Till brings the story of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, to the screen as she fights for justice for the slain teen.
MGM’s Orion Pictures released the trailer for the film on Monday, which follows the true story of Mamie Till-Mobley’s painful journey after her 14-year-old son was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi in 1955.
The film stars Danielle Deadwyler (The Harder They Fall) as Mamie Till Mobley and Jalyn Hall (All American) as Emmett Till. The cast also includes Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett, Whoopi Goldberg, and Sean Patrick Thomas.
Chinonye Chukwu directs and co-wrote the script with Michael Reilly and Keith Beauchamp. Chukwu was the first Black woman to win the Sundance U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, which she earned for writing and directing Clemency (2019).
“The crux of this story is not about the traumatic, physical violence inflicted upon Emmett – which is why I refused to depict such brutality in the film – but it is about Mamie’s remarkable journey in the aftermath,” Chukwu said in a statement. “The cinematic language and tone of Till was deeply rooted in the balance between loss in the absence of love; the inconsolable grief in the absence of joy; and the embrace of Black life alongside the heart wrenching loss of a child.”
Related Story: ‘My Name Is Pauli Murray’ Documentary Tells Untold Story of a Black Civil Rights Pioneer
Producers on Till include Keith Beauchamp, Barbara Broccoli, Whoopi Goldberg, Thomas Levine, Michael Reilly and Frederick Zollo.
The film opens in select theaters on Oct. 14 and expands nationwide on Oct. 28.
Emmett was visiting relatives in the Mississippi Delta region, when he was accused of whistling at a white woman at a local store. Days later, the Black teenager from Chicago was abducted, beaten, lynched and shot. He died on Aug. 28, 1955. An all-white jury acquitted his killers.
This year marks the 67th anniversary of Till’s death and his story continues to gain media attention.
Two recently uncovered pieces of evidence — a unserved arrest warrant and the memoir of Carolyn Bryant Donham, who wrongfully accused Till of making an advance at her — have prompted renewed calls for legal action in the case.
In January, ABC released the miniseries Women of the Movement about the Civil Rights Movement, Emmett Till and his mother. The series was directed by filmmakers Gina Prince-Bythewood and Kasi Lemmons, and produced by Bythewood, Jay-Z, Will Smith, Jay Brown, Tyran ‘Ty Ty’ Smith, and James Lassiter.
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