The life of Barbara Smith Conrad is one of courage, hope and love. This film tells her story through the struggle, disappointments, perseverance, and ultimate success of a girl whose love of music and hope for an education brought her to the University of Texas during the Civil Rights movement and placed her at the center of racial controversy in Texas.

I saw this premiere at SXSW and a week later am still thinking about the importance of this story. Important because it documents an era in our history that should never be forgotten and important because it reminds us what can be achieved even against great odds.

Mat Hames directed a beautiful film that draws you in not just with the story itself, but with the music, photography, interviews, original photos and film footage. I laughed, I cried, I felt shame for a time in our history, and I felt joy for the life of Barbara Smith Conrad. I loved this film - a perfect 10!!!

Like Denzel Washington's feature film The Great Debaters, When I Rise retrieves a long-forgotten piece of Texas's contentious Civil Rights history. Not surprisingly, When I Rise was very well-received in its World Premiere at SXSW. The story of how Barbara Smith Conrad was denied the opportunity to perform in an Opera at the University of Texas-Austin at the dawn of Civil Rights movement provides a very personal window into the racism of that era. The film is beautiful and sensitively made and provides a story of redemption for both Conrad and ultimately the University which supported the project. This film should be widely viewed so that young people today can come to understand that today's more tolerant multicultural society has been achieved only through a long and difficult struggle that should never be forgotten. Conrad provides an excellent role model of grace and perseverance.

I am biased because I am a student of opera.

I also buy into films easily, and become emotional when my heartstrings are tugged.

That said, I still feel this film is beautiful. From the opening strains of an off-key, country piano, to the hopeful face of a young performer who sings as the closing credits roll, this movie out-lined the struggles and successes of African American Opera Diva, Barbara Smith Conrad, with sensitivity and humor carefully balanced throughout the entire journey.

Part history lesson, part biography, part inspiration, the film is full of poignant moments as Barbara struggles to reconcile her difficult path to success.

The viewer is left at the end with a sense of hope and a faith in dreams and, perhaps, a new hero in the form of an elegant woman from rural Texas who took on the world.

I highly recommend!