The Broadcast Premiere of Ava DuVernay’s Epic Academy Award-Nominated Film “Selma” to Air as the “CBS Sunday Night Movie” June 20 [VIDEO]

SELMA, from director Ava DuVernay and starring David Oyelowo as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965 when the revered leader and visionary Dr. King led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators on a campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of brutal opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement.

SELMA, which was released in 2014, also stars Cuba Gooding Jr. (lawyer and activist Fred Gray), Alessandro Nivola (John Doar, the Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division), Giovanni Ribisi (presidential advisor Lee White), Common (civil rights leader James Bevel), Carmen Ejogo (Coretta Scott King), Lorraine Toussaint (Amelia Boynton, one of the pivotal march organizers), with Tim Roth (Governor George Wallace) and Oprah Winfrey as civil rights legend Annie Lee Cooper.

“It’s an honor for CBS to present the broadcast debut of Ava DuVernay’s powerful, important and celebrated film SELMA, which was distributed by our colleagues at Paramount Pictures,” said Noriko Kelley, Executive Vice President, Program Planning & Scheduling, CBS Entertainment. “Television has the unique ability to deliver collective, unifying experiences for the audience, and we hope our broadcast of this compelling and historic drama will inspire discussion among our viewers during Juneteenth weekend and beyond.”

“I’m proud that America’s most-watched network is making Ava DuVernay’s masterful and poignant film SELMA available for all to see,” said Tiffany Smith-Anoa’i, Executive Vice President, Entertainment Diversity and Inclusion, West Coast, ViacomCBS. “It’s a work of art and a timeless reminder of the hard-won accomplishments of the civil rights movement and the importance of social justice to this day.”

The film, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and won the Oscar(R) for Best Original Song for John Legend and Common’s powerful tribute “Glory,” was produced by Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner and was written by Paul Webb.

The “CBS Sunday Night Movies” franchise returned last spring (2020) with six classic films from the Paramount Pictures library, resumed in the fall with six more, and is debuting in 2021with GLADIATOR on May 30 (Memorial Day Weekend). Prior to these broadcasts, “CBS Sunday Night Movies” were last featured on the Network schedule in 2006.