LINCOLN — “Lincoln,” the movie, will be shown in Lincoln, the city, today to commemorate the 204th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth.
Lincoln Middle School is one of eight places in the country selected to show the Steven Spielberg film, nominated for 12 Academy Awards this year, as part of a national campaign titled “Standing Tall: Live Like Lincoln.”
The social action campaign uses the movie as a springboard for local discussion around the film’s themes of leadership, civic engagement and public service, according to a news release from the campaign’s sponsor, Participant Media and Active Voice, which is managing the campaign.
Students in the Lincoln High School Environmental and Spatial Technology program will host the event at the Middle School Auditorium. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the film begins at 6 p.m.
The evening will include a panel discussion featuring Superintendent Clay Hendrix; Dax Moreton, School Board president; Brandy Britton, high school student leadership committee president; Ed Marshall, a retired teacher; Ken Gheen, president of the VFW chapter; Alan Thompson, a historian; and John Harvey, a member of the Kiwanis Club.
The event is free and open to the public.
Abraham Lincoln was born Feb. 12, 1809, near Hodgenville, Ky.
The film is the story of the final months in the life of the president and the political struggles over passage of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to end slavery.