Winter State Entertainment is developing a feature film about the courageous activist Rosa Parks, Deadline has confirmed. The producers are fast-tracking the project in order to start filming next year.
The feature, titled Rosa, may be the first time a biopic about Parks will debut in U.S. theaters. Rosa will chronicle the first 24-hours as they unfold after the arrest of Parks on December 1, 1955. The project will also recognize the contributions to the civil rights movement that the civil rights advocate/activist made both before and after the racist incident in Alabama.
The project is written by Charlie Kessler and Hamid Torabpour. Kessler (Lapham Rising) originally conceived the concept. Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College Jeanne Theoharis will serve as consulting producer. Her book, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, received the 2014 NAACP Image Award and the 2013 Letitia Woods Brown Award from the Association of Black Women Historians. Oscar-nominated and Globe Globe-winning producer Kerry Orent (Michael Clayton, The Affair) will produce with Kessler and Hamid alongside Camille Torabpour, Dr. Mark Smith, Patrick Werksma, and Ramfis Myrthil (The Broken Ones) of Beast and East Productions.
Theoharis told the outlet: “While most Americans have heard of Rosa Parks, the details of what happened that on the night she was arrested, and her lifetime of political courage and activism, are largely unknown. The real story of Rosa Parks is far different, and even more inspiring and relevant for our times than the tale most children learn in school.”
“We are honored to be working alongside Professor Theoharis. Rosa Parks is an inspiration, and our goal is to be able to use this project to raise awareness for the Rosa and Raymond Park Institute for Self Development. Ms. Parks did not have any children, so her institute is her legacy,” Kessler added.
A portion of the proceeds from the film will be donated to The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
