“I have no idea, but you know what, I think he’s a great guy, and an excellent filmmaker and a great actor”.
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Though Celestin and Parker were acquitted in 2000, the controversy still remains and has been heightened due to Birth of a Nation, which Fox Searchlight bought for $17.5 million, making it the most lucrative film deal in history.
In a statement, the festival said it would “present the film as planned”. “I can’t help but think of all the implications this has for her family”.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that Parker’s accuser, a young woman who claimed the Birth of a Nation director-writer-star, along with the film’s co-writer, Jean Celestin, sexually assaulted her while they were students at Penn State University in 1999, died by suicide in 2012.
“The Birth of a Nation”, which follows Nat Turner’s 1831 slave rebellion, also comes at a time of increased racial awareness in America.
There were calls to boycott the film and, in Los Angeles, a smattering of posters for the movie, depicting Parker as Turner, were altered to read “Rapist?” by a street artist.
The family of the woman gave a statement to the New York Times saying they “appreciate that after all this time, these men are being held accountable for their actions”.
Director Nate Parker, recipient of the Breakthrough Director of the Year Award arrives for the CinemaCon 2016 Big Screen Achievement Awards, OMNIA Nightclub at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada on April 14, 2016.
In testimony, the woman said that in August 1999, she passed out at Parker’s apartment after a night of drinking. He said he believes the case would have played out differently in a trial today. Celestin was convicted of sexual assault, but that was later overturned when the woman opted not to testify again for a 2005 retrial.
“I write to you all devastated”, Parker wrote.
The woman’s brother told Variety that his sister “became detached from reality” in the years leading up to her suicide.
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“TIFF is proud to help bring The Birth of a Nation and the important story it tells to audiences”, says a statement released by the festival. “The trial was pretty tough for her”.
