NATCHEZ — Three filmmakers will unveil next week their documentary about one of Natchez’s darkest episodes in the same place where those events unfolded more than 50 years ago.

Producers G. Mark LaFrancis, Darrell White and Robert Morgan invite the public to see “The Parchman Ordeal: The Untold Story,” a film that chronicles the arrest and mistreatment of Natchez residents, who were sent to the state penitentiary in October 1965 for parading without a permit.

The film’s premiere will be at 6 p.m. on Oct. 6 in the Natchez City Auditorium, executive producer LaFrancis said.

For more than a year-and-a-half, the three men have been interviewing survivors and other officials, gathering images and film footage and writing the script for the one-hour long documentary.

In the last two weeks, Natchez musician Alvin Shelby has been recording the soundtrack for the film.

The documentary was produced with help from the Mississippi Humanities Council and the non-profit Natchez Association for the Preservation of Afro-American History and Culture.

The film focuses on the events of October 1965 when Natchez residents attempted to march from local churches to raise awareness of civil rights abuses, LaFrancis said.

“They never did march. Instead they were herded onto buses and into paddy wagons,” LaFrancis said. “Then they were taken to the Natchez City Auditorium where they were held for hours and hours.”

Some were taken to local jails, but others were sent to Parchman where they were abused, punished and humiliated, LaFrancis said.

Eighteen survivors were interviewed for the film.

“There testimonies are powerful, moving, sometimes disturbing but also inspiring,” LaFrancis said. “The experiences they had back in 1965 are clear as a bell today. Their passion comes through after a half a century.”

The film is not just a string of Parchman survivors talking on the screen, the filmmakers said.

Other voices will also be heard to give context to the story. Former Mississippi Gov. William Winter, journalist Bill Minor, former Adams County Sheriff Tommy Ferrell and Civil Rights activist and former Fayette mayor Charles Evers were also interviewed for the film.

Part of the film focuses on the events leading up to the Parchman Ordeal, White said.

“A lot of this happened in the aftermath of the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” White said. “More than 400 folks were added to the voter rolls in a matter of days.”

Soon after, local NAACP president George Metcalfe was severely wounded in a bombing on Aug. 27, 1965, reportedly because he was a prominent African American who was trying to register people to vote.

“You now have the attempted murder of an organizer, which was supposed to force the community to back down, but it invigorated it,” White said.

Local author Stanley Nelson, who will be signing his newly-published book, “Devils Walking: Klan Murders Along the Mississippi During the 1960s,” was also interviewed for the film.

LaFrancis said the film is suitable for young people and he encourages students in middle school and above to see it.

“Young people need to see how much other people their age were willing to sacrifice and did sacrifice on behalf of civil rights and voting rights, not just for African Americans, but for everyone,” LaFrancis said.

The filmmakers said many young people would be exposed for the first time to what some of their relatives went through at the time.

“Many of them kept it locked up inside of them for so long,” White said. “We are giving voice to those who experienced that incident when many around us are totally unfamiliar.”

Morgan said that he hopes the film will be a testament to the courage of the survivors who endured abuse and humiliation.

“These individuals entrusted in us their story so that we would be good stewards of it,” Morgan said. “We took that trust very seriously to make sure that the film was their story and was told in a manner that respected them.”