When Toronto-born Paul Saltzman first revisited Mississippi in 2006, he was not expecting it to lead to his directorial debut of a feature documentary. Having worked in the South as a civil rights activist in the summer of 1965, Saltzman was shocked to learn that almost four and a half decades later, Charleston High School still had segregated proms – one for white students, another for blacks – even though their classrooms had been integrated for years.

Once again, Saltzman was inspired to take action. He reconnected with his Oscar-winning buddy Morgan Freeman – who was raised in Charleston and still resides there – to approach the school board with the idea of a racially integrated prom and an offer from Freeman to foot the US$17,000 bill. (Freeman made the same proposal in 1997, but was refused.) In 2008, the board accepted and history was made.

Saltzman says the filmmakers were careful to be as objective as possible. ‘It’s about being honest and honorable to the subject, and in a sense, to documentary filmmaking itself,’ he tells Playback. ‘We didn’t go down there to prove anything; we just went down to see how things had changed and let people make up their own minds.’.

Prom Night in Mississippi marks a return to filmmaking for Saltzman after a 15-year hiatus, during which he raised his daughter and published a book of his own vintage photos of the Beatles in India. Previously, he coproduced Denys Arcand’s Map of the Human Heart (1993) and executive produced Deepa Mehta’s debut feature Sam & Me.

His commitment to Prom Night was so profound that he ponied up his own coin – $1 million – to cover the film’s entire budget.

It was worth it for Saltzman, who is hoping that this film inspires personal reflection.

‘One of the real reasons we made this film is because there isn’t any human being without some kind of prejudice,’ explains Saltzman. ‘Nothing in our world changes unless we do as individuals. It is very important to have people see this film and come out and hopefully reflect on their own beliefs and prejudices. That’s all, just reflect.’

Prom Night bowed at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Negotiations are currently underway for TV rights with HBO in the U.S. as well as Global and/or Super Channel in Canada, where theatrical rights are also being discussed.