**Warning: This article discusses Emmett Till, whose story some readers may find distressing**
The story of Emmett Till – the 14-year-old boy who was brutally lynched in Mississippi in 1955 – is a shocking and tragic one, but it is told with real sensitivity in Till, the new film from acclaimed director Chinonye Chukwu which arrives in UK cinemas this week.
As many viewers will already know, Emmett was a Chicago-born teenager who had been staying with his cousins in the Mississippi Delta region when he was accused of flirting with a married white clerk at a local grocery store – a violation of the racist Jim Crow laws that were still in place in several southern states at the time.
A few nights later, he was abducted from his great-uncle’s house by the clerk’s husband and his half-brother – Roy Bryant and JW Milam – who proceeded to beat and mutilate him before shooting him in the head and leaving his body in the Tallahatchie River, where his remains were found three days later.
Although Till opens by showing Emmett’s life prior to this horrific incident, it primarily tells the story of the events that happened after his murder – focusing on his mother Mamie’s long fight for justice and her journey to becoming a prominent activist in the Civil Rights Movement.
As Chukwu makes clear in her director’s statement, this decision to tell the story from Mamie’s viewpoint – championing her legacy and centering her in the spotlight – was vital when it came to making the film, and speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com she outlined the extensive research process she undertook when it came to adapting her true story.
“There was so much about Mamie I didn’t know, and I think that there’s so much about Mamie that most of us in the world don’t know,” she said.
“I think a lot of people only know about the physical violence that was inflicted on Emmett – but that’s not the story. And that certainly shouldn’t be all that people take away from Mamie’s story and Emmett’s humanity and Mamie’s humanity.”
She continued: “I just didn’t know much about Mamie’s personal life, I didn’t know about the specific steps she took after Emmett’s death, I just did not know about her journey in developing activist consciousness. And I had never heard of (civil rights leader) Dr TRM Howard or the community of Mound Bayou.
“And so there was just so much of the story that was new to me, and I felt really saddened that I didn’t know this information, and it was never taught to me or spoken about to me. And I think that’s the case for a lot of people around the world.”
Chukwu added that she was especially moved by the “very intentional negotiations” Mamie made when it came to differentiating between her private and public selves, and this was something that resonated with some of her own experiences.
“Those navigations were informed by kind of a racist and sexist perception that was imposed upon her for being a black woman, and so where I really saw myself in Mamie’s story, as a black woman myself, is the specific complex navigation she had to make regarding misogynoir,” she explained.
“People, particularly the white press, either explicitly saying or implying that she’s a Jezebel and judging an error or basically suggesting she’s some angry black woman. These kinds of racist and sexist tropes that are specifically applied to black women, she’s having to navigate that while also grieving for her son, while also fighting for justice.
“This is a navigation I definitely saw myself in and I think that was so fascinating to me. The research process is so fascinating to me, to learn about this ecosystem of community that she really leaned on, whether that’s family and friends or Myrlie Evers, Medgar Evers and Dr TRM Howard, the different people she met in Mound Bayou.
“She had this community around her that really was instrumental in helping her accomplish what she accomplished, and I just didn’t know that and it was really moving. It was really moving that she wasn’t alone in this, wasn’t alone in this fight.”
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During the research process, Chukwu also spent some time with Mamie’s surviving family members, and this proved to be another crucial source of insight when it came to crafting the film.
“They shared with me a lot more information about her,” she said. “One of the things that her cousin told me was Mamie would always say that even if you don’t see the change you want in your lifetime, we must believe that we can still affect some change for future generations to come.
“And that was really inspiring to me, because we’re in some dark times right now and it’s easy to lose hope – and so my hope was often restored in learning more about Mamie’s story.”
Read more: Till director says Danielle Deadwyler “blew everyone away” in key scene
Till is released in UK cinemas on Friday 6th January 2023. If you’re looking for something to watch tonight, check out our TV Guide or Streaming Guide, or visit our dedicated Film hub for all the latest news.
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