THE BIRTH OF A NATION Teaser Trailer Witness the first THE BIRTH OF A NATION teaser trailer! The film, directed by Nate Parker, stars Parker, Armie Hammer, Mark Boone Junior, Gabrielle Union, Jackie Earle Haley, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Penelope Ann Miller. THE BIRTH OF A NATION will be released in theaters on October 7. Nat Turner, a former slave in America, leads a liberation movement in 1831 to free African-Americans in Virginia that results in a violent retaliation from whites.