Prolific filmmaker Julie Dash is working with Lionsgate on a biopic about civil rights icon Angela Davis.
According to Shadow and Act, Dash, the first Black woman to direct a full-length feature with a general theater release, announced the biopic Saturday during the Sundance Film Festival. The date was also Davis' 75th birthday.
The life-long activist will be involved with the production of the film; the screenplay will be written by Brian Tucker, and Sidra Smith will be a producer.
There are no current details on the film's cast but Dash confirmed that filming would begin in June.
Davis rose to prominence as a counterculture activist in the 1960s. She worked with the Black Panther Party during the Civil Rights Movement. While teaching at UCLA, she was openly a member of the Communist Party, which led to then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan to seek to bar her from the university.
In 1970, the academic was accused of murder after purchasing guns for her security guards. The guards used the weapons to take over a Marin County, California courtroom, which led to the death of four individuals.
Davis was on trial for three capital felonies including conspiracy to murder. In 1972, she was acquitted of all charges.
