A civil rights film called "Selma" has been screened to selected audiences only at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles on Tuesday and it reportedly had a standing ovation from the crowd and the claps grew even louder when Oprah Winfrey was at the stage.

Winfrey talked about the film as she produced it and also played a supporting role of a protester named Annie Lee Cooper.

The star of the film played by David Oyelowo was the person that convinced Winfrey that the film would really work. She pressed that she could see Martin Luther King in David. She shared, "He showed me a tape that he had done and I said, 'Yeah. I could see King in you. It's not quite there. But I can see it's on its way there. That's what got me to say yes."

According to Winfrey, David, 38, had this fierce strength, quiet ease and confidence that made him fit the character of King. David pressed that he was a British born with Nigerian blood and he noted that he felt like there was a cosmic connection to the part he played.

The movie is about King leading a movement back in 1965 when he and protesters marched across Alabama so they could exercise their right to vote. David

Selma, Alabama, was the basis of the title of the film and Winfrey pressed that the county belonged to the blacks as over half of them lived in the area. However, only one percent of their population was allowed to vote.

The march was not as smooth as it was planned because the group was confronted with extreme violence and resistance. The government started to tap his phones, logs his activities and watched his every move.

Selma is said to be out on Christmas Day.