The Birth of a Nation
classified 15Please note: This was screened in Dec 2016
This explosive double Sundance-winner tells the true story of Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher who became the radical leader of an 1831 revolt.
Nate Parker writes, produces, directs and stars as Turner, a literate slave and preacher in Virginia who is forced to preach submission to his fellow slaves by his cash-strapped owner. As he both endures and witnesses countless terrible atrocities (against himself, his wife Cherry, and their fellow slaves), he begins to orchestrate an uprising in the hope of leading his people to freedom.
A thoroughly timely film - given the momentum behind Black Lives Matter and the increase in racial clashes in the US - Birth of a Nation asks audiences to take a cold, hard look at America's brutal past, and ask: what has changed, and what has stayed the same?