Ava DuVernay's Netflix documentary "14th" premieres at New York Film Festival

Left · 1Ava DuVernay's documentary "14th" is set to world premiere as the closing-night film of the New York Film Festival on Friday, 9 October, and is due for release on 4 December. 1 Left · 1The film examines the 14th Amendment and its increasingly fraught place in American political life, and is a companion to DuVernay's Oscar-nominated 2016 documentary "13th", which looked at mass incarceration through the amendment that abolished slavery. 2 Left · 1Variety describes the film as examining who gets to belong in America and the fight over birthright citizenship, and says it argues that the amendment's principles of due process and equal protection, along with its bar on insurrectionists serving as heads of state, have come under unprecedented pressure. 1

Left · 1The Hollywood Reporter says the idea came to DuVernay in early 2024, when Donald Trump, campaigning to return to the White House, promised to challenge birthright citizenship. After Trump took office the amendment kept appearing in the news, on due process, public debt and its language on "insurrection or rebellion", so the film's scope widened. 2 Left · 1DuVernay told the magazine, "This movie kicked my butt because it was like building a plane midflight." The magazine reports that the director followed Carla Hayden, then librarian of Congress, who was fired three weeks later, and Dr. Lonnie Bunch of the Smithsonian, who later retired amid speculation of political pressure that Bunch has denied. 2 Left · 2DuVernay interviewed more than 50 experts, scholars and politicians. Variety lists interviewees including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Sherrilyn Ifill, Robert Chang, Stacey Abrams, Donald T. Critchlow and Hasan Piker. 2 1

Left · 1According to the Hollywood Reporter, DuVernay's team approached nearly 300 Republican officeholders, but only a little more than a dozen engaged with them at all. 2 Left · 1The film was made for Netflix, which DuVernay calls a "home studio". The Hollywood Reporter places it among the more overtly political projects Netflix has backed, at a time when other large companies have faced scrutiny over politically sensitive material. DuVernay said Netflix executives told them to keep making the film even as the short-lived Warner Bros. Discovery merger agreement raised uncertainty. 2 Left · 1Variety reports exclusively that the film features a new original song, "Makings of Tomorrow", written and performed by Brittany Howard and Robert Glasper. Netflix will submit it for Oscar consideration and mount a campaign for best documentary feature. 1

Left · 1DuVernay, Spencer Averick, Tammy Garnes and Paul Garnes produced the film. Howard said the song aims to "inspire people to stand up and fight for those whose rights are being taken from them unjustly." 1