Chinonye Chukwu’s true-life Civil Rights drama Till will receive its world premiere on the opening weekend of the 60th New York Film Festival.
The film stars Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till-Mobley, the activist who sought justice after her 14-year-old son Emmett Till was lynched while visiting cousins in Mississippi in 1955.
The news, announced by Orion Pictures, UA Releasing and the festival on what would have been Emmett Till’s 81st birthday, was hailed by Deborah Watts, Mamie’s cousin and co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, as “yet another milestone for our family”.
Jalyn Hall plays Emmett alongside Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett, Sean Patrick Thomas, John Douglas Thompson and Whoopi Goldberg.
Michael Reilly, Keith Beauchamp and Chukwu co-wrote the screenplay. Producers are Keith Beauchamp, Barbara Broccoli, Whoopi Goldberg, Thomas Levine, Michael Reilly and Frederick Zollo. Chinonye’s Clemency opened NYFF in 2019.
“In her new film Till, Chinonye Chukwu has crafted a bracing portrait of the short life of Emmett Till and the fearless activism of his mother, Mamie Till, whose fight for justice following the murder of her son was a catalyst for the ongoing battle for civil rights in our country,” said Eugene Hernandez, executive director the New York Film Festival and senior vice-president of Film at Lincoln Center.
Watts said, “Seeing this film made is yet another milestone for our family, and a testament to Mamie’s fight for justice and to our commitment to legacy. The power of history turning tragedy into triumph is something Mamie would have wanted all of us to do.”
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