Nate Parker attends the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival premiere of “The Birth Of A Nation” Premiere at Winter Garden Theatre on September 9, 2016 in Toronto, Canada.
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Parker was acquitted of the charges, but his friend, Jean Celestin, who shares a story credit on The Birth of a Nation, was found guilty. Parker dragged a serious amount of controversy with him before his debut feature screened this week at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was subsequently revealed the alleged victim had died by suicide in 2012. The American Film Institute, a national organization dedicated to cinema heritage, abruptly canceled a screening scheduled for late August, and Oscar insiders are buzzing that the film is effectively out of competition.
Could the buzzy drama – which wowed critics at Sundance and so impressed Fox Searchlight that the studio paid a record $17.5-million (U.S.) for it – weather the storm of controversy surrounding Parker’s history, which is especially problematic as the film’s narrative pivots on a scene of sexual assault? That is my sole objective, and I’ve been by joined by so many advocates and allies on our cast and worldwide who say this is uncomfortable and everything makes me so angry, but I recognize that there is a movement that I want to be a part of, and that movement is education about sexual violence, toxic masculinity, misogyny, rape culture. He went on for several minutes explaining that over 400 people had been involved with the project and had made sacrifices and put their lives on hold for it, and how it wasn’t fair to let that work go to waste. “I would encourage everyone to remember that personal life aside, I’m just one person”.
“As important and ground-breaking as this film is, I can not take these allegations lightly”, she wrote. Samuel turns to alcohol, perhaps he needs to drown his conscience in booze, and Nat begins shedding tears as he preaches. He noted that the stars were not paid very much-they all worked for scale-and that he accepted and welcomed all contributions, even from crew members.
Parker didn’t directly address the sexual assault allegations when I asked about those who have made a decision to skip what he has called a “labor of love” and a “passion project”. “We all know that Abraham Lincoln came out against (slavery) and there was a war called the Civil War where many, many people were killed, families fighting each other over this issue of slavery”. Union declared: “We’ve always said from the very very beginning we are not creating a movie we are creating a movement”. “Healing comes with an honest confrontation with our past”, he said.
“This is a forum for the film, for the other people sitting on this stage”.
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“I asked, ‘Do you understand why some people won’t want to see this movie based on Nate Parker’s history?’ he said. It’s not mine, I don’t own it, it’s not on me”, said Parker, who was joined by the cast of his film at a news conference at the festival. I didn’t know the Nat Turner story. If people flock out to see the movie and it brings in a ton of dough as they hope, it furthers his career.
