Two UT School of Journalism and Electronic Media seniors and one UT graduate have something to celebrate: their civil rights documentary is in the running at the DocumFest 2008 International Documentary Film Festival hosted in Timisoara, Romania.

The film, exploring the U.S. civil rights movement and where it is today, runs about 25 minutes and is competing in the television documentary category at the college alma mater of UT's School of JEM director Peter Gross. The festival runs Nov. 6-8.

The documentary team consists of Tre Berney, JEM senior, acting as head engineer for the project; Josh Richard, JEM senior, as videographer; and Jane Barr, a 2006 UT political science and African American studies graduate, serving as producer.

The submitted film's main focus is on the movement's declaration of non-violent direct action, but the actual project is much larger than the cut version competing in the Romanian festival. The team hopes to create a short-run limited-series for PBS.

"The documentary was initially conceived to provide a journalistic inquiry as to where the developments of the American civil rights movement are today," Richard said. "It aims to answer some pressing specific questions: How successful was the civil rights movement? Forty years after Martin Luther King's death, where are we? ... What does the future hold and what are the problems being faced today?

"By interviewing the significant figures of the civil rights movement, we hope to have provided a linear addition to resources available to peoples of all races for the benefit and education of all," Richard said.

Through interviews and research that took the group to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Tanzania, Africa, the group soon realized where the movement fell short: education.

"(Jonathan) Kozol slapped us in the face with it," Barr said. Jonathan Kozol, a writer, educator and activist involved in the civil rights movement, was the group's third personal interview.

Kozol is best known for his books on the public education system in the U.S. and educated the film team on the problems the country still faces today.

"Education (is) the main problem - it's terrible," said Berney, who is from Cocke County. "The difference between rural schools verse urban schools is drastic."

He said the system for school funding is flawed for everyone involved and said the group left the interview with Kozol feeling empowered and shaking their heads at the "can of worms" the film makers had opened.

The trip to Africa came through an interview with Andrew Young, a civil rights activist, friend and ally to Martin Luther King Jr., author, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

The team was able to spend nearly two hours with the international figure. After the interview, he offered the group an opportunity to travel with him and heads of state to Tanzania, Africa, for the Leon H. Sullivan Summit, an organization based in New York with the purpose to "bridge the gaps that Africa has," Berney said.

Some of that footage was included in the documentary for the Romania film festival while the rest will be used later for the full documentary.

With the trip to Africa came some hardball truth.

"The world has changed," Barr said. "We're operating like we're in 1947 - nothing is the same. There's no reason for it to be the way it is."

After traveling around the country, and outside it, the group discovered how important Tennessee was to the civil rights movement.

"This project was really home grown," Barr said. "It was strange how things came together."

A vital source for their project was the renowned Highlander Research and Education Center located near New Market; a center the group members had never heard about before beginning the documentary process. They were shocked to learn that Martin Luther King Jr., along with many other influential people, attended the school of empowerment.

"Rosa Parks was there three or four weeks before she decided to not sit down on that bus," Barr said. "That's New Market, Tennessee, history,"

The project seems limitless for the group that is hoping for an opportunity to share their newfound knowledge beyond the film festival in Romania.

For Berney, Richard and Barr, the project has been unforgettable.

"It continually opens my eyes to cultural inequalities not only as a product of the American civil rights movement, but of civil rights struggles around the world," Richard said. "I have absolutely been changed as a direct result of being involved in this project. Most significantly as a person and in my understanding of African American culture and it's role in United States history."

The group's next planned trip out of country will be Angola in September 2009 for filming to raise awareness of mine destruction.

With funding cuts at UT the group has had to pay for most of their trips and film expenses out of pocket. They would like to thank the College of Communication, its director Gross, TVC, the Ready for the World program, and their adviser throughout this project, Bob Legg, for the help they were able to provide.

To learn more about the group's efforts or to aid them financially, contact Berney of Falseye Studios at tre.berney@gmail.com.