Failed Oscar Campaigns: "The Birth of a Nation" (2016)

Nate Parker

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

"The Birth of a Nation" Trailer Jumps With Ferocity and Purpose

Scene from The Birth of a Nation

With the year only being four months old, there's few films that already have an Oscar conversation around it quite like director Nate Parker's The Birth of a Nation. For starters, it was an immediate success when it premiered at Sundance and even acquired one of the highest buys in the film festival's history. With little known to the public other than its plot about Nat Turner's slave rebellion, it has been curious to see if it will escape the festival circuit buzz and strike a chord with audiences. From the looks of the first trailer, it's definitely trying to hit all of those marks.