Hawai'i couple brings Rosa Parks story to TV

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

Angela Bassett plays Rosa Parks in a movie about the woman who in 1955 helped create the civil rights movement. CBS 'The Rosa Parks Story' Public screening 6:30 p.m., Feb. 23, Honolulu Hale Broadcast 8 p.m., Feb. 24, CBS

In a letter to Parks three years ago seeking movie rights, Chotzen and Jenner — practicing lawyers and movie producers who are partners in marriage and business — explained that they were from Hawai'i, where multicultural living is a way of life. The couple secured the rights, and "The Rosa Parks Story" will air Feb. 24 on KGMB-TV, Channel 9.

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition-Hawai'i plans a free advance screening of the movie Feb. 23 at Honolulu Hale to celebrate Black History Month.

"It's all true," said Jenner, a former Honolulu deputy public defender, of the details in the movie. "Everything happened as portrayed. It shows her arc, the acceptance of segregation as a way of life and then her rebellion against it."

Even the little-known historical fact that three people before Parks refused to give up their seats is presented in the film, Jenner said.

Parks oversaw the production of the film and was pleased with the result, said Chotzen, a former federal deputy public defender in Hawai'i. "She was given input all along the way," she said.

Parks' arrest in Montgomery, Ala., for violating a city ordinance requiring blacks sitting in the middle rows of a bus to give up their seats to whites when all seats in the front rows were taken, triggered a yearlong boycott of the Montgomery bus system led by King. It was the beginning of the civil rights movement.

Chotzen said the film portrays racial injustice through the eyes of a child. "You couldn't drink from the same water fountain as whites and couldn't try on clothes in a store," Chotzen said. "Mrs. Park was not political. She was quiet and dignified in what she did. What it showed is that one person can change City Hall if we follow our hearts."

Chotzen and Jenner, who divide their time between Honolulu and Hollywood, specialize in producing "true-life story" movies. "The Rosa Parks Story" is their seventh film. The others are "My Father's Shadow: The Sam Sheppard Story," "Lies He Told," "Sister, My Sister," "Murder in the Mirror," "Prison of Secrets" and "A Matter of Justice."

The producers have legal and crime movies in development for the USA, Lifetime and Fox networks, including a series pilot titled "Courthouse," set in Hawai'i.

"The Rosa Parks Story" stars Angela Bassett, Cicely Tyson, Peter Francis and Dexter King as his father the civil rights leader. Parks used the money she received for the film rights to set up the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development.

"She wants to leave a legacy for children," Chotzen said of Parks. "She wants every child to experience the path of the underground railroad so they can have a better understanding."

Chotzen and Jenner will be at the Washington, D.C., premiere of the film Feb. 23.

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.