Filmmaker-actor Nate Parker reclaims the title of D.W. Griffith’s 1916 milestone for this epic chronicle, set against the antebellum South, of the life of Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher, whose financially strained owner accepts an offer to use his preaching to subdue unruly slaves. As he witnesses countless atrocities — against himself and his fellow slaves — Nat orchestrates an uprising in the hopes of leading his people to freedom.

The Birth Of A Nation won the audience and jury prize at the Sundance film festival, and was sold to Fox Searchlight for a festival-record $17.5 million.

(According to the Hollywood Parker turned down a $20-million offer from Netflix.)