What started as a local event has grown to a national one in just a few short weeks. The “Bring Selma to Students” program began on January 8th in New York City when 27 African-American business leaders created a fund for 27,000 of the city’s 7th, 8th and 9th grade students to see the film for free. Due to the overwhelming demand, the New York City effort sold out in the very first weekend and was expanded to 75,000 tickets.

Since then, other African-American business leaders across the U.S. have joined in with Indianapolis and West Palm Beach being the newest, which means that the film will be shown to students for free at 34 locations nationwide.

Selma chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement. The film stars Tom Wilkinson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Alessandro Nivola, Giovanni Ribisi, Common, Carmen Ejogo, Lorraine Toussaint, with Tim Roth and Oprah Winfrey.

Due to the program’s popularity and the ongoing efforts of the organizers, student tickets in Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Miami, New York, Northern New Jersey, Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, St. Louis and Washington D.C. have sold out. Philadelphia expanded its program and added 3,000 more tickets to meet the overwhelming demand, while the business leaders in Northern New Jersey raised additional funds to send 1,000 students in Trenton, NJ to see the film.

Viacom’s Paramount Pictures, which is distributing the Academy Award-nominated film for Best Picture and Best Original Song, is coordinating the programs with participating theaters in the U.S. For a list of participating theaters in select cities offering free admission to students during this program and for information on group sales, visit www.SelmaMovie.com/studenttickets. Middle and high school students who present a current student ID or report card at the box office of any participating theater will receive free admission while tickets last.