Actor Rebecca Hall is making her feature directorial debut with Passing, starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga. The film is adapted from a seminal Harlem Renaissance novella by Nella Larsen, published in 1929, and one of only two books she wrote. Also called Passing, it tells the story of two friends, one of whom attempts to pass as white, triggering a tragic set of events. It was inspired by Larsen’s own mixed racial heritage, and has been celebrated since for its depiction of race, class, and sexuality. Hall herself comes from a mixed background — her father is the English director Peter Hall, while her mother is the African-American opera singer Maria Ewing. The concept of racial passing, meanwhile, has an inglorious Hollywood past, as noted by The Guardian. It’s only recently, with films like Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You (also starring Thompson), and Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, that racial ambiguity (or whiteface — see Donald Glover’s horrifying turn in Atlanta) is back on screens. Hall’s work will be a necessary and fascinating addition, and add a new perspective, to discussions on racial privilege in America.