Given the controversies and allegations surrounding Nate Parker, many were surprised by the announcement that he would be directing David Oyelowo’s film “Sweet Thunder,” a biopic about boxing great Sugar Ray Robinson.
During a conversation as part of the Toronto Film Festival, Oyelowo defended his decision to work with the filmmaker.
“I have a pretty good discernment when it comes to good people,” Oyelowo said at Variety’s Virtual TIFF Studio presented by Canada Goose while promoting his directorial debut “The Water Man.” “He is a good person beyond his fallibility, beyond the mistakes he made. And I believe in redemption. I believe in forgiveness and he is someone I have been around enough to know that in my opinion he is worthy of that.”
Parker’s career came to a screeching halt just as he was earning major Oscar buzz in 2016 for “Birth of a Nation,” his directorial...
During a conversation as part of the Toronto Film Festival, Oyelowo defended his decision to work with the filmmaker.
“I have a pretty good discernment when it comes to good people,” Oyelowo said at Variety’s Virtual TIFF Studio presented by Canada Goose while promoting his directorial debut “The Water Man.” “He is a good person beyond his fallibility, beyond the mistakes he made. And I believe in redemption. I believe in forgiveness and he is someone I have been around enough to know that in my opinion he is worthy of that.”
Parker’s career came to a screeching halt just as he was earning major Oscar buzz in 2016 for “Birth of a Nation,” his directorial...
- 9/15/2020
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
The Venice Film Festival has announced Nate Parker’s politically-charged drama “American Skin” will world premiere in its Sconfini section. The announcement brings Parker prominently back into spotlight for the first time since the controversy surrounding his directorial debut, “The Birth of a Nation.” “American Skin” stars Parker as a Marine veteran whose son is killed by a policeman during a routine check. When the policeman is declared innocent, the veteran takes the entire police station hostage and puts on a trial in which the jury is made up of inmates and everyday people.
The world premiere of “American Skin” will be attended by recent Oscar winner Spike Lee. The “BlacKkKlansman” director will sit down with Parker following the screening for a Q&a discussion. Lee said in a statement, “My brother, Nate Parker, has concocted a brave tour de force. I haven’t been affected by a film like...
The world premiere of “American Skin” will be attended by recent Oscar winner Spike Lee. The “BlacKkKlansman” director will sit down with Parker following the screening for a Q&a discussion. Lee said in a statement, “My brother, Nate Parker, has concocted a brave tour de force. I haven’t been affected by a film like...
- 8/7/2019
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
The section will also include Graeme A. Scott’s ‘Beyond The Beach: The Hell And The Hope’.
American Skin, the second feature from controversial The Birth Of A Nation director Nate Parker, is one of two world premieres added to the out of competition Sconfini section of this year’s Venice Film Festival (August 28 – September 7).
The festival has also added Beyond The Beach: The Hell And The Hope, a documentary directed by UK producer Graeme A. Scott and Us cinematographer Buddy Squires.
American Skin is about a janitor and Marine veteran Lincoln Jefferson (played by Parker), who takes a police...
American Skin, the second feature from controversial The Birth Of A Nation director Nate Parker, is one of two world premieres added to the out of competition Sconfini section of this year’s Venice Film Festival (August 28 – September 7).
The festival has also added Beyond The Beach: The Hell And The Hope, a documentary directed by UK producer Graeme A. Scott and Us cinematographer Buddy Squires.
American Skin is about a janitor and Marine veteran Lincoln Jefferson (played by Parker), who takes a police...
- 8/7/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The section will also include Graeme A. Scott’s ‘Beyond The Beach: The Hell And The Hope’.
American Skin, the second feature from The Birth Of A Nation director Nate Parker, is one of two world premiere titles added to the Sconfini section of this year’s Venice Film Festival (August 28 – September 7).
The festival has also added Beyond The Beach: The Hell And The Hope, a documentary directed by UK producer Graeme A. Scott and Us cinematographer Buddy Squires.
American Skin is about a janitor and Marine veteran Lincoln Jefferson (played by Parker), who takes a police station hostage after...
American Skin, the second feature from The Birth Of A Nation director Nate Parker, is one of two world premiere titles added to the Sconfini section of this year’s Venice Film Festival (August 28 – September 7).
The festival has also added Beyond The Beach: The Hell And The Hope, a documentary directed by UK producer Graeme A. Scott and Us cinematographer Buddy Squires.
American Skin is about a janitor and Marine veteran Lincoln Jefferson (played by Parker), who takes a police station hostage after...
- 8/7/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Fifteen years ago this month, the Best Picture race at the Oscars pitted Rob Marshall’s razzle-dazzle musical “Chicago” against Roman Polanski’s wrenching Holocaust drama “The Pianist”: a bipolar set of Academy Awards contenders that caused many critics and filmmakers to get both their knickers and their boxers in a twist.
Yes, “The Pianist” may have been the more important work, but was it so important that movie folks could forgive Polanski for the 1977 rape of a 13-year-old child that caused him to become a permanent fugitive from American justice?
Sympathetic Patrick Goldstein, writing in the influential Los Angeles Times, compared Polanski’s case to that of “Les Miserable’s” Jean Valjean, “an ex-con trying to turn his life around who is being obsessively tracked and hunted down by the Parisian police inspector Javert.” Well, of course, drugging and raping a pubescent girl for your perverse pleasure is...
Yes, “The Pianist” may have been the more important work, but was it so important that movie folks could forgive Polanski for the 1977 rape of a 13-year-old child that caused him to become a permanent fugitive from American justice?
Sympathetic Patrick Goldstein, writing in the influential Los Angeles Times, compared Polanski’s case to that of “Les Miserable’s” Jean Valjean, “an ex-con trying to turn his life around who is being obsessively tracked and hunted down by the Parisian police inspector Javert.” Well, of course, drugging and raping a pubescent girl for your perverse pleasure is...
- 2/12/2018
- by Jack Mathews
- Gold Derby
Nate Parker’s film “The Birth of a Nation,” about Nat Turner’s slave rebellion, has received plenty of attention this year. Initially it was for its rapturous reception at the Sundance Film Festival, but months later it was for the resurgence of a 1999 rape accusation leveled against Parker and his co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin. While the film was modestly received upon its theatrical release, grossing $15 million against an $8.5 million budget, Parker’s past has arguably taken center stage in the discussion of “The Birth of a Nation.” In The Hollywood Reporter’s latest director’s roundtable, director Mel Gibson said that he didn’t believe it was fair that many people supposedly didn’t see Parker’s film because of the director’s past.
Read More: IndieWire’s Movie Podcast: Screen Talk (Episode 122) – Mel Gibson May Be Unforgivable, But How Is ‘Hacksaw Ridge’?
“He was cleared of all that stuff,...
Read More: IndieWire’s Movie Podcast: Screen Talk (Episode 122) – Mel Gibson May Be Unforgivable, But How Is ‘Hacksaw Ridge’?
“He was cleared of all that stuff,...
- 12/8/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Rob Leane Oct 28, 2016
Looking ahead to the movies heading to cinemas in time for Christmas...
The festive season is a great time to go to the pictures. There’s nothing quite like taking solace when it’s cold outside by cramming in with some like-minded folk to see a (hopefully) great movie.
Unsurprisingly, Hollywood studios have cottoned on to this. Year on year, there seems to more and more choice at the cinema come Christmas time. It’s almost like a second summer season, in terms of the sheer volume of major movies on offer. This isn’t likely to change any time soon, especially when you look at the cash banked by Star Wars: The Force Awakens last Christmas. And that's not to mention the festive season's nearness to the Oscar race, which means that the major movies keep coming well into January.
There are many movies rocking around the multiplex during this Yuletide,...
Looking ahead to the movies heading to cinemas in time for Christmas...
The festive season is a great time to go to the pictures. There’s nothing quite like taking solace when it’s cold outside by cramming in with some like-minded folk to see a (hopefully) great movie.
Unsurprisingly, Hollywood studios have cottoned on to this. Year on year, there seems to more and more choice at the cinema come Christmas time. It’s almost like a second summer season, in terms of the sheer volume of major movies on offer. This isn’t likely to change any time soon, especially when you look at the cash banked by Star Wars: The Force Awakens last Christmas. And that's not to mention the festive season's nearness to the Oscar race, which means that the major movies keep coming well into January.
There are many movies rocking around the multiplex during this Yuletide,...
- 10/25/2016
- Den of Geek
Without fail, every single year there are Oscar hopefuls that fall victim to controversy. Some are well founded, some are pure smoke, and some are caught in between. This week, the year’s most controversy laden film hits theaters. In fact, it’s out today. The controversy isn’t due to the film’s content, but the past actions of its filmmaker. I won’t get into what Nate Parker and his co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin were accused of and the subsequent issues, but it’s clear that to some degree, it has affected the release. Back at the Sundance Film Festival, it was hailed as a potential Best Picture frontrunner. Now, it’s possibly an Oscar also-ran. What happened? Well, at least in my opinion, hype died down and it’s being seen for the flawed work that it truly is. Controversy aside, it’s just a mixed bag of a movie.
- 10/7/2016
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Breaking: More than 40 women and a few men held a candlelight vigil tonight outside the ArcLight theater in Hollywood to support the alleged rape victim at the center of the controversy surrounding The Birth of a Nation‘s director Nate Parker and co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin. The protesters, who sat in total silence, were demonstrating to bring attention to the alleged victim who 17 years ago accused the two men of raping her while she lay unconscious; the incident in…...
- 10/7/2016
- Deadline
The Birth Of A Nation Fox Searchlight Films Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, CompuServe Film d-based on Rotten Tomatoes Grade: B Director: Nate Parker Written by: Nate Parker, story by Nate Parker & Jean McGianni Celestin Cast: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Mark Boone Jr., Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis, Dwight Henry, Aia Naomi King, Esther Scott Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 9/27/16 Opens: October 7, 2016 If you’re wondering how a filmmaker has the nerve to do a sequel to D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” also known as “The Clansman,” you need not fear. Nate Parker’s film is anything but an apologia for slavery. This “Birth” finds Parker as a [ Read More ]
The post The Birth of a Nation Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Birth of a Nation Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 10/2/2016
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
The premiere of The Birth is a Nation went off without a hitch – and without any protesters. Perhaps audiences – and Oscar voters – will decide that it should be judged on its own merits and not on the long ago allegation the film's director, Nate Parker, and story co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin, raped a fellow student at Penn State. Parker was acquitted at the end of the 2001 trial, and Celestin's conviction for sexual assault was later overturned and the case was…...
- 9/22/2016
- Deadline
Gabrielle Union, who will be at the Toronto Film Festival later this month when Nate Parker’s Birth Of A Nation is screened and will take part in the press junket afterward, wrote an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times today. She noted that when she read all 700 pages of court documents from the 1999 rape charge against Parker and the film’s co-creator Jean McGianni Celestin, it sent her into “a state of stomach-churning confusion.” Union, who co-stars in the film as a…...
- 9/2/2016
- Deadline
Just last week, we reported that Nate Parker’s The Birth Of A Nation would skip the press conference portion of the Toronto Film Festival. That news broke not long after the AFI announced that a screening of the film, which centers on Nat Turner’s quashed rebellion, had been canceled amidst concerns from the student body about the resurfaced sexual assault allegations against Parker and Jean McGianni Celestin, who has a story credit for the film. Parker and Celestin were accused of sexual assault by a Penn State classmate in 1999. Parker was ultimately cleared of the charges; Celestin was convicted, but he successfully appealed the verdict and got a new trial, though the alleged victim wouldn’t testify again. Their accuser committed suicide in 2012.
The writer-director’s addressed the allegations in a couple of interviews, including this exclusive with Ebony, in which he claims to not have ...
The writer-director’s addressed the allegations in a couple of interviews, including this exclusive with Ebony, in which he claims to not have ...
- 8/31/2016
- by Danette Chavez
- avclub.com
“Birth of a Nation” director Nate Parker says in an interview with Ebony that his awareness and consciousness about consent have changed since he was acquitted of rape while a college student. The discussion of his upcoming film, about Nat Turner’s slave rebellion, has been largely sidelined by debate about the case, which involved Parker, “Birth” co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin and a female student at Penn State University. Parker was acquitted of sexual assault in 2001 and the charges against Celestin were eventually dropped. “Let me be the first to say, I can’t remember ever having a conversation about the definition of.
- 8/27/2016
- by Rosemary Rossi
- The Wrap
Four members of the Penn State community have released a statement in support of Birth of a Nation director Nate Parker and co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin, who have been at the center of controversy based on Parker's recent statements about a rape accusation that both faced in college. "We were present during the entire trial and ultimate exoneration of both Mr. Parker and Mr. Celestin. At the time, we were college students, staff and alumni who were deeply involved with countering the violently hostile racial climate that thrived in the Penn State community," says the lengthy statement from
read more...
read more...
- 8/25/2016
- by Rebecca Ford
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nate Parker’s The Birth Of A Nation hits theaters on October 7; ahead of the wide release, the American Film Institute had scheduled a special screening of the film, to be followed by a Q&A with the director, for later this week. But Variety reports that the event has just been canceled over concerns surrounding the resurfacing of sexual assault allegations against Parker and one of his Birth Of A Nation collaborators.
In 1999, Parker and Jean McGianni Celestin were charged with sexual assault of a female classmate at Penn State. The woman said that they raped her while she was unconscious, while the men argued that the sex was consensual. Ultimately, Parker was acquitted and Celestin was convicted of sexual assault. Celestin appealed the verdict and was granted a new trial in 2005, but the case was never tried again after the alleged victim declined to testify again ...
In 1999, Parker and Jean McGianni Celestin were charged with sexual assault of a female classmate at Penn State. The woman said that they raped her while she was unconscious, while the men argued that the sex was consensual. Ultimately, Parker was acquitted and Celestin was convicted of sexual assault. Celestin appealed the verdict and was granted a new trial in 2005, but the case was never tried again after the alleged victim declined to testify again ...
- 8/24/2016
- by Danette Chavez
- avclub.com
Director Nate Parker's controversial past continues to haunt him. On Tuesday, the American Film Institute's dean Jan Schuette told students an upcoming screening of the 36-year-old's film Birth of a Nation would be canceled, Variety reports. Originally scheduled for Friday, the viewing was to be followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker and star - his first public appearance since news of his involvement in a 1999 rape case resurfaced. "I have been the recipient of many different passionate points of view about the screening, and I believe it is essential that we discuss these issues together - messenger and message,...
- 8/24/2016
- by Dave Quinn, @NineDaves
- PEOPLE.com
Director Nate Parker's controversial past continues to haunt him. On Tuesday, the American Film Institute's dean Jan Schuette told students an upcoming screening of the 36-year-old's film Birth of a Nation would be canceled, Variety reports. Originally scheduled for Friday, the viewing was to be followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker and star - his first public appearance since news of his involvement in a 1999 rape case resurfaced. "I have been the recipient of many different passionate points of view about the screening, and I believe it is essential that we discuss these issues together - messenger and message,...
- 8/24/2016
- by Dave Quinn, @NineDaves
- PEOPLE.com
The story behind Birth of a Nation director Nate Parker's 1999 college rape trial has taken an even more disturbing turn as more details continue to emerge from the court proceedings. Parker's film - which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in - is a dramatization of Nat Turner's famous 1831 slave revolt and was considered an early Oscar favorite after earning rave reviews and an unprecedented $17 million deal at the Sundance Film Festival. But the acclaim has been overshadowed by his involvement in the 1999 rape case, thrust back into the spotlight after recent reports surfaced that Parker's accuser had...
- 8/19/2016
- by Mike Miller
- PEOPLE.com
Nate Parker became an overnight sensation in Hollywood after his film The Birth of a Nation, which he wrote, starred in, directed and produced, earned universal praise, scoring an unprecedented $17 million deal at the Sundance Film Festival and earning him glowing comparisons to Orson Welles. But the acclaim has been overshadowed by his involvement in a 1999 rape case after recent reports surfaced that the woman had committed suicide in 2012, shining a harsh spotlight on a man who endured a troubled childhood before charting his path to stardom. Birth of a Nation, a historical drama that tells the story of Nat Turner's famous 1831 slave revolt,...
- 8/18/2016
- by Michael Miller, @write_miller
- PEOPLE.com
Nate Parker became an overnight sensation in Hollywood after his film The Birth of a Nation, which he wrote, starred in, directed and produced, earned universal praise, scoring an unprecedented $17 million deal at the Sundance Film Festival and earning him glowing comparisons to Orson Welles. But the acclaim has been overshadowed by his involvement in a 1999 rape case after recent reports surfaced that the woman had committed suicide in 2012, shining a harsh spotlight on a man who endured a troubled childhood before charting his path to stardom. Birth of a Nation, a historical drama that tells the story of Nat Turner's famous 1831 slave revolt,...
- 8/18/2016
- by Michael Miller, @write_miller
- PEOPLE.com
As Fox Searchlight fights to save its prize Oscar contender The Birth Of A Nation from brutal attention to old rape charges—ultimately defeated in court—against its star-director Nate Parker and co-creator Jean McGianni Celestin, Hollywood's masters of crisis management are full of advice for the beleaguered studio. But their counsel points in almost every direction, except up. Polled privately this week, four prominent players involved with the tougher part of show…...
- 8/18/2016
- Deadline
Nate Parker’s upcoming film “The Birth of a Nation” — about the 1831 slave rebellion staged by Nat Turner — promises to shed new light on a pivotal moment in American history. But as the film marches toward a presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival and an eventual Oct. 7 release, a piece of Parker’s own history has threatened to overshadow its cinematic achievement. An unearthed 1999 rape case involving Parker, “Birth” co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin and a female student at Penn State University has recently marred the publicity drive for the Fox Searchlight film. Parker was acquitted of sexual assault in...
- 8/18/2016
- by Tim Kenneally
- The Wrap
Nate Parker, director of the Sundance hit “The Birth of a Nation,” has been shrouded in controversy since a 1999 rape case involving him and Jean McGianni Celestin, who shares credit with Parker for the film’s story, resurfaced. Parker and Celestin were charged with raping a young woman in 1999 while attending Pennsylvania State University; Parker was acquitted of all charges and Celestin was convicted but then had his case overturned on appeal. It was later discovered that the accuser committed suicide four years ago at the age of 30.
Read More: Nate Parker Writes ‘Devastated’ Facebook Response to College Rape Trial and Accuser’s Suicide
Amidst the backlash and controversy, Parker’s provocative poster for the film, featuring Parker as slave revolt leader Nat Turner with an American flag around his neck, has been altered by conservative street artist Sabo into a rape allegation. The Photoshopped poster remains the same, except...
Read More: Nate Parker Writes ‘Devastated’ Facebook Response to College Rape Trial and Accuser’s Suicide
Amidst the backlash and controversy, Parker’s provocative poster for the film, featuring Parker as slave revolt leader Nat Turner with an American flag around his neck, has been altered by conservative street artist Sabo into a rape allegation. The Photoshopped poster remains the same, except...
- 8/17/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
When Nate Parker’s directorial debut, The Birth Of A Nation, premiered at Sundance earlier this year, the dominant narrative surrounding the film was mostly about how it was going to win a whole bunch of awards come Oscars season. Now that narrative has been significantly complicated, as a dark incident in Parker’s past has come back to the surface.
In 1999, when he was a student at Penn State, Parker and Jean McGianni Celestin (who received a story credit on The Birth Of A Nation) were charged with sexually assaulting a female classmate. According to court documents, the woman charged that both men had raped her while she was unconscious after a night of drinking; both Parker and Celestin claimed the encounter was consensual. The case became a flash point at the university, resulting in a trial in which Parker was acquitted in 2001. Celestin, on the other ...
In 1999, when he was a student at Penn State, Parker and Jean McGianni Celestin (who received a story credit on The Birth Of A Nation) were charged with sexually assaulting a female classmate. According to court documents, the woman charged that both men had raped her while she was unconscious after a night of drinking; both Parker and Celestin claimed the encounter was consensual. The case became a flash point at the university, resulting in a trial in which Parker was acquitted in 2001. Celestin, on the other ...
- 8/17/2016
- by Katie Rife
- avclub.com
A dark chapter in the past of actor and filmmaker Nate Parker has come back to haunt him ahead of the release of The Birth of a Nation, a movie about a Virginia slave rebellion in 1831 that many heralded as an Oscar frontrunner when it screened at Sundance in January. In recent weeks, details surrounding a rape accusation he faced while in college have come to light and, despite his acquittal of the charges, he has had to confront them in the press and on his social media.
In 1999, an...
In 1999, an...
- 8/17/2016
- Rollingstone.com
The actor, writer and director of Oscar-tipped drama The Birth of a Nation has responded to the death of the woman who accused him of sexual assault
Nate Parker, the Oscar-tipped actor, writer and director of slavery drama The Birth of a Nation, has responded to the suicide of the woman who accused him of rape.
Parker’s acclaimed historical biopic had sold for a record-breaking $17.5m (£13.5m) at this year’s Sundance film festival and had been touted as the film that would combat recent #OscarsSoWhite controversy at next year’s ceremony. He was accused of raping a female student with his Penn State roommate Jean McGianni Celestin in 1999 and while Parker was acquitted, claiming the encounter to be consensual, Celestin, who shares a writing credit with Parker on the forthcoming drama, was convicted and served a short sentence. His charge was overturned after an appeal.
Continue reading...
Nate Parker, the Oscar-tipped actor, writer and director of slavery drama The Birth of a Nation, has responded to the suicide of the woman who accused him of rape.
Parker’s acclaimed historical biopic had sold for a record-breaking $17.5m (£13.5m) at this year’s Sundance film festival and had been touted as the film that would combat recent #OscarsSoWhite controversy at next year’s ceremony. He was accused of raping a female student with his Penn State roommate Jean McGianni Celestin in 1999 and while Parker was acquitted, claiming the encounter to be consensual, Celestin, who shares a writing credit with Parker on the forthcoming drama, was convicted and served a short sentence. His charge was overturned after an appeal.
Continue reading...
- 8/17/2016
- by Benjamin Lee
- The Guardian - Film News
The Birth Of A Nation star has spoken out about a rape claim of which he was cleared 15 years ago as he and Fox Searchlight moved decisively to keep the awards season hopeful on track.
Nate Parker was acquitted by a court in 2001, two years after a woman alleged that he and Jean McGianni Celestin, his then Penn State roommate who earned a story credit on The Birth Of A Nation, raped her while she was unconscious.
The issue has been a matter of public record for years and appears in a citation on Parker’s Wikipedia page following a 2007 interview he gave to The Virginian-Pilot.
However when it resurfaced Searchlight and Parker decided to face the matter head-on in an interview with Deadline Hollywood that ran on Friday.
“Searchlight is aware of the incident that occurred while Nate Parker was at Penn State,” the studio said in a statement. “We also know...
Nate Parker was acquitted by a court in 2001, two years after a woman alleged that he and Jean McGianni Celestin, his then Penn State roommate who earned a story credit on The Birth Of A Nation, raped her while she was unconscious.
The issue has been a matter of public record for years and appears in a citation on Parker’s Wikipedia page following a 2007 interview he gave to The Virginian-Pilot.
However when it resurfaced Searchlight and Parker decided to face the matter head-on in an interview with Deadline Hollywood that ran on Friday.
“Searchlight is aware of the incident that occurred while Nate Parker was at Penn State,” the studio said in a statement. “We also know...
- 8/13/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The Birth Of A Nation star has spoken out about a rape claim of which he was cleared 15 years ago as he and Fox Searchlight moved decisively to keep the awards season hopeful on track.
Nate Parker was acquitted by a court in 2001, two years after a woman alleged that he and Jean McGianni Celestin, his then Penn State roommate who earned a story credit on The Birth Of A Nation, raped her while she was unconscious.
The issue has been a matter of public record for years and appears in a citation on Parker’s Wikipedia page following a 2007 interview he gave to The Virginian-Pilot.
However when it resurfaced Searchlight and Parker decided to face the matter head-on in an interview with Deadline Hollywood that ran on Friday.
“Searchlight is aware of the incident that occurred while Nate Parker was at Penn State,” the studio said in a statement. “We also know...
Nate Parker was acquitted by a court in 2001, two years after a woman alleged that he and Jean McGianni Celestin, his then Penn State roommate who earned a story credit on The Birth Of A Nation, raped her while she was unconscious.
The issue has been a matter of public record for years and appears in a citation on Parker’s Wikipedia page following a 2007 interview he gave to The Virginian-Pilot.
However when it resurfaced Searchlight and Parker decided to face the matter head-on in an interview with Deadline Hollywood that ran on Friday.
“Searchlight is aware of the incident that occurred while Nate Parker was at Penn State,” the studio said in a statement. “We also know...
- 8/13/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Nate Parker’s Cinderella story took a decidedly darker turn Friday morning with a Deadline piece in which the filmmaker behind “The Birth of a Nation” gave an extended interview acknowledging his role in a 1999 rape charge, when he was a student at Penn State.
You can read the details here, but the upshot is he and “The Birth of a Nation” co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin had sex with a fellow student — an incident that, they said, was consensual; she says she was passed-out drunk and unable to give consent. The case went to trial, and Parker was acquitted while Celestin’s conviction was overturned on appeal.
This comes the morning after Parker received the Vanguard Award at the Sundance Institute’s Night Before Next benefit, where he also announced the Institute’s launch of The Birth of a Nation Fellowship for 18-to-24-year-old filmmakers who participate in the Institute’s Ignite program.
You can read the details here, but the upshot is he and “The Birth of a Nation” co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin had sex with a fellow student — an incident that, they said, was consensual; she says she was passed-out drunk and unable to give consent. The case went to trial, and Parker was acquitted while Celestin’s conviction was overturned on appeal.
This comes the morning after Parker received the Vanguard Award at the Sundance Institute’s Night Before Next benefit, where he also announced the Institute’s launch of The Birth of a Nation Fellowship for 18-to-24-year-old filmmakers who participate in the Institute’s Ignite program.
- 8/12/2016
- by Dana Harris
- Indiewire
Nate Parker leads a slave uprising as Nat Turner in the first trailer for “The Birth of a Nation.” Few words are spoken as evocative images from the film are edited together to Nina Simone’s haunting cover of Billie Holiday’s classic “Strange Fruit.” Parker not only stars, but directed and wrote the feature, based on a story by Jean McGianni Celestin, about the most successful slave rebellion in American history. “Submit yourselves to your masters with all respect,” Parker’s Turner tells a group of fellow slaves in the trailer. “The Birth of a Nation” premiered to raves back in January at the Sundance Film Festival. Fox Searchlight picked up distribution rights for a reported record-breaking $17.5 million at the fest. The film won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. Parker accepted both awards on the film’s behalf. The multi-hyphenate Parker additionally accepted the Breakthrough...
- 4/15/2016
- backstage.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.