TAMPA, Fla. — "If everybody looks the other way, then everybody's in on it. If I look the other way, I'm as implicated as the rest," says Elwood Curtis (played by Ethan Herisse), a Black teenager growing up in Jim Crow-era Tallahassee.
It's through Elwood's perspective that we watch director RaMell Ross' "Nickel Boys"—that is until we are introduced to Turner (played by Brandon Wilson), who befriends Elwood at Nickel Academy, a reform school he was sent to after a wrongful conviction. The two boys rely on each other as they endure brutal abuse at the hands of the school's staff as we watch our point-of-view shift between Turner and Elwood throughout the film.
The fictional film, as well as the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel it was based on, drew inspiration from the real-life Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida, which was shut down in 2011. For years, ABC Action News has reported on the unmarked graves found on the school grounds and its staff, who, much like in the film, were responsible for the abuse, torture and murder of children in their care.
University of South Florida forensic anthropologist Dr. Erin Kimmerle led the search for the unmarked graves, eventually locating 55 burials on the school property. According to USF's research, nearly 100 boys died between 1900 and 1973 at Dozier.
Since at least 2016, the former students of the now-shuttered school called on the state for compensation after claims of decades of sexual and physical abuse at the state-run facility. But it wasn't until 2024 that Florida passed a bill to set aside $20 million.
“Thank you for never giving up. Thank you for continuing to fight. Thank you for telling the story and the stories of those who are not here and can't speak. We salute your presence today,” Sen. Darryl Rouson said last year after its approval. Rouson, a Democrat, sponsored the bill. A memorial to remember the boys who suffered was also erected in 2023.
The Tampa Theatre is hosting a free screening of "Nickel Boys" followed by a panel discussion with Ross, journalist Ben Montgomery and Dr. Kimmerle on Saturday at 2 p.m.
No ticket is required for the screening, but seating will be first come, first served.
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Spring break season is back across Tampa Bay, and businesses are relying on spring break now more than ever.
