Kino bringing the controversial Birth of a Nation to Blu-ray

Racism in HD? Kino Video, the leader in silent films on DVD and now Blu, is bringing the “classic” D.W. Griffith epic Birth of a Nation to Blu-ray. The film has been one of the biggest stains on cinema, arguing that the KKK helped stabilize America into the country it was back in 1915 when the film was released, featured white actors as black characters (black-facing), as well as its bitter fight with the NAACP.

But can its dark history be looked past for Griffith’s ground-breaking camerawork that changed cinema forever? That’s the immortal question. Either way, Kino will do a superb job on the film, as we can see by its extras:

- The Making of The Birth of a Nation (1992, 24 min. Produced by David Shepard)

- Filmed prologue to The Birth of a Nation (1930, 6 min. Featuring D. W. Griffith and Walter Huston)

- Civil War Shorts directed by D. W. Griffith:

- In the Border States (1910, 16 min.)

- The House with the Closed Shutters (1910, 17 min.)

- The Fugitive (1910, 17 min.)

- His Trust (1910, 14 min.)

- His Trust Fulfilled (1910, 11 mins.)

- Swords and Hearts (1911, 16 mins.)

- The Battle (1911, 17 mins.)

- New York vs. The Birth of a Nation — an archive of information documenting the battles over the film’s 1922 re-release, including protests by the NAACP, transcripts of meetings, legal documents, newspaper articles, and a montage of scenes ordered cut by the New York Censor Board.

PLUS: Excerpts from The Birth of a Nation souvenir book (1915) and several original programs

The disc is scheduled to be released November 22nd. Also on that day, Kino is releasing another Griffith film in Way Down East.

Source: Blu-ray

Jon Peters

I love film. That is all.

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