BY HALEY LENAUER
On February 27 at the Beach Schmidt Performing Arts Center, Emmy award nominated cinematographer, George Silano, presented his rarely seen film, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: A Personal Portrait. The video has never been televised before and has only been shown various times around the country. The short movie documented Dr. King in his home as he discussed his opinions on personal topics, such as racism, war vs. peace, and family life.
The presentation was unique in how it illustrated a side of Dr. King that is typically never talked about in school. In his interview, he was relaxed, friendly, and incredibly well-spoken. He went into detail about current topics of the time such as the Vietnam War, the rise of Communism, pacifism as a means to accomplish goals, and race issues in America. He also briefly went into the impact racism had had on his family and those in his community, and what he hoped to accomplish with his cultural mission.
The entire interview was done within the confines of his living room, and it gave the production a very personal, comfortable atmospheric feel. One of the more interesting things of note in the interview scenes was that Dr. King was constantly sitting under a picture of Mahatma Gandhi framed above his couch. When asked about it after the film was finished, George Silano mentioned how this was not intentional, and that Dr. King had framed the picture there long before then. Dr. King drew a lot of inspiration and philosophy from Gandhi, and this was likely why the image was there. However, this unintentional symbolism still left an added emotional impact to various scenes where Dr. King spoke, especially when he mentioned his views on pacifism.
The film also spotlighted aspects of his family life: there is a scene where his son Dexter comes in and sits next to his father on their couch while Dr. King is speaking, or a scene of King’s wife Coretta in the background, quickly wrangling her young children to prevent them from accidentally walking into the shot. Speaking of Coretta, the film also had a few brief interview segments with her on topics that ranged from how she met her husband, to her family life, and also her perspective on her husband’s goals and accomplishments.
Cinematographer George Silano was one of the few people who got to experience this interview in-person. The video shoot was the only time Dr. King ever allowed a film crew access to his home. The whole production took place over four days and was achieved with only the limited resources the crew was given. In that regard, the fact that the final product turned out as well as it did is incredible.
Forty years after the initial shoot, it was suddenly discovered again in the archives. Since then, George Silano has made it his goal to show as many groups of people the film as possible. After the video presentation was finished, Silano patiently answered questions the audience had about the video, Silano’s work on it, and of its cultural relevance in today’s divided society.
As of now, no major television studio has picked up the rights to broadcast this film. However, George Silano is still willing to present this video to other groups of individuals as needed. As he continues to do so, hopefully, more people are able to view this and gain another perspective on Martin Luther King Jr. and his views on a world that still needs them today.