Ava DuVernay’s short documentary, August 28: A Day in the Life of a People focuses on six different events in Black and African-American history that all occurred on the same day in various years.

These events, according to DuVernay, include the abolition of slavery in the U.K on August 28, 1833; the lynching of Emmett Till on August 28, 1955; the first radio airplay of The Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman” from Motown Records on August 28, 1961; Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech on August 28, 1963; the tragic landfall of Hurricane Katrina on August 28, 2005; and Barack Obama’s acceptance of the Democratic nomination for President on August 28, 2008.

August 28th: A Day in the Life of the People @ava. An extremely talented cast of #BlackExcellence come together to portray six significant events take place in African American history. pic.twitter.com/QnclyI1r0L

— EBONY MAGAZINE (@EBONYMag) August 27, 2018

DuVernay who has worked on films of such themes, like  Selma, and her debut film, This is the Life —a documentary on the history on hip hop movement— employs a combination of documentary and narrative techniques to tell the momentous stories. She enlists actors — Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, Regina King, David Oyelowo, Don Cheadle, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael Ealy, Andre Holland, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Glynn Thurman, who narrate moments, while playing roles that depict the lives of an average person in the specific times in history. These scenes, as the trailer shows, have interludes of videos and documentaries of the historical moments.

August 28: A Day in the Life of a People —which DuVernay directs, scripts and produces— is in partnership with  Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington D.C. It was previously only showed at the Museum’s Oprah Winfrey Theater. Both parties have since decided to open it to a larger audience via the Oprah Winfrey Network, set rightfully to premiere today —28th of August.

Watch the trailer here:

Featured Image Credits: Ava DuVernay trailer “August 28” YouTube/Blackfilmweb

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