Haley Goldberg, USA TODAY College 9:03 a.m. EST January 18, 2014

The satire - based on white people's misconceptions about black culture -
will debut at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on Saturday and explore "racial
identity in 'post-racial' America."

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Dear White People

Cloaked in satire, 'Dear White People' tackles racial identity at a
fictional, predominantly white Ivy League institution.(Photo: DEAR
WHITE PEOPLE PRODUCTIONS)

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joining 16 other films in the U.S. Dramatic Competition category.

Cloaked in satire, the film tackles racial identity at a fictional,
predominantly white Ivy League institution.

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anyone outside of their race or culture."

Simien hopes the satirical tone of his film will serve as a gateway to
dialogue, eliciting laughter from the audience while leaving them
thinking about the issues of race.

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While working on the screenplay, Simien created the Twitter account
@DearWhitePeople in 2010 as a tool to test Samantha's voice and gauge
how audiences responded to the satirical riffs.

To his surprise, fans have emerged from all types of people.