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'Selma' star David Oyelowo, left, addresses a crowd of 700 Dickinson College students in a lecture about immigration and representations of race on screen.

(Daniel Simmons-Ritchie)

CARLISLE - Addressing an auditorium of 700 Dickinson College students on Monday night, actor David Oyelowo discussed growing up in Britain and Nigeria, distorted representation of minorities in Western cinema, and decried president Donald Trump's election victory as a rejection of a multicultural America.

The 40-year old British-born star, best known for his portrayal of Dr Martin Luther King in the 2014 film "Selma," spoke at Dickinson College for its annual Poitras-Gleim lecture, a student organized event intended to promote cross-disciplinary thought.

Oyelowo focused the bulk of his remarks on detailing his belief that western audiences were starved of well-rounded portrayals of minorities and women on television and in film.

Oyelowo recounted the story of a young white woman he met in Selma, Alabama, during a screening of 'Selma'. The film focuses on the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery by King and other civil rights leaders.

At the end of the screening, the woman, a Selma local, thanked the cast and crew and admitted she'd never heard of any of the events depicted in the film.

"She didn't know Dr. King had ever been in her town. She didn't know that that was where the Voting Rights Act had been incubated," Oyelowo said. "I would argue that the education system failed that lady, that the elders of that town failed that lady, that its community leaders had failed that lady."

And, up until that point, Oyelowo argued, cinema had failed her too.

Oyelowo said it was his staunch belief in the educational role of cinema that drew him to roles that portray black characters in complex and authentic ways - films that get beyond stereotypes of black people as criminals and drug dealers.

But it hadn't been easy. There was little appetite in Hollywood, Oyelowo said, for films about black historical figures in America or films set in Africa that star black protagonists.

Oyelowo said Selma itself almost wasn't made because of a lack of funding. Its production was saved only after Oyelowo personally called Oprah Winfrey.

One would think, Oyelowo said, a film based around one of the most important historical figures of the twentieth century, Dr. King, would be enough to propel it to production.

"No, it took Oprah," Oyelowo joked, drawing laughs from the crowd.

Oyelowo said the same was true for films told by women or from women's perspectives. Of the 250 top grossing films last year, he said, only seven percent were directed by women.

Oyelowo said the importance of films that challenge prejudices and tell stories from diverse viewpoints was underscored by the recent election of President Trump and Britain's vote to exit the European Union, so-called "Brexit".

Oyelowo said both the rise of Trump and the vote for Brexit appeared to spurred, at least in part, by anti-immigrant and racist sentiments within each country.

"I genuinely believe it was a maintenance of a certain 'status quo'," Oyelowo said.

The best way to challenge those prejudices, Oyelowo stressed once more, is to expose people to different viewpoints and perspectives.

"The thing that is going to break it down is, literally, breaking down ignorance," he said.