14th Amendment Takes Center Stage at Premiere of Ava DuVernay’s 14th at New York Film Festival

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution may have had its biggest time in the spotlight yet with the world premiere of 14th, Ava DuVernay‘s new Netflix documentary, which will be in select theaters in November and is slated for worldwide release on December 4.

14th Amendment Center Director Sherrilyn Ifill, who is featured prominently in the new film, attended the October 9 premiere at the 64th New York Film Festival, which showcased the documentary as its closing night selection.

“For the first time in my lifetime, tens of thousands, if not millions, of people will be talking about the 14th Amendment,” said Ifill, who also participated in a press briefing during the festival and in a Q&A session with other contributors after the screening.

During that session, Ifill commended DuVernay for bringing all five sections of the 14th Amendment to the public’s attention. “It’s just a monumental effort to try and bring alive and to try to get people in touch with how rich the amendment is and how rich the history is — not only in its formation and ratification, but in the effort to undermine it, which says so much about our country and helps us really understand our country in a different way,” Ifill said. Among those joining her on stage were longtime voting-rights advocate Stacey Abrams, Reconstruction historian David Blight, and former U.S. senator and ambassador Jeff Flake.

Before the screening at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, DuVernay introduced the film by telling the audience that she had just completed it a couple of weeks earlier. “The erosion of democracy doesn’t announce itself,” she said. “It happens one day at a time and one exception at a time. Maybe the most dangerous thing about losing democracy is you can live your ordinary life while it’s happening. We need to fight, and I hope you come out of this film wanting to fight hard.”

Other premieres are expected in London, Virginia, and at Howard University in Washington, D.C., the home of the 14th Amendment Center.

Ahead of the film’s release, the 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy, in partnership with the Gibson–Banks Center for Race and the Law and Maryland Carey Law, will host “We the People: Lessons from the Unsung Refounders of Our Nation” — a day-long gathering that will offer practical insights for harnessing the 14th Amendment’s promise and power today. For more information and to register for online or in-person attendance, click here.