After winning the top prize at Sundance Film Festival back in 2019 for her Alfre Woodard-led death row drama Clemency, director Chinonye Chukwu is returning this fall with her first studio feature, Till. Ahead of an October release from United Artists Releasing, the first trailer has arrived online after being attached to Jordan Peele’s Nope this weekend.
Starring Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett, and Whoopi Goldberg, the film tells 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.
“The crux of this story is not about the traumatic, physical violence inflicted upon Emmett – which is why I refused to depict such brutality in the film – but it is about Mamie’s remarkable journey in the aftermath,” the director said. “She is grounded by the love for her child, for at its core, TILL is a love story. Amidst the inherent pain and heartbreak, it was critical for me to ground their affection throughout the film. The cinematic language and tone of TILL was deeply rooted in the balance between loss in the absence of love; the inconsolable grief in the absence of joy; and the embrace of Black life alongside the heart wrenching loss of a child.”
See the trailer and poster below.
Till opens on October 14 in limited release and expands on October 28.