Whether you’ve already been enraptured by Barry Jenkins’ critically acclaimed masterpiece “The Underground Railroad” or been looking for an excuse to finally catch it, Amazon Studios and IFC Center have a new opportunity that might be once in a lifetime. A chance to see the adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s celebrated novel in its entirety on the big screen. Beginning on Friday, July 16, and ending on Thursday, July 22, IFC Center will exclusively screen all 10 episodes at its Manhattan theater location for free.
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In a statement, IFC Center’s John Vanco noted, “Barry Jenkins is a one-of-a-kind filmmaker, and has created yet another masterwork with ‘The Underground Railroad.’ While it is a series, the story of Cora and the world that Barry and his team have crafted deserve the biggest screen possible, and we are thrilled to be the ones bringing it to New York.”
The program will include all ten episodes, presented in paired groupings. Excerpts from “The Gaze,” Jenkins’s hourlong non-narrative companion piece to “The Underground Railroad,” will screen at IFC Center the week before and during the engagement. Again, tickets are complimentary and will be available via ifccenter.com. The schedule and additional event details will be announced in the coming days.
Already one of the most lauded pieces of streaming or televised content released this year, the Emmy Award contender follows Cora Randall (Thuso Mbedu) as she attempts to escape the horrors of slavery in the pre-Civil War south. In this alternate timeline, the Underground Railroad is an actual working transportation system. As Cora’s long journey progresses she finds herself trailed by Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton), a bounty hunter obsessed with returning her to the plantation she originally escaped.
“The Underground Railroad” is also available on Amazon Prime Video worldwide.