is laid out by DuVernay with bracing lucidity. ” The progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass incarceration and the prison industry in the U.S. The title of DuVernay’s extraordinary and galvanizing film refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution-“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States. Here's how the press release synopsizes The 13th:Ĭhronicling the history of racial inequality in the United States, The 13th examines how our country has produced the highest rate of incarceration in the world, with the majority of those imprisoned being African-American. It premiered at the fest on September 30 and. Regardless of where DuVernay's film ends up when nominations are being handed out, The 13th has quickly announced itself as one of the major American releases of 2016, which is saying quite a lot. Ava DuVernay‘s 13th was the first documentary selected to be the opening-night film in the 54-year history of the the New York Film Festival. Last year, the coveted spot was gifted to Robert Zemeckis' fascinating yet facile The Walk, a 3D-enhanced retelling of the high-wire act between the twin towers that was explored far more interestingly in Man on Wire.Ĭonsidering the fact that DuVernay cemented her reputation as a visual artist of the highest order with 2014's staggeringly brilliant Selma, this makes quite a lot of sense, even more so when one remembers that DuVernay has already touched on the devastating emotional toll of incarceration in her excellent Middle of Nowhere. With 13th, writer-director Ava DuVernay (Selma) presents a thoroughly persuasive and artfully crafted argument that a clause in the 13th amendment to the.
In past year's, major auteur works ranging from Gone Girl and Captain Phillips to Mystic River and The Darjeeling Limited have taken the opening spot at the New York Film Festival. The 13th is set to open the 54th annual iteration of the festival, and will be the first documentary in the history of the Lincoln Center-based celebration of all things cinephilic to serve as opener. The documentary is set to debut on Netflix and in a limited theatrical run on October 7th, but the film will be screening before then, thanks to a historic move by the New York Film Festival. Ava DuVernay’s 13th is a documentary about how the Thirteenth Amendment led to mass incarceration in the United States, but it’s also a gorgeous, evocative, and maddening exploration of words.