3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets
Synopsis
In 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets, two lives intersected and were forever altered. On Black Friday 2012, two cars parked next to each other at a Florida gas station. A white middle-aged male and a black teenager exchanged angry words over the volume of the music in the boy’s car. A gun entered the exchange, and one of them was left dead. Michael Dunn fired 10 bullets at a car full of unarmed teenagers and then fled. Three of those bullets hit 17-year-old Jordan Davis, who died at the scene. Arrested the next day, Dunn claimed he shot in self-defense. Thus began the long journey of unraveling the truth. 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets follows that journey, reconstructing the night of the murder and revealing how hidden racial prejudice can result in tragedy.
Action Steps
WAYS YOU CAN REACT TO FILM
1. HOST a “Know Your Rights” workshop on campus. Have local police or campus lawyers inform your audience of what to do if you are being arrested, and what rights you have while recording police interactions.
2. HOST a town hall discussion about race relations on your campus. Invite your Dean of Students, Associate Dean of Multicultural Affairs, VP of Student Affairs, President, and other influential members of the campus community to be present.
3. COORDINATE with organizations on your campus and the local police to hold a rally and/or march.
4. SAY THEIR NAMES. Create a visual demonstration to honor the names and lives of black men, women, and members of the LGBTQ community who were victims of recent police violence.
5. SPEAK UP and be an active bystander if you witness hateful or uninformed comments or actions.
“The fact that many in the audience know how this mystery ends does nothing to lessen the tension, or the feeling of thudding, impotent grief, when the final verdict is delivered.”
“A legally, morally and politically gripping film about a Florida killing, this rare documentary gives both sides of a controversy ample opportunity to make their cases.”