The Oscars ceremony is mere days away, but it’s already time to start talking aboutnextyear’s awards. Hot on the heels of arecord-breaking $17.5 million acquisition dealat the Sundance Film Festival, Fox Searchlight has set a prime, awards-friendly October 7th release date forThe Birth of a Nation. Written, directed, produced by and starringNate Parker, the drama tells the true story of slave Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher who was used to “calm” other slaves in neighboring plantations down via his sermons, and who subsequently led a bloody uprising that had reverberations throughout the country.
The October 7th release date puts the film directly againstThe HelpdirectorTate Taylor’s bestseller adaptationThe Girl on the Train, starringEmily BluntandRebecca Ferguson, as well as theBen AffleckandAnna Kendrick-fronted action-thrillerThe Accountant. But the release date has much more to do with awards positioning than it does with an explosive opening weekend—although that’s certainly possible too. Ahead of that October weekend, Fox Searchlight will no doubt take the movie around the fall film festival circuit, to some combination of Telluride, Venice, and Toronto, where it can build significant buzz ahead of its general release, after which the Oscar campaign will kick into high gear. This is the path taken by numerous films in the past, notably Best Picture-winnerArgo, which opened on October 12th.
I caughtThe Birth of a Nationat Sundance and it is an undeniably passionate piece of work from first-time filmmaker Parker. It’s a bit messy structurally, and the supporting characters are lacking, but it touches on interesting ideas about Christianity and how it was used to justify the actions of both the slave owners and Turner’s rebellion. The film will no doubt stir plenty of conversations about our nation’s history and race relations in the country as Parker offers an unflinching portrait of slavery and repression that is told entirely from the slave’s point of view—there’s no kind white person here to act as an audience surrogate. You can read Matt’s full reviewright here.
So mark your calendars, folks. The biggest Sundance film in recent memory is headed your way in just eight short months.The Birth of a Nationalso starsArmie Hammer,Penelope Ann Miller,Jackie Earle Haley,Mark Boone Jr,Colman Domingo,Aunjane Ellis,Dwight Henry,Aja Naomi King,Esther Scott,Roger Guenveur Smith, andGabrielle Union.
