Roads to Memphis

Invited

In 1968, as Martin Luther King Jr. was at the height of his popularity, James Earl Ray was on the lam, cooking up preposterous schemes to make money fast. Then on April 4, the two men converged in Memphis, Tennessee, and with chilling precision Ray shot and killed King as the civil rights leader stood on his motel balcony. Roads to Memphis examines the volatile social and political forces in America at the time that led to that horrific encounter and attempts to decode the psychological impulses of the assassin, an enigmatic loner with a warped sense of destiny. How was this down-and-out drifter, now the most wanted man in the world, able to elude the authorities for over two months? Through interviews with King’s closest associates and officials involved with Ray’s capture and prosecution, as well as archival footage of the mayhem that broke out across the country as news of the assassination spread, this film offers a fresh perspective on one of America’s iconic tragedies.  EM

Director

Stephen Ives

Producer

Amanda Pollak

Editor

George O'Donnell

Cinematographers

Rafael De La Uz, Daniel B. Gold, Peter Nelson, Andrew Young

Release Year

2009

Festival Year

2010

Country

United States

Run Time

81 minutes

Premiere

North American Premiere