Over a hundred people filled the BHS auditorium on Oct. 29 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.  They had come to watch the 2014 film Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay.

The MAC Scholars club hosted the event, the first in a series of monthly film screenings free for students and $5 for adults. The film series will confront issues of race and justice in American society.

Scholars club member Mia Knight believes showing these movies will promote important discussions at BHS.

“I hope students will become aware,” Knight said. “I think it will bring a new world into Beachwood.”

Selma focuses on the 1965 march for voting rights led by Martin Luther King, Jr., from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. In the movie,  MLK (David Oyelowo) and his supporters push forward in the face of violent reaction from Alabama state troopers as they cross the Edmund Pettus bridge.

Knight explained that the club’s objective in showing the film was to bring unity to the community.

The auditorium was filled with families and students of different colors and races, all there for the same reason. Club adviser Kevin Houchins believes this is the mindset we should strive for.

“In the movie, a key scene was when everyone [white and black] came together to march,” Houchins said. “That sparked a change, and I hope we can look at history because at the end of the day, we are all people.”

Junior Maxwell Rackmill and sophomore David Novikov both thought the movie was powerful.

“It shows that we shouldn’t forget the things that happened,” Rackmill said. “The scene in the beginning with the girls in the church and the unexpected explosion really stuck with me.”

“It shows that things like this cannot be forgotten,” he added.

“The depiction of African Americans and their struggle against the white supremacists in the movie really made you see [how prevalent and violent racism was at the time],” Novikov said. “The movie makes me want to be involved in organizations and help.”

After the movie, a panel of guests reflected on the movie and their experiences with racism and the civil rights movement. Participants included John Hay senior Danielle Harris, civil rights attorney James Hardiman, English teacher Casey Matthews, former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones and special guest, Diane Phillips Leatherberry, who marched across the Edmund Pettus bridge with Dr. King in 1965.

Harris talked about the struggle of educating people about racism, while Leatherberry recommended books about characters in the movie. The panel was light-hearted but had a strong message.

“I liked hearing the varying ideas each of the panelists presented,” Rackmill said.

On Nov. 19 at 5:00 p.m., the scholars club will show the movie Race, directed by Stephen Hopkins. The film tells the story of Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens, who went to high school in Cleveland.

“Oh yeah, I’ll be there” Novikov said. “It looks like a lot of fun.”