As many have pointed out, the fact of Parker’s acquittal doesn’t necessarily absolve him the way he and his supporters might like, especially at a time when black folks in particular are fighting to draw attention to serious flaws in the criminal justice system. Another black director who knows Parker, but also requested anonymity, said: “It worries me that a film and a guy with so much promise gets cut down a month before his masterpiece gets released”. This is what I think about.
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The Birth of a Nation is scheduled to open in U.S. movie theaters on October 7.
Edward Zwick, who sits on the AFI Board of Directors, was an executive producer on the historical biopic, which tells the story of Nat Turner’s failed slave rebellion.
AFI’s dean, Jan Schuette, appears to have been buffeted on all sides by people’s views on Parker, his culpability in the death of his accuser, and the intersection of race in his case and the success of his film.
Sure. That’s one way to put it. It’s valid, and it’s important. Parker’s film also includes a graphic gang rape scene, further complicating age-old questions about the ethics of consuming art when the artist is accused of awful things.
At the time of the case, Parker was a wrestler at Penn State. But that’s all it will be- assumptions.
It’s unclear if or when they will do the screening at a later date. Nonetheless, whatever we gather from the 17-year-old evidence is only our opinions rooted in deep emotion about such a touchy subject. “I stand firmly on the side of the oppressed”. “All I can ask is any other victims to come forward, and not let this kind of tolerance to go on anymore.'” Ms. Loeffler said her sister had believed there were other victims and had been broken by the 1999 case and its aftermath. That’s my main source of consternation, and that’s what it comes down to for me. What is the relevance of it all right now at this moment?
The other man who was found guilty in the 1999 case, Jean Celestin, is credited as a cowriter in “The Birth of a Nation”. After some technical difficulties, the festival finally had its full schedule online Wednesday morning.
Here’s the ugly truth. We’re talking 17 years later. We don’t see what they do and have no real insights that they are doing it until it’s done. “I don’t know what the truth is”.
Birth of a Nation opens on October 7, 2016, and will be screening at the Toronto Film Festival during its run from September 8 – 18. He’s disappointed over the backlash on social media and that the African-American online community hasn’t been more supportive.
The controversy is trying to overshadow the film and its message, which I am sure, is exactly what the folks who dug it up in the first place wants it to do.
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Even if Nate Parker is found innocent of the rape, the stains of this smear won’t ever leave his “Birth of a Nation”.
