This elegant volume celebrates and chronicles the creation of an extraordinary movie: Amistad, from DreamWorks Pictures, directed by Steven Spielberg. Bringing this landmark story to the screen was a journey into the depths of the human heart-a journey celebrated here in production photographs, specially commissioned film artwork, and essays by Spielberg, producer Debbie Allen (the moving force behind the project), and poet Maya Angelou. Amistad brings to life a pivotal moment in history by bringing us close to the people who made history, and pays homage to the power of the human spirit against crushing oppression. In the summer of 1839, an uprising took place aboard a Spanish ship carrying 53 kidnapped Africans into slavery. Cinque, a Mende from West Africa, broke his shackles and, with his fellow captives, took control of the Amistad. Thwarted by the Spanish crew in their attempt to sail back to Africa, they were recaptured by the American Navy and put on trial for piracy and murder. The Amistad case, as it came to be known, became a flash point for the profound conflict brewing in the young United States between pro- and antislavery forces.