USA, 1920. While The Birth of a Nation, D. W. Griffith's ‘racist’ masterpiece, is still echoing around the country, a man in Illinois is distributing a film with an equally symbolic title, "Within Our Gates." His name is Oscar Micheaux and his intent is to respond forcefully to Griffith's work. In an era of unassailable segregation and with the uncontrollable rise of the Ku Klux Klan, an African American filmmaker, Micheaux challenges the racist pillars of 1920s America. He is the first to offer his people a different view of American society and to show the condition in which millions of women and men, victims of the blackest and most vicious racial discrimination, deserve to live.

Micheaux used film to spread his message and to structure what would later become the African American film industry. A human, artistic and entrepreneurial miracle conceived by a man with unparalleled insight and an amazing ability to overcome obstacles.

Oscar Micheaux - The Superhero of Black Filmmaking, selected in the Cannes Classics section of the Cannes Film Festival, reconstructs the extraordinary story of Oscar Micheaux. Only four photographs and about ten of his more than 40 films have survived to this day, but it is time to rediscover Micheaux's uniqueness. To do so, the film ventures to the places of his life, gathering testimonies from scholars and heirs of his cinema, icons of African American culture and popular music.