Burden tells the incredible true story of Michael "Mike" Burden (Garrett Hedlund), an ardent young member of the South Carolina Ku Klux Klan who rose to the rank of Grand Dragon – and walked away from all of it with the help of a new love and an unlikely ally, the African American religious leader and social activist Reverend David Kennedy (Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker). Burden focuses on Mike Burden (Hedlund, of Mudbound), a 30-something living in Laurens, South Carolina, wrapped in the warm glow of communal racism. Burden tells the incredible true story of Michael "Mike" Burden (Garrett Hedlund), an ardent young member of the South Carolina Ku Klux Klan who rose to the rank of Grand Dragon – and walked away from all of it with the help of a new love and an unlikely ally, the African American religious leader and social activist Reverend David Kennedy (Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker).

Mike Burden and Reverend David Kennedy’s 24-year friendship had an unlikely beginning. Amongst those members are Michael “Mike” Burden (Garrett Hedlund) and Klan leader Tom Griffin (Tom Wilkinson). When a museum celebrating the Ku Klux Klan opens in a South Carolina town, the idealistic Reverend Kennedy strives to keep the peace even as he urges the group's Grand Dragon to disavow his racist past. Directed by Andrew Heckler. He works with a tight group at … When we first meet Garrett Hedlund’s Mike Burden he hardly comes across as a Mensa candidate, but clearly has a good heart. The film follows Mike Burden (Garrett Hedlund), an orphan raised within the Ku Klux Klan who attempts to break away when the girl (Andrea Riseborough) he falls in love with urges him to leave for a better life together. It is, of course, Mike Burden’s last name. Garrett Hedlund… But more importantly, it points to the weight that he carries with him: the albatross of racism that hangs around his neck, the millstone of his own failed upbringing and broken soul. The Klan seeks Mike out for vengeance. This time, the movie’s flawed hero is the real-life Mike Burden (Garrett Hedlund), an uneducated repo man in small-town South Carolina. Taking place in the small town of Laurens, South Carolina, in the mid-to-late 1990s, the story is told mainly from the perspective of the title character, Mike Burden (played by Garrett Hedlund), a self-described “redneck” troublemaker who was orphaned at an early age. A fact-based drama about former KKK member Mike Burden (Garrett Hedlund), “Burden” follows the story of what happened after the former “grand dragon” fell in … 101 Studios has released a new trailer for Burden, one of the buzz titles at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival where the drama won the Audience Award.