The murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till is one of the lesser-known turning points in U.S. history; but the details of his case, along with the pictures of his disfigured body, haunted the nation’s consciousness back in 1955. While Emmett’s story has been chronicled before, in both documentary and memoir form, “Clemency” director Chinonye Chukwu’s upcoming movie “Till,” which premiered at this year’s New York Film Festival, will be the first to dramatize the brutal murder and the activism it inspired.
The film will focus on Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, here played by “The Harder They Fall” star Danielle Deadwyler. After her son’s murder, Till-Mobley became a prominent figure in the civil rights movement through a successful countrywide speaking tour, courtesy of the NAACP, on which she described to crowds her struggle for justice and the African American experience in the Jim Crow South, where courts were filled with all-white juries and lynch mob mentality ruled.
Among the supporting cast is Whoopi Goldberg, Haley Bennett (“The Devil All the Time”), Jayme Lawson (“The Batman”; “Farewell Amor”), Tosin Cole (“The Souvenir” and “The Souvenir: Part II”), Frankie Faison (“The Wire”), Kevin Carroll, and Roger Guenveur Smith. Jalyn Hall (“Space Jam: A New Legacy”; “The House with a Clock in Its Walls”) plays Emmett Till.
“Till” is the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign run by filmmaker Keith Beauchamp, whose documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” was the first film to investigate Till’s murder and led to the United States Justice Department reopening the case. Beauchamp shares writing credits for “Till” with Chukwu and Michael Reilly, as well as production credits with Reilly, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Broccoli, Frederick Zollo, and Thomas Levine.
Here’s the official synopsis:
“Till” is a profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie’s poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother’s ability to change the world.
“Till” hits select theaters on October 14 before a nationwide release on October 28.
Watch the new trailer below: