Sponsored Films

Edit Screening room Printable film description

A Time for Burning (1966)

Download a copy of the film

Film Description

A Time for Burning (1966)
Sponsor: Lutheran Film Associates. Production Co.: Quest Productions. Directors/Producers/Editors: William C. Jersey, Barbara Connell. Music: Tom Paxton, Ronnie Gilbert.Transfer Note: Scanned from a 16mm print held by the Library of Congress. Running Time: 58 minutes.

Cinema verité documentary on race relations. A young minister of a white Lutheran congregation in Omaha, Nebraska, tries to reach out to African Americans but is opposed by his church elders and is forced to resign.

Note: Received an Academy Award nomination for Best Feature Documentary in 1967. Selected for the National Film Registry in 2005. Barber Ernest Chambers went on to become the longest-serving legislator in Nebraska history.

Resources
Edward B. Fiske, “Racial Dispute Relived on Film,” New York Times, Sept. 17, 1966, 26; Jack Gould, “TV: Segregation at Communion Rail,” New York Times, Oct. 18, 1966, 91; Jack Gould, “The High Price of Serenity on Sunday,” New York Times, Oct. 30, 1966, d22; Louise Sweeney, “A Time for Burning,” Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 10, 1967, 6.