Nate Parker avoids personal questions at ‘Birth of a Nation’ event

Union, who has a supporting role in Nate Parker’s upcoming Birth Of A Nation film, recently attended the Toronto Film Festival and spoke out about how her own experience as a rape survivor mirrored that of her character in the movie.

The first instance came from the panel’s own moderator, Essence magazine’s Cori Murray – perhaps a canny way of addressing the issue head-on before questions were opened to the assembled press.

Glaser added in his CBC report, “We played that clip long because you could hear me there actually asking him a question about whether Fox Searchlight has changed their approach, their strategy because of all the attention on his personal life, that’s when… they cut my interview”, adding, “I was given five minutes of time“. But Parker has since been dodging questions about the 17-year-old sexual assault allegations.

Despite his refusal to discuss his own hard history, for which he was charged with raping a fellow Penn State University student but later acquitted at trial – his roommate and Birth of a Nation co-writer Jean Celestin was found guilty but acquitted upon appeal – Parker urged everyone to have “honest conversation” about oppression and wounds of all kinds.

Nate maintained the sex was consensual and he was later acquitted in a 2001 trial, while Celestin was sentenced to serve six months behind bars but his conviction was subsequently overturned after an appeal. Later, it was revealed she committed suicide. Several Academy members previously told The Hollywood Reporter that they would not see the film, much less vote for it, on principal. “I do want to make sure that we’re honouring this film and we’re moving these people in front of you forward”.

At the junket, Parker wanted to focus more on the film. Nat Turner was rooted in a place of faith that helped to subjugate and oppress his people.

He said it was a “no brainer” that he would choose to tell the story on film. I think that we’ve all been held back and scarred. Even just the legacy of Nat Turner-his sacrifice, what he gave, the energy that went into destroying his legacy, and here we are.

Union brought it back to the movie and said, “It’s so important for people to see that you are not broken and you are not seen as damaged and you are not seen as less than or forsaken”.

Why would I miss the opportunity to learn more about Nat Turner because of what happened 17 years ago? Looking to get the conversation back on his film, Parker and his cast on Sunday talked extensively about the film’s message about injustices past, and present. “But this is a forum for the film, this is a forum for the other people that are sitting on this stage”, he said, joined on the panel by seven of his cast mates from the film. In Toronto on Friday, Mr Parker walked the red carpet for the first time since the case hit headlines, but was not faced with protesters outside or hecklers in the cinema audience. At a party in Toronto on Saturday night, she said that “people were hugging me, high-fiving me”. “But my personal discomfort is nothing compared to being a voice for people who are completely voiceless and powerless”. “And I think it’s an important story to know about”.

“As important and ground-breaking as this film is, I can not take these allegations lightly”, she wrote.