Attica prison uprising documentary in the works at Showtime

June 9 (UPI) -- Freedom Riders and The Murder of Emmett Till documentarian Stanley Nelson is working on a non-fiction project called Attica for Showtime Documentary Films.

Set to debut in 2021, Attica is about the five-day prisoner uprising in upstate New York in 1971, which ended when New York state troopers and local police stormed the prison and regained control.

The incident left 43 people dead.

Showtime said in a press release that Dr. Heather Ann Thompson, the Pulitzer Prize- and Bancroft Prize-winning author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy, will serve as the documentary's lead historical consultant.

"Attica is a film I've been itching to make for a very long time. It's a dramatic story, with so many great voices that have not been heard. The uprising and its aftermath shaped the present in ways I think will be surprising to an audience," Nelson said. "I'm thrilled to be partnering with Showtime on this project."

The cable network said the film will examine the "inmates' demands for recognition of their humanity at the culmination of a moment where racial justice activists embraced prisoner rights as an extension of their fight for civil rights."

The project was announced as thousands of people have been taking to the streets for more than a week in nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd, a black man, allegedly at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis.