“Selma,” the Golden Globe-nominated film about Martin Luther King Jr., will screen for free in the Alabama city that gave the film its title. “With deep gratitude to the people of Selma, Alabama, we are proud to share this powerful film depicting the historic events that took place there 50 years ago,” said Oprah Winfrey on behalf of the film’s producers. Winfrey costars in the movie as an African-American worker who joins the civil rights protests.

It took more than just pleas from “Selma” director Ava DuVernay to convince Oprah Winfrey to join the film’s cast. In fact, the TV mogul and actress said it was a story about the real-life Civil Rights activist she portrays that finally persuaded her to change her mind. In a previous interview with TheWrap, DuVernay revealed Winfrey “did not want to do it” and had to be asked several times. Winfrey explained in an E!

“Selma” is vital correspondence, filmmaking lived on the streets where brutal facts were ignored then reported, and now snatched back from history to sustain a spirit few films can or will possess. It is stunning humanistic cinema on a mainstream scale, made by a group of unconventional artists. Premiered in an unfinished cut at AFI Fest, this rarely feels like any biopic you’ve seen. It has inventiveness, urgency, humor, and most of all emotion that draws effortless parallels rather than leaving its lesson up on the screen. Even the title cards offer something fresh.

“Selma” is vital correspondence, filmmaking lived on the streets where brutal facts were ignored then reported, and now snatched back from history to sustain a spirit few films can or will possess. It is stunning humanistic cinema on a mainstream scale, made by a group of unconventional artists. Premiered in an unfinished cut at AFI Fest, this rarely feels like any biopic you’ve seen. It has inventiveness, urgency, humor, and most of all emotion that draws effortless parallels rather than leaving its lesson up on the screen. Even the title cards offer something fresh.