Fox Searchlight and ‘The Birth of a Nation’ Launch Voter Registration

Fox Searchlight Pictures and “The Birth of a Nation” are supporting National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, September 27 by launching a nationwide voter registration initiative to encourage Americans to register to vote.

READ MORE: ‘The Birth of a Nation’ Premieres in Toronto, and Audiences Give Nate Parker a Second Chance

Fox Searchlight is partnering with theater chains and other partners that will host voter enrollment in theater lobbies on National Voter Registration Day immediately before special promotional screenings of “The Birth of a Nation.” Fox Searchlight will continue the initiative during the film’s opening weekend, October 7 through October 9.

“No one has the right to prevent you from participating in what makes America’s democracy so great: the right to vote,” writer-director and star of “The Birth of a Nation” Nate Parker said in a short video recorded to go along with the initiative.

In the film, Parker plays the lead role of Nat Turner, who led a 48-hour slave rebellion in Virginia. Other members of the cast who appear in the video include Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis, Aja Naomi King and Gabrielle Union.

After its first festival screening at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, where Searchlight bought the film for $17.5 million in a fierce bidding war, “The Birth of a Nation” played at this month’s Toronto Film Festival, where three screenings received rapturous applause that greeted closing credits.

READ MORE: ‘The Birth of a Nation’ Press Conference: Nate Parker Dodges Rape Questions as Cast Invites ‘Uncomfortable’ Conversations In Toronto

To watch the short PSA, check out the video below.

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