Director of Martin Luther King biopic Selma, Ava DuVernay, is to tackle another American true-life story of race with Netflix limited drama series Central Park Five

The Academy Award nominee will write and direct the four-part series which will chronicle the case of five teenagers of colour who were convicted of a rape they did not commit.

Michael K. Williams (Omar in The Wire) and John Leguizamo (Carlito's Way, John Wick) will star as fathers of the accused teens while Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, Bates Motel) will play Elizabeth Lederer, the Manhattan Assistant District Attorney and lead prosecutor on the case.

The series's jumps between the spring of 1989, when each teen was first questioned about the incident, to 2014 when they were exonerated and a settlement was reached with the city of New York.

Oprah Winfrey will be an executive producer on the show.

DuVernay previously collaborated with Netflix on Oscar-nominated documentary 13th which focused on the link between race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States.

The writer-director also helmed this year's Disney fantasy A Wrinkle in Time. While the film was a commercial misfire, it did make DuVernay the first African-American female director woman to direct a film which grossed $100 million dollars in the US.

Central Park Five will be available to stream in Ireland sometime in 2019.