Here's The First Trailer For 'The Birth Of A Nation'

"The Birth of a Nation" got rave reviews when it premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival. Then, it set records when Fox Searchlight’s studio paid $17.5 million  for its distribution rights. Now, we have our first look at what all the buzz what as about. 

On Friday, the studio released the first trailer for writer/director/star Nate Parker's film about Nat Turner’s 1831 slave rebellion. The first glimpses of the film are set to Nina Simone’s cover of “Strange Fruit” and feature a montage of atrocities and indignities inflicted on the slaves of the South, before shifting to a new song -- and with it, a new hope for freedom. 

"The Birth of a Nation" hits theaters Oct. 7, 2016