Nate Parker, the director, screenwriter and star of “The Birth of a Nation,” poses at the premiere of the film at the Cinerama Dome on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Fox Searchlight will hold voter registration enrollment in theater lobbies ahead of screenings of the Nat Turner slave rebellion drama “The Birth of a Nation.”

Though the film has been overshadowed by a 17-year-old rape case involving Nate Parker, the film’s director and star, that he was later acquitted of, due to his testimony of having previous relations with the accuser, Fox Searchlight is trying to shift the attention surrounding “The Birth of a Nation.” The specialty film distributor said Monday the voter initiative will roll out nationwide during promotional screenings on Sept. 27, National Voter Registration Day, as well as on opening weekend, Oct. 7-9.

Fox Searchlight said some 20 theater chains and independent theaters are participating.

The film dramatizes the events leading up to the Turner-led revolt in 1831 Virginia that was defeated, killing some 60 slaves.