Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, spoke exclusively with ReelUrbanNews.com about the importance of 12 Years A Slave winning the Best Picture Oscar, 2014 and the election of Cheryl Boone Isaacs, as the first African American to serve as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Dodd who was candid and heartfelt, shared his philosophy on the role movies have played educating Americans. “How many people’s lives were changed in the 1940’s because they saw “A Gentleman’s Agreement,” a film about antisemitism. How many lives were changed after seeing “To kill A Mockingbird?” We can talk about the documentaries, editorials and newspapers, but I suspect many American’s became better educated by viewing those films than anything else. “Philadelphia,” with Tom Hanks, about HIV and AIDS, caused people to have a different view of that disease and the problem. Film didn’t just entertain you and me, it taught us something. It changed the way we look at our neighbors and our look at the world in which we live.”