UBC Film Society

The Birth of a Nation

1915, Unrated, 190min

If in this work we have conveyed to the mind the ravages of war to the end that war may be held in abhorrence, this effort will not have been in vain.

Two brothers, Phil and Ted Stoneman, visit their friends in Piedmont, South Carolina: the family Cameron. This friendship is affected by the Civil War, as the Stonemans and the Camerons must join up opposite armies. The consequences of the War in their lives are shown in connection to major historical events, like the development of the Civil War itself, Lincoln’s assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.

Directed by
D.W. Griffith
Written by
D.W. Griffith, Frank E. Woods, & Thomas F. Dixon Jr. (novel)
Starring
Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall, Miriam Cooper, & Mary Alden

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