4 Little Girls
| 4 Little Girls | |
|---|---|
DVD release cover
|
|
| Directed by | Spike Lee |
| Produced by |
Spike Lee Samuel D. Pollard |
| Music by | Terence Blanchard |
| Cinematography | Ellen Kuras |
| Edited by | Samuel D. Pollard |
| Distributed by | HBO Documentary |
|
Release date
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July 9, 1997 (U.S.) September 6, 1997 (Canada) |
|
Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $130,146 (U.S. sub-total) |
4 Little Girls is a 1997 American historical documentary film about the 15 September 1963 murder of four African-American girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. It was directed by Spike Lee and nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Documentary".
The events inspired the 1964 song "Birmingham Sunday" by Richard and Mimi Fariña. The song was used in the opening sequence of the film, as sung by Mimi's sister, Joan Baez.
4 Little Girls premiered Wednesday, June 25, 1997 at the Guild 50th Street Theatre in New York City. It was produced by 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, Lee's production company, and Home Box Office (HBO).
Lee started Times Magazine article about the incident, he was moved to write to Chris McNair, the father of Denise, one of the victims, asking for permission to tell her story on film. McNair turned down the young, aspiring filmmaker's offer. "I was entering my first semester at N.Y.U. So my skills as a filmmaker were nonexistent, and at that time, Chris McNair was still hesitant to talk about it," Lee said in a 1997 interview with Industry Central's The Director's Chair. "I believe timing is everything. So it took ten years of Chris thinking about this and ten years of myself making movies for this to come together."
According to McNair, he changed his mind about supporting Lee's film idea due to learning about the depth and precision of Lee's research. McNair said, "[I]t's very important that this be done accurately and correctly. In all his research, he [Lee] showed that he was objective and seeking a broad section of opinion. I'm a stickler for the facts."
Lee had first intended to create a dramatic reproduction of the incident, but decided that would not be the best approach. He shifted to a documentary. Once he secured funding, Lee went to Birmingham with a small skeleton film crew. He wanted to have the families be as comfortable as possible. Ellen Kuras was the Director of Photography and Sam Pollard the producer/editor. (Lee developed a relationship with Ellen Kuras on an HBO project called Subway Stories, an anthology of short films compiled by Jonathan Demme. Lee's film never made the final cut due in part to conflict between Lee and Demme, however, the working partnership between Lee and Kuras was born.)
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