“America’s a capitalistic society. The one thing that America understands is money. If you can make them pay higher values, they will stop killing Black people. It would be an impediment,” says Ben Crump in a new trailer for “Civil.” From director Nadia Hallgren, best known for 2020’s “Becoming,” a portrait of Michelle Obama, the doc offers a vérité look at the life of civil rights attorney Ben Crump.
“Civil” sees Crump taking on the civil cases for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Andre Hill. “It’s not just fighting racism and discrimination in these police shooting cases. It’s fighting racism and discrimination wherever it rears its ugly head,” he emphasizes.
“My goal was to create a portrait of contemporary Black America that a Black audience would connect deeply with and help us collectively process our experiences,” Hallgren told us in a soon-to-published interview. “At the same time, for audiences from other cultures, including the Netflix worldwide audience, I wanted to tell a nuanced and emotional story to help them come to an understanding of the Black American experience through someone like Ben and the other people we meet in the film.”
“Civil” will make its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival June 12. It hits select theaters June 17 and launches on Netflix June 19.
