on the movement
and our nation.