VIDEO: Powerful trailer for The Birth of a Nation

Nate Parker's The Birth of a Nation scored huge prizes at the Sundance Film Festival and is finally set to be seen around the world.

The film is about Nat Turner, a real man who lived in the early 1800s in Virginia. He was brought up as a preacher who hosted sermons for other slaves, and changed his life when he became truly aware of the horrors of slavery in his home state.

Here's the powerful first full trailer.

Writer, director, producer and star Nate Parker has been trying to bring the life of Nat Turner to the big screen for years, eventually raising the necessary $10 million - a very small figure for a period film with scenes at this scale.

He also managed to attract a quality cast, with appearances by Armie Hammer, Jackie Earle Hayley and Penelope Ann Miller. The film earned incredible acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award and was sold for an impressive $17.5 million.

The Birth of a Nation won't be in cinemas in the States until October 2016 - which will put it in prime position for the Oscars - and arrives in Ireland and the UK in January 2017.