MUMBAI:  Oprah Winfrey’s new movie Selma centers on a key moment in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The film, which is slated to open on Christmas Day this year, will mirror the struggle in the age of Ferguson and Garner and dramatise how King (David Oyelowo) rallied peacefully in 1965 against Southern racism and Alabama governor, George Wallace (Tim Roth) in order to get President Lyndon Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to pass the voting rights act and ensure black enfranchisement.

Talking about how even today protesters fill the streets to protest police killings of unarmed black men, Winfrey says, “You look out of your window and see people protesting, and then look at Selma and it looks similar. It’s a wonderful thing that people are protesting”.

“When they say, enough is enough and that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, it reiterates what Martin Luther King said in Selma,” she adds.

The issue is certainly close to Winfrey’s heart. Her message of empowerment is a part of everything she does. Winfrey, who herself was born poor to a family in Mississippi, began her career as a Chicago newsreader 30 years back. Today, the 60-year-old magnate is a successful talk show presenter and a multi-faceted personality.

Selma is set to release on 25 December 2014.