Young African-American Bigger Thomas (Ashton Sanders) comes of age in the South Side of Chicago during the 1930s, where he takes a job working for a powerful family, exposing him to both tragic and unforeseen consequence. The screen adaption of Richard Wright’s 1940’s novel is written by Suzan-Lori Parks. First time director Rashid Johnson screened the movie at the 2019 Sundance Festival and the film was acquired by HBO prior to the screening this Thursday 25 Jan. The best-selling book of it’s day had been described as racially contentious and ahead of it time. Adapted for the stage in 1941 by Orson Welles, the book deals with race relations in America, the great racial divide between blacks and whites in Chicago, the rules of how black people may or may not behave or how they could or could not talk about white people in the 1930’s. Image credit: Ashton Sanders in Native Son. Photograph: Matthew Libatique/Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Matthew Libatique
Cast: Ashton Sanders, Margaret Qualley, Nick Robinson, Kiki Layne, Bill Camp, Sanaa Lathan, Elizabeth Marvel, David Alan Grier
Director: Rashid Johnson
Screenwriter: Suzan-Lori Parks, based on the novel by Richard Wright
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