Michelle Obama hosts 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' Q&A

Beasts of the Southern Wild may be a small movie, but it’s got a big fan in the White House.

On Wednesday, First Lady Michelle Obama spoke about the film to about 80 middle- and high-school students from the District of Columbia and New Orleans in town for a Black History Month workshop.

At the White House, the students got to see the film, and then have a Q&A with director Benh Zeitlin and actors Dwight Henry and nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis. The chat was moderated by Michelle Obama, according to The Washington Post.

The First Lady spoke personally about her love of the film: “It’s rare these days to find a movie that can so completely and utterly captivate such a broad audience and that was one of the things that struck me about this movie,” she said. “It managed to be beautiful, joyful and devastatingly honest.”

The Post also reports that Obama said the film makes people “think deeply about the people we love in our lives who make us who we are,” and that she was impressed, “That a director and a set of writers and producers can say so much in just 93 minutes. And it doesn’t always happen in a movie, quite frankly, but this one did it, and that’s why I love this movie so much and why our team wanted to bring it here to the White House and share it with all of you.”

Beasts of the Southern Wild is nominated for four Oscars: Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress.

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