Since launching in 1963, the New York Film Festival has never had a documentary or non-fiction film open the festival, but that all changes in 2016, with organizers slating a timely movie from a director with an important voice.
NYFF has announced today that Ava DuVernay‘s “The 13th” will open the festival in 2016. The project is something of a surprise, as it hasn’t really been mentioned over the past year as the filmmaker has lined up various studio gigs. The film will tackle the subject of racial inequality in the United States, in particular the staggering rate of incarceration, which tends to disproportionately fall on African-American men. It’s potent subject matter, and sure to be a conversation starter. Here’s the official synopsis:
From D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915) and the rebirth of the KKK to the Civil Rights Movement, the 1994 Crime Bill, the rise of ALEC, and the Black Lives Matter movement, DuVernay traces a pattern of fear and division that has consistently driven mass criminalization. With a potent mixture of archival footage and testimonies from leading voices, including Michelle Alexander, Bryan Stevenson, Van Jones, Newt Gingrich, Angela Davis, Senator Cory Booker, Grover Norquist, Khalil Muhammad, Craig DeRoche, Shaka Senghor, Malkia Cyril, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men, DuVernay creates a work of grand historical synthesis.
“While I was watching ‘The 13th,’ the distinction between documentary and fiction gave way and I felt like I was experiencing something so rare: direct contact between the artist and right now, this very moment. In fact, Ava is actually trying to redefine the terms on which we discuss where we’re at, how we got here, and where we’re going. The ’13th’ is a great film. It’s also an act of true patriotism,” enthused New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones.
The New York Film Festival runs from September 30th to October 16th, and below you can check out this year’s poster designed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. And if you won’t be in New York, don’t worry about missing “The 13th” — it will launch globally on Netflix and play in limited release starting on October 7th.