Clear Horizon Launches U.S. Distribution Arm With ‘Son Of The South’ From ‘BlacKkKlansman’ Editor Barry Alexander Brown

EXCLUSIVE: LA-based indie production and sales company Clear Horizon is expanding into domestic distribution with the acquisition of civil rights drama Son Of The South.

The film, which debuts tonight at the American Black Film Festival, is written and directed by Oscar-nominated editor Barry Alexander Brown (BlacKkKlansman), well known for his long-running collaboration with Spike Lee.

Brown has edited Spike Lee movies including Oscar-winner BlacKkKlansman, She’s Gotta Have It, Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X and Inside Man. He also co-directed Oscar-nominated documentary The War At Home.

Lee is an executive producer on Son Of The South, which stars Lucas Till, Lex Scott Davis, Lucy Hale, Cedrick the Entertainer, Julia Ormond and the late Brian Dennehy. Producers are Colin Bates, Eve Pomerance, Bill Black, Stan Erdreich, and River Bend Pictures.

Based on the Bob Zellner autobiography The Wrong Side Of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement, Son Of The South follows Zellner, the Alabama native and grandson of a Ku Klux Klan member as he is pulled into the center of the civil rights movement in 1961. He was inspired by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, and invigorated by local black high school students marching to protest the murder of tenant farmer Herbert Lee.

Clear Horizon is planning to give the film a theatrical run later this year followed by a digital release. David Brown, CEO of Clear Horizon, will run the company’s distribution division and be responsible for all aspects of U.S. sales and acquisitions across feature and TV properties, with additional staff said to be incoming.

“We are excited to expand Clear Horizon at such a momentous time for the industry and society in general. This film will reach audiences who are looking for common ground in today’s world, and we couldn’t be more excited to work with the producers to launch this film in the US,” said David Brown, who was an executive producer on Sundance opener After The Wedding and producer of recent features The Undertaker’s Wife and Chasing Nightmares.

View this article at Deadline.