AMY GOODMAN: That was a clip from the Academy Award-nominated Selma. We’re talking to the director, Ava DuVernay. We’re here in Sundance. Ava, that moment where he calls on all good people to come to Selma, talk about what happened then.

AVA DUVERNAY: I love that moment, because that was the blossoming, in my mind. That was the moment where there was an open invitation to people of all faiths, colors, classes, cultures to join the fight. I mean, if you believe in justice and dignity, come stand with us, you know. And that call is so, so moving, so emotional.

AMY GOODMAN: Were those King’s very words?

AVA DUVERNAY: No. We cannot use Dr. King’s very words. I had to approximate, because another filmmaker has the rights to his exact words.

AMY GOODMAN: I don’t understand.

AVA DUVERNAY: Well, King was a private individual. He was a private citizen. And his public statements, most of them are <copyrighted>. And so the estate has licensed those words to another filmmaker that’s not me. So—

AMY GOODMAN: Has that filmmaker made a film?

AVA DUVERNAY: No, but he’s going to be making a film, and it’s going to be beautiful, I am sure.

AMY GOODMAN: So you can’t quote King at all?

AVA DUVERNAY: No, no, it’s domain of his estate, yeah. So then the question was: Do you not tell the story, or do you untether yourself from the words and try to get underneath what he meant, what the ideas were? And so, I just really tried to listen very closely to everything he was saying. I rewrote those speeches. Everything you hear him say was just, you know, trying to approximate what he actually said, because the ideas are so bold, they’re so fresh, they’re so—they’re so outstanding, that it felt wrong to let them be locked away without trying to attempt them.

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http://www.democracynow.org/2015/1/27/the_power_of_the_people_selma