This piece was amended on 26 September 2016; The 13th is not DuVernay’s first documentary.
The Netflix project examines why the US has produced the highest rate of incarceration in the world, with the majority of those imprisoned being African American.
The festival director and selection committee chair, Kent Jones, has said in a statement that The 13th is a “great film” and “an act of true patriotism”.
It makes its debut on Friday at the New York film festival, the first non-fiction film to ever do so.