Skip to main content

Browse
Eras
Directors
Film Studies

Home
/
Films
/
The Birth Of A Nation 1915

The Film Index

A curated reference of cinematographic masterpieces and academic resource for film studies.

Browse

All Films By Director By Era By Genre

Academic

Film Studies Lists Curriculum Guides Reading Lists Marilyn: The Archives Cinexis: The Filmmaker's Lexicon

About

Our Mission Editorial Process Studio Partnerships Contact

© 2026 The Film Index. All rights reserved.

Curated with care.

The Birth of a Nation (1915) | The Film Index

Scene from The Birth of a Nation

Film Record

The Birth of a Nation

1915195 minDirected by D.W. Griffith

1915

The Birth of a Nation

Credits

Director

★D.W. Griffith

Writers

★D.W. Griffith ★Frank E. Woods

Cast

★Lillian Gish

Character: Stoneman's Daughter Elsie

Character: Flora Cameron

★Henry B. Walthall

Character: Col. Ben Cameron

★Miriam Cooper

Character: Margaret Cameron

Character: Stoneman's Housekeeper Lydia

Character: Leader of the House Hon. Austin Stoneman

★George Siegmann

Character: Lieut. Governor Silas Lynch

Character: Gus

Other

★Joseph Carl Breil

Credit: Cinematographer

★D.W. Griffith

Credit: Producer

Film Record

The Birth of a Nation

Country: United States
Release: 8 MAR 1915
Runtime: 195 min
Original Language: English

Community Rating

★★★★★

0 up · 0 down

Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.

Play Full Movie

No embeddable source is available yet.

Behind The Scenes

No behind-the-scenes images have been published yet.

More from the 1910s

The Immigrant

1917

The Immigrant

The Vampires or, The Arch Criminals of Paris

1915

The Vampires or, The Arch Criminals of Paris

Frankenstein

1910

Frankenstein