Press Releases

October 14, 2011

Joan Galvan, Public Information Officer
(805) 965-0581 ext. 2307
(805) 963-7222
jcgalvan@sbcc.edu

Producer-Director Paul Saltzman Headlines Annual SBCC Dorantes Lecture

Award-winning film and television producer-director Paul Saltzman will deliver the keynote address “Moving Beyond Prejudice” at the 21st Annual Leonardo Dorantes Memorial Lecture at Santa Barbara City College on Tuesday, November 8. The event, which focuses each year on diversity and equality, will be held from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m. at SBCC’s Sports Pavilion on East Campus. A reception will follow the presentation. Both are free and open to the community.

Mr. Saltzman, a two-time Canadian Emmy Award winner, has more than 300 films to his credit including the 2008 documentary feature Prom Night in Mississippi featuring actor Morgan Freeman which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Festival. According to Mr. Saltzman, the film follows theCharleston (Miss.) High senior class of 2008 preparing and attending their historic, first integrated prom, in the context of strong emotions, traditions, and conflict inherent in race relations in the community and in the deep south. Morgan Freeman’s offer to fund the integrated prom was accepted by the county school board after an earlier rejection in 1998.

A resident of Toronto, Mr. Saltzman briefly studied Engineering Science before getting involved in congressional civil rights lobbying in Washington, D.C. In the summer of 1965 he conducted voter registration work in Mississippi, which would later lead him to go back to the area to explore the concept of prejudice

Mr. Saltzman began his film and television career at the Canadian Broadcastng Corporation as a researcher, interviewer and on-air host and then moved to the National Film board ofCanada. In 1973, he founded Sunrise Films Limited. He traveled to many developing nations from 1976 to 1981 to document native art forms transitioning from one generation to another. The eventual 26 documentaries became known as the “World Cultures and Youth” series.

Mr. Saltzman then turned to developing and producing numerous specials and television series for clients as HBO, the CSB-Disney Channel and the major television networks. He also is known for a series of books of photographs of the Beatles that he took in 1977 when he encountered the famous quartet at an ashram inIndia.

The Dorantes lecture series atSanta BarbaraCityCollegewas established in honor of Leonardo Dorantes, a SBCC second-year student and Mexican immigrant, who was tragically killed in 1990 in an assault with strong racial overtones. Started in 1991 by SBCC and the Foundation for SBCC, the series was designed to heighten the awareness and understanding of racial and ethnic differences and shared commonalities inSanta Barbara.

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