Ava DuVernay connects the dots between the end of slavery, segregation, the war on drugs, and the rise of mass incarceration in the United States in her new documentary 13th. The film, which opened the 54th New York Film Festival tonight, couldn’t be more timely as it puts both Presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, on blast, and addresses the Black Lives Matter movement. DuVernay spoke on these topics and more during a press conference following a screening of the film on Friday.

The idea for 13th came out DuVernay’s fascination with the prison industrial complex, a term coined by civil rights icon Angela Davis. DuVernay, who grew up in an atmosphere where having friends or loved ones cycling in and out of the prison system was a fact of life, was disturbed by the notion that multi-billion dollar companies were turning a profit off of the incarceration of black bodies. As she dug deeper into the topic, the scope of the film broadened to include what led up to the current situation and what the future might hold.

As far as where the story starts, it is hinted at in the title of the film, which comes from the 13th Amendment. Legislation that supposedly abolished slavery in the United States, the amendment includes a loophole. It states “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” With the inclusion of the phrase “except as a punishment for crime”, the amendment essentially moved slavery from the plantation to the prison. From there, the film builds a case for why and how the U.S. prison system has vastly expanded. It introduces into evidence D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation, segregation, Nixon’s law and order platform, Reagan’s war on drugs, the infamous Willie Horton advertisement, Bill Clinton’s federal crime bill of 1994, the behind the scenes dealings of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the killing of Trayvon Martin, and more. DuVernay covers a lot of ground in the film weaving together archival footage and interviews with activists, historians, scholars and politicians.

There are already a number of films and books that touch on topics covered in DuVernay’s documentary, but what sets her project apart is her ability to string all the ideas together, relate them to the Black Lives Matter movement, and strike an emotional chord. During the press conference, she mentioned films she used as source material, including The Black Power Mixtape, Dawn Porter’s Gideon’s Army, and Sam Pollard’s Slavery of Another Name.  She also looked to Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, and Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy. Both authors also appear in the film.

As for our Presidential nominees, Trump and Hillary, DuVernay doesn’t paint a rosy picture of either candidate. Trump is heard saying he wants a return to the good old days as images of African-Americans being ejected from his rallies are juxtaposed with footage shot during the days of segregation. In the case of Hillary, she is shown referring to African-American youth as “super predators.”

At the press conference, DuVernay expressed her gratitude and excitement over working with Netflix. She jokingly thanked Stranger Things and Luke Cage for paying for 13th’s archival footage, and later gushed about how Netflix will make the film more easily accessible to communities of color. She spoke about cinema segregation, and how certain areas only have access to theaters screening studio fare, which is why, for a film like this, having smaller distribution companies like Netflix is so important.

13th will be available on Netflix starting October 7, 2016. Check out the trailer below.