In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Birth of a Movement, we learn about the childhood of iconic silent filmmaker D.W. Griffith, director of the controversial blockbuster Birth of a Nation, who was born 10 years after the end of the Civil War. He grew up in a South that was romanticized for him through folklore — reflected in his film — despite the fact that he grew up in poverty and, as film archivist and Griffith expert Ira Gallen says in the film, was basically considered “white trash.”
Premiering Monday, February 6, 2017. Check local listings:
