The Best of Enemies, the timely drama from first-time director Robin Bissell starring Academy Award® nominee Taraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures) and Academy Award® winner Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) has been acquired by STXfilms for release in the US. Bissell also wrote the screenplay which was inspired by the true events chronicled in The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South, by Osha Gray Davidson. The film also stars BAFTA TV Award-nominee Babou Ceesay (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Anne Heche (John Q), Wes Bentley (American Beauty), Bruce McGill (Lincoln), Tony Award-winner John Gallagher Jr. (Short Term 12) and Nick Searcy (The Shape of Water) lead the supporting cast.

Producers include Danny Strong, Fred Bernstein, Matt Berenson, Bissell, Dominique Telson, and Material Pictures’ Tobey Maguire and Matthew Plouffe. Rick Jackson and Jeremiah Samuels are executive producers.

Based on a true story, The Best of Enemies centers on the unlikely relationship between Ann Atwater (Henson), an outspoken civil rights activist, and C.P. Ellis (Rockwell), a local Ku Klux Klan leader who reluctantly co-chaired a community summit, battling over the desegregation of schools in Durham, North Carolina during the racially-charged summer of 1971. The incredible events that unfolded would change Durham and the lives of Atwater and Ellis forever.

“Robin Bissell crafted a beautiful look at this unlikely friendship that arose from one of the most unsettling times in our country’s history, with Taraji P. Henson, Sam Rockwell, and the entire cast delivering riveting performances,” said Adam Fogelson, Chairman of STXfilms. “STXfilms is proud to come on board for this important and entertaining film that will resonate and evoke dialogue about the timeless humanity that is at the heart of this powerful story.”