(WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- Producer Jude Hagin brings her film You Belong to Me, Sex, Race and Murder in the South; a documentary that explores the truth about what it meant to be African-American in the Jim Crow South to Monmouth University’s Pollak Theatre on Monday, October 17 at 7:30pm. The film is free and open to the public. There will be a Q&A with Hagin immediately following the screening.
On August 3, 1952, Ruby McCollum, an African-American woman, shot and killed the prominent white doctor and State Senator-elect C. L. Adams in Live Oak, Florida. Exploring a case that has haunted jurors and prosecutors for decades, YOU BELONG TO ME, Sex, Race and Murder in the South unveils hidden practices, exposing the truth of what it meant to be an African-American in the Jim Crow South, and examining the long road to healing. Covering the subjects of race relations, women’s rights, law, journalism and history, this film exposes many unknown elements of what really went on in the smaller Southern townships. Dr. Paul Ortiz, Director of Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, University of Florida praises the film as “a lyrical, and courageous exposé of the deepest and darkest secrets of the Jim Crow South…This film has the power to open honest dialogs on the contemporary legacies of racism and inequality in our society.”
Producer Jude Hagin served as the Ocala/Marion County Film Commissioner from 1995 to 2009 focusing on bringing commercials, print shoots and feature films into the North Central Florida region. Hagin has worked on the feature films Jeepers Creepers with Francis Ford Coppola; The Hawk is Dying, starring Paul Giamatti; Nobody's Children starring Jeremy Sisto and Jaimie Pressley; and Lonely Hearts starring John Travolta, Jared Leto and Salma Hayek.She lives in St. Augustine, Florida and is currently working on a feature film about Ruby McCollum to be directed by James Brolin.
The event is sponsored by Monmouth University’s Department of Communication and the Center for the Arts, and is part of the “On Screen: In Person” film series, which brings six films and filmmakers to Monmouth University as part of a tour of the Eastern seaboard. On Screen: In Person is made possible by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Regional Touring Program. For additional information, please call the Center for the Arts at 732-263-5715 or visit online at www.monmouth.edu/arts.