After causing a sensation at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and nabbing a historic pick-up from Fox Searchlight shortly thereafter, Nate Parker‘s blistering historical drama The Birth of a Nation has just been granted an awards season friendly release date. The film is slated to open nationwide on October 7th.

Parker wrote, directed, produced and stars in the film as Nat Turner in the film set in the antebellum South. Turner orchestrated and led a slave revolt in hopes of leading his people to freedom. Armie Hammer (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), Penelope Ann Miller (The Artist), Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children), Mark Boone Jr. (Life of Crime), Colman Domingo (Lincoln), Aunjanue Ellis (The Help), Dwight Henry (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Aja Naomi King (Damsels in Distress), Esther Scott (Gangster Squad), Roger Guenveur Smith (American Gangster) and Gabrielle Union (Top Five) co-star.

The Birth of a Nation won both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. The release pattern follows the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, which opened in October 2013 (also from Fox Searchlight) and went on to win the top prize at the Academy Awards. The difference lies in Searchlight’s decision to go wide out of the gates with The Birth of a Nation.

We will stay tuned to the latest relating to this film. The film will open in theaters on October 7, 2016.