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Shutdown

Shutdown is a documentary film about a fearless group of teen activists in Columbus, Ohio, who were determined to make their voices heard amidst the raucous turmoil rocking the United States in 1971.
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Shutdown chronicles what went down when these students were inspired by the many struggles for racial and social justice that were happening across the nation and took a stand. Although they paid a heavy price for their courage, these youth were a catalyst for significant change that extended far beyond their school and community.

  • Celia C. Peters
    Director
  • Celia C. Peters
    Writer
  • Simone C. Drake
    Producer
  • Celia C. Peters
    Producer
  • Allen S. Coleman
    Producer
  • John Wells
    Key Cast
  • John Whittaker
    Key Cast
  • Donald Vasser
    Key Cast
  • Alford Young
    Key Cast
  • Edward Poindexter
    Key Cast
  • Zola Diggs
    Key Cast
  • Tom Brown
    Key Cast
  • Valora Washington
    Key Cast
  • JoEllen Smith
    Key Cast
  • Gary Davis
    Key Cast
  • John Caplinger
    Key Cast
  • Bruce Bunch
    Key Cast
  • Mark Morton
    Key Cast
  • Richard Moriba Kelsey
    Key Cast
  • Ruth Simmons
    Key Cast
  • Peter Simmons
    Key Cast
  • John Harrington
    Key Cast
  • Stan Harris
    Key Cast
  • Gene Harris
    Key Cast
  • John Caplinger
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 1 minute 25 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 19, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    100,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Community Screening - Columbus Metro Library
    Columbus
    United States
    May 20, 2023
    North American Premiere
  • The Columbus Foundation - Employee Screening
    Columbus
    United States
    July 20, 2023
  • Community Screening - Morehouse College
    Atlanta
    United States
    November 13, 2023
  • Community Screening - Lincoln Theatre
    Columbus
    United States
    December 2, 2023
  • Community Screening - Case Western Reserve University
    Cleveland
    United States
    February 14, 2024
Director Biography - Celia C. Peters

Celia C. Peters is a filmmaker creating daring futurist stories about intriguing, authentic characters. Peters is currently developing her afrofuturist feature film GODSPEED with producer Gabrielle Glore and Color Farm Media (Erika Alexander & Ben Arnon). She was selected for Stowe Story Labs’ 2024 Narrative Lab with her sci-fi thriller script Roxë15. and was curator of the 2024 Black History Month film program at the SFO (Airport) Museum. She directed and co-produced Shutdown (2023), a historical documentary presented by The Ohio State University and in 2022, she launched her science fiction audio drama DOMESTICATED. In 2022, Peters was also named a Cultural Strategist in Government for the City of Oakland at the African American Museum and Library of Oakland. In this role, she created digital and immersive media from Oakland’s Black history and produced a short documentary on Huey P. Newton (forthcoming in 2024). In 2021, Peters curated Blackness Revisualized, WNET/AllArts.org’s inaugural afrofuturist film festival. In 2019-2020, Peters was a lecturer at Ohio State University. She created the B.A.M.N. (By Any Means Necessary) filmmaking course and Screenwriting Basics course that she’s taught to youth and adults. In 2018, she delivered a keynote speech at the NAACP National Convention and attended the Talent Lab at the Reykjavik International Film Festival with feature project Godspeed. In 2017, Peters was awarded a Residency at the Wexner Center for the Arts for her experimental sci-fi short film MISSION. She is also an ongoing Advisor to Sundance Co//ab screenwriting workshops. Her work has screened in Los Angeles, NYC, Berlin, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Cleveland and London, as well as on public and cable television.

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Director Statement

Shutdown is a story about a crew of proud, brave Black teens who bucked the system over 50 years ago and stood up for what they believed in. I was in from the word ‘go’ but little did we know, making the film was destined to be a real rollercoaster ride. Shortly after our first production meeting in a conference room at The Ohio State University in 2020, Covid-19 brought everything to a standstill….for a couple of years. Along the way, I moved across the country, we lost two of our leading cast members and had to navigate huge setback in post-production. Nevertheless, we never stopped.

What hooked me on this story was the first thing I learned about it, which was actually the climax — the incident that was the culmination of a very intense sequence of events. The more I learned, the more wowed I was. I remain incredibly impressed by the vision, courage and determination of the young students who led the movement for change at Linden McKinley High School in Columbus, Ohio. Not only were they kids — but they took a stand at a time when youth protestors were being met with police violence in places like Kent State University, Jackson State University and The Ohio State University. Still, they persisted. They were freedom fighters, with heart and soul.

Getting to know the men and women who were the boys and girls who created this story (and their adult allies) was something I will always treasure. I feel blessed that they trusted me with this pivotal part of their lives. They were (and are!) real characters, not to mention being incredibly inspiring. I learned about a critical historical chapter from those who lived it, and it forced me to reframe my understanding the present-day fight for racial justice in America. As we worked on the film, a social uprising for racial justice happened across America — and it was a staggering parallel to the very thing this film is about. Feeling the power of that and sharing the experience with our amazing cast was something I’ll never forget.

Suffice to say, working on Shutdown was an honor and I will always be grateful for the opportunity to tell this story, which feels local but in truth is much, much bigger.