We are collaborating with the the visual journalism film unit Field of Vision to present a free screening of “Concerned Student 1950,” a short film by Varun Bajaj, Adam Dietrich, and Kellan Marvin. The film, an up-close look at Concerned Student 1950 during its November protests, screens at 11:30pm this Saturday, March 5 at the Missouri Theatre.

This past fall, Concerned Student 1950, a collective of Black student activists at Mizzou, rekindled a conversation about racism on campus. Their protests, which involved a homecoming parade demonstration and a hunger strike, resulted in the resignation of the university’s system president, Tim Wolfe — one of the group’s eight demands.

The protests attracted a deluge of press and made national news. Much of the action happened on the campus’ Carnahan Quad, where Concerned Student 1950 representatives camped on a nightly basis. The students declared the campsite a safe space and requested privacy from the media. But Varun Bajaj, Adam Dietrich, and Kellan Marvin, students at the Murray Center for Documentary Journalism, were given special access to film the group throughout the entire process.

Bajaj, Dietrich, and Marvin have created two short-form pieces out of the material. Both will be screening at the festival. The first is a silent piece called “#ConcernedStudent1950,”  which screens from 8-11 p.m. Saturday, March 5 as part of the festival’s Great Wall installation, at the southwest corner of Ninth & Broadway. The second piece is a 30-minute film commissioned by Field of Vision called “Concerned Student 1950.”

“Concerned Student 1950” will be shown only one time during the course of the festival in a special debut presentation. “Concerned Student 1950” screens at Missouri Theatre following the 9:45pm screening of Secret Screening Navy. Those attending that screening are welcome to stay for the short. For those not attending, True/False will be passing out a separate, free, Q starting at 10:30pm for the 11:30pm show.

“Nonfiction filmmaking and journalism do not always have the same goals” says fest Co-Conspirator David Wilson. “But when extraordinary craft meets meticulous reporting as history gets made, this is as good as documentary gets.  It is the festival’s good fortune to partner with both the Murray Center for Documentary Journalism and Field of Vision to showcase young people on both sides of the camera lens.”