Ava DuVernay’s upcoming documentary 14th, about the political battle over birthright citizenship, now has a premiere date.
Netflix announced Thursday the film will begin streaming globally on Dec. 4, following an awards-qualifying theatrical release on Nov. 27, just weeks after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Before arriving in theaters, the doc will make its world premiere as the closing night selection of the New York Film Festival on Oct. 9, drawing additional attention to the citizenship issue.
The screening marks DuVernay’s return to the festival 10 years after her acclaimed documentary 13th on mass incarceration and racial inequality in the U.S. opened the event in October 2016.
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The new film focuses attention on the heated debate over who is entitled to American citizenship.
The 14th Amendment guarantees automatic citizenship for children born on U.S. soil, including the offspring of undocumented immigrants.
The amendment was ratified after the Civil War and guaranteed citizenship to formerly enslaved Black people. Debate over the amendment now centers on immigration.
President Trump signed an executive order to limit birthright citizenship on Aug. 6, after the Supreme Court struck down his first attempt.
Per reporting by Newsweek, the new order would “deny federal recognition of citizenship in certain circumstances involving foreign nationals.” Those affected include children born through “commercial surrogacy” schemes when neither parent is a U.S. citizen.
The film on the issue “brings together legal minds, politicians, historians and cultural voices in direct conversation with a question America still hasn’t settled: Who gets to belong?” the official description reads.
Per Netflix, DuVernay conducted more than 50 interviews for the film.
Participants include Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla, and other politicians.
The documentary also features commentary from political organizer and legal scholar Stacey Abrams, and Pulitzer Prize-winning historians Eric Foner and David Blight.
“This is not a film about the past tense,” DuVernay said when the documentary was announced. “I’m not interested in asking you to look back. The film asks what kind of country is being written beneath our feet now.”
Her previous films include Selma, Middle of Nowhere, A Wrinkle in Time, and Origin. She also created the Emmy-winning Netflix limited series When They See Us and the OWN drama Queen Sugar.
14th is produced by DuVernay, Spencer Averick, Tammy Garnes and Paul Garnes.
The documentary debuts on Netflix Friday, Dec. 4, following a limited theatrical release in select U.S. and U.K. theaters on Nov. 27.
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