BROOKLYN — "Crown Heights" is coming to a theater near you.
The Sundance darling about the true story of a wrongfully convicted man from the title’s neighborhood is opening for a screening in Brooklyn and a first run in Manhattan this week, with a larger release planned for the following weekend.
The film, directed by Matt Ruskin and starring Lakeith Stanfield of "Get Out," "Straight Outta Compton" and “Atlanta,” tells the story of Collin Warner, a man who spent 21 years in prison for a 1980 fatal shooting in Crown Heights and his friend who investigated the case and pushed for his exoneration.
The movie — adapted from a 2005 "This American Life" episode, Ruskin told Gothamist — will be shown at a free, first-come-first-served screening at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Wednesday. The event will include a question-and-answer session with Stanfield, Ruskin, and the two men whose lives are the basis for the film.
Ruskin will also make an appearance at the film’s opening at the IFC Center in Manhattan at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The movie will play there on Saturday, as well, and open at theaters across the country on Aug. 25.
Watch the trailer for Crown Heights below:
