Ava DuVernay's '14th' Closes NYFF, Streams on Netflix Dec. 9

Ava DuVernay's documentary "14th" closes the New York Film Festival and begins streaming on Netflix on December 9, arriving as a midterm election cycle intensifies debate over the U.S. Constitution. The film examines the 14th Amendment — its guarantee of birthright citizenship, due process and equal protection — and argues those principles face pressure from new quarters.

A sequel that took a decade to make

The release marks ten years since DuVernay's Oscar-nominated "13th," which traced the 13th Amendment's loophole to mass incarceration. Editor-producer Spencer Averick said a "14th" follow-up was never on the schedule.

"We had been talking about Trump's attack on birthright citizenship, and it started before he was elected," Averick said. "It was never our intention to follow up '13th' with this, but it led us to dig into it more and it organically became the next film."

DuVernay framed the stakes bluntly. "At its core, this documentary is about the fact that we're in the midst of something very sinister — something very dangerous — and we all need to be aware of it," she said.

What role does the 'Lost Cause' play?

The film organizes its argument around the "Lost Cause" — the post-Civil War cultural defense of the Confederacy that DuVernay links directly to present-day politics. "We might have called it the 'Lost Cause' in 1876 or the early 1900s, but today, it's called MAGA," she said.

Averick called that cultural war "sneaky and hidden," running beneath legislative and violent pushback against Reconstruction. The 14th Amendment, DuVernay noted, has five parts, one of which carries three subsections — a sprawl the film tracks from ratification to the present.

How did DuVernay build the interview list?

The documentary features more than 50 talking heads, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Stacey Abrams, legal scholar Sherrilyn Ifill, historian David Blight, and conservative commentator Donald T. Critchlow. DuVernay extended the casting net to the right as well.

"We made over 300 requests to every sitting Republican congressperson, senator, governor and mayor of a major city," DuVernay said. Only Sen. Jeff Flake, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and Critchlow agreed. "I wanted those voices, and they were invited and they did not accept the invitation," she said.

Why a Constitution film now?

DuVernay acknowledged the subject's accessibility problem. "It's a film about the Constitution. It's not 'Jack Reacher.' It's probably some of the driest subject matter you can read on paper," she said. "But we knew that underneath, it had this pulsing life that governs how we spend our days."

Averick edited toward life, not lecture. "He might have seven people explaining the same thing, but he cuts it together in a way that feels alive," DuVernay said.

What is the film asking of its audience?

The director and editor stress civic engagement beyond the ballot. "The bottom line is we can vote, and everybody should vote," DuVernay said. "But one of the things I learned through making this is you can vote, but then you've got to follow up on what those people do."

She invoked the Daughters of the Confederacy as a model of organized pressure. "We're in such a mess right now that it's going to take everyone paying attention and helping us move out of this house," she said.

The film cut a "more robust call-to-action section," Averick said, in favor of asking viewers to "view themselves as founders and framers of this time." With the edit still absorbing Trump's attacks on the amendment's provisions as recently as the production's final weeks, "14th" lands less as historical survey than as a civic instrument timed to a specific election.