Capital Celluloid 2015 - Day 176: Thu Jun 25

The Birth of a Nation (Griffith, 1915): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 7.30pm


This film is being shown as part of the DW Griffith season. The Thurday 25th June screening will be introduced by author and UCL film historian Melvyn Stokes. The Sunday 28the June screening will be introduced by Kunle Olulode, Director, Voice4Change. Details here.

As a conference is held at UCL marking the centenary of the film highly regarded keynote speakers will be at BFI Southbank at 6pm for a roundtable discussion to share their thoughts on this controversial film. Chair Melvyn Stokes (UCL) will be joined by Jane Gaines (Columbia University), Robert Lang (University of Hartford), Paul McEwan (Muhlenberg College), Cedric Robinson (University of California, Santa Barbara), Jacqueline Stewart (University of Chicago) and Linda Williams (University of California, Berkeley). Details here.

Chicago Reader review:
It might as well be titled “The Birth of the Movies.” D.W. Griffith's 1915 Civil War epic was the first commercially successful feature-length film. Seen today, it is an odd combination of the most delicate sentiment and, in its racism, the most brutal insensibility. Griffith's later films are unquestionably superior. But here, in a very real sense, is where the movies began, both as an art and as a business.
Dave Kehr

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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