AFF proudly hosts DJ Spooky, who will present Rebirth of a Nation, an original audiovisual remix of D.W. Griffith’s infamous 1915 film The Birth of a Nation. The controversy stems from the film’s clearly racist content. It is a tale of the American Civil War based on a novel and play by Thomas Dixon Jr., a supporter of the Ku-Klux-Klan that portrays white Southerners as rightful landowners and black slaves as wild primal enemies. DJ Spooky mixes scenes from Griffith’s original with modern films and adds his score to produce a complex commentary on today’s racial discrimination as well as a thoughtful reinterpretation of the history of cinema, art, and culture.
Artist’s webpage:
Fragments of Rebirth of a Nation: