The moment is notorious in United States history and equally enigmatic. Plenty of renditions of the untimely and, to many, unexplained assassination of President John F. Kennedy have graced the silver screen but Parkland takes an original vantage point. Scheduled to be released on September 20 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of JFK’s murder, the official trailer for Parkland has been released and looks riveting.

Parkland recounts the events of that fateful November afternoon in Dallas, Texas but more specifically those that occurred at Parkland Memorial Hospital and those unsuspecting players that took part. The trailer is cryptic, building suspense as it goes along, while the audience knows what the outcome of lines like “Nice day for a motorcade” is.

Watch the trailer for Parkland here:

And while the portrayal of how the fate of our nation’s vision and leadership was left in the precise and steady hands of young surgeons and doctors, arguably the best park of the film could be that JFK isn’t a role played by any actor. Rather, or so it looks in the trailer, snippets of Jack as he was so affectionally called are substituted with live footage, thrusting the focus of the flick on the proverbial bench player.

The cast is strong, featuring the likes of Paul Giamatti, Bill Bob Thornton, Marcia Gay Harden, Rob Livingston, Zac Efron, and Jackie Earle Haley. This is writer/director Peter Landesman first feature directing credit and second for writing, but with Tom Hanks signed on as a producer (having also helped the produce historically accurate and critically acclaimed miniseries The Pacific, Band of Brothers, and John Adams) Landesman will have plenty of wisdom and resources to turn to in times of trouble.

Parland is scheduled to be shown in the main competition section of the 70th Venice International Film Festival and at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Take a look at the trailer and let us know what you think in the comments section below.