A sold-out crowd filled the ShowPlace ICON Theater in St. Louis Park on Saturday morning, but it was not to see any of the new Hollywood blockbusters featured on posters in the lobby.

The nonprofit Twin Cities Film Fest hosted a special screening of the locally produced documentary, “My Story, My Truth,” directed by Nyia Harris in 2018.

“It was a little idea I had in my head and it kind of came to fruition,” Harris said.

Sparked by the police killing of Philando Castile in 2016, Harris set out to record the first-hand accounts of Black Americans in the Twin Cities who described their own experiences with discrimination and racism.

Brianne Carmichael was among 14 participants in the film and described a ‘culture shock’ as a child, moving from Brooklyn Park to a new school district outside the Twin Cities metro area.

“You name it, I was called it almost every day,” Carmichael said in the film about being the target of racial slurs.

She reunited with the other participants on Saturday for an unexpected turn on the red carpet.

“It’s interesting because I’m in a different place emotionally and psychologically,” Carmichael said. “I’m in a much more healed space.”

At the time, those in the film described anger and frustration about issues such as ‘police brutality’ — a full two years before the murder of George Floyd that some now point to as a moment of ‘racial reckoning’ for the country.

“Unfortunately, the needle hasn’t moved that much,” Harris said. “All of the stories that are in the movie… all of the stories that are told by the participants could just have easily been told today.”

The screening of the film was followed by a question and answer session in the theater.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Harris said. “Hopefully this can be the catalyst for conversation.”