A parody of D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation", "I Am Not a Racist" rearranges the scenes of the classic movie and recreates its dialogues to criticize the racism in it and also in the world today. Freemenville is a little city somewhere in the USA. A city ashamed because of its past of slavery, but proud of being the first in the country to end it. There is an annual ball to celebrate this fact. And this year's ball may be the biggest ever, because of the possible presence of a big celebrity, who is coming to town to see the premiere of a play. However, the play happens to be D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation", a racist work that starts a series of events exposing the racism that still exists in the city, culminating in the recreation of the KKK.
Born in Chicago, he was an actor in touring stock companies before making his screen debut in 1912. Joining D.W. Griffith's Fine Arts Studio in 1914, he was cast as Union officer Phil Stoneman in "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) and as The Rhapsodie in the Babylonian story of "Intolerance" (1916). He was also a second-unit director for those films. Promoted to director in 1917, Clifton supervised several successful Fine Arts comedies starring Dorothy Gish while continuing to serve as Griffith's assistant. Their association culminated with the blockbuster "Way Down East" (1920). Clifton shot much of its famous "Rescue from the ice" sequence and doubled for star Richard Barthelmess in the riskier scenes. He then left Griffith to form his own production company and had a smash hit with "Down to the Sea in Ships" (1922), a colorful whaling saga made on location in New England. It made a star of future "It Girl" Clara Bow, who appeared as a cross-dressing stowaway. In 1923 Clifton signed a lucrative seven-year contract with Fox and was poised to become one of Hollywood's major directors. Then tragedy struck. He was filming "The Warrens of Virginia" in Texas when his lead actress died from burns in an accident on the set. Although Clifton was blameless in the incident, he was fired by Fox and his career never regained its momentum.
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