With this tender and clear-eyed coming-of-age odyssey, the renowned photographer turned filmmaker GORDON PARKS (Shaft) not only became the first Black American director to make a Hollywood studio film, he also served as writer, producer, and composer, resulting in a deeply personal artistic achievement. Based on Parks’s own semi-autobiographical novel, The Learning Tree follows the journey of Newt Winger (Mod Squad’s KYLE JOHNSON), a teenage descendant of Exodusters growing up in rural Kansas in the 1920s, as he experiences the bittersweet flowering of first love, finds his relationship with a close friend tested, and navigates the injustices embedded within a racist legal and educational system. Exquisitely capturing the bucolic splendor of its heartland setting, this landmark film tempers nostalgia with an incisive understanding of the harsh realities, hard-won lessons, and often wrenching moral choices that shape the road to selfdetermination of the young Black man at its center. DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES 2K digital master, approved by director Cary Joji Fukunaga, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray New audio commentary featuring Fukunaga and first assistant director Jon Mallard New documentary on the development and making of the film, featuring interviews with Fukunaga; author Uzodinma Iweala; actors Idris Elba and Abraham Attah; and producers Amy Kaufman, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, and Riva Marker New conversation between Fukunaga and film and television producer and cultural commentator Franklin Leonard New interview with costume designer Jenny Eagan Trailer English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing English descriptive audio PLUS: An essay by film critic Robert Daniels New cover by Nessim Higson
