The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker, 2016)

[Drucker]

Birth Of A Nation (not that one), about the 1831 slave rebellion led by Nat Turner, picked up by Searchlight.

[domino harvey]

Sounds like Oscars did factor into this if they turned down Netflix's $20 million in favor of Fox Searchlight's $17.5 million

[aox]

That's an unfortunate title.

[Professor Wagstaff]

It's actually The Birth of a Nation. Still unfortunate.

[Shrew]

Pretty clearly seems to be setting up a counternarrative to the original's white supremacist propaganda, so I'm not sure I'd call it unfortunate. But potentially confusing, yes.

[domino harvey]

Well, as Godard said, the best criticism of a film is another film. Plus, even though I love Griffith's film, I have to admit it's rather clever to reclaim the title like this for a film with (presumably) opposite messaging!

[knives]

Well, as Godard said, the best criticism of a film is another film. Plus, even though I love Griffith's film, I have to admit it's rather clever to reclaim the title like this for a film with (presumably) opposite messaging!

Though McGruder did that first.

[hearthesilence]

Honestly, I've been waiting for a film like this to take that title for a while. It just seems like an obvious thing to do (in a good way) - what took so long?

[hearthesilence]

Ugh, a mixed review comparing it to a film that isn't exactly close to my heart.

[knives]

Presumably if this was forty years ago that would be to Spartacus. Such comparisons probably reflect the reviewer more than the film.

[Cash Flagg]

Honestly, I've been waiting for a film like this to take that title for a while. It just seems like an obvious thing to do (in a good way) - what took so long?

Well, there was Rebirth of a Nation.

[Ribs]

Honestly, I've been waiting for a film like this to take that title for a while. It just seems like an obvious thing to do (in a good way) - what took so long?

I expect that they will be marketing this as due to the centennary anniversary of the title even though that was last year.

[Professor Wagstaff]

Trailer

[whaleallright]

I'm just here to recommend that anyone interested in this topic get a hold of Charles Burnett's docu-fiction hybrid Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property. It's an exploration of the way the Nat Turner story has been told, all the way back to Turner's original amanuensis through contemporary novels and screenplays. It's a brilliant film (the pointed double meaning of the title is just the beginning).

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/natturner/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[knives]

I'm just here to recommend that anyone interested in this topic get a hold of Charles Burnett's docu-fiction hybrid Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property. It's an exploration of the way the Nat Turner story has been told, all the way back to Turner's original amanuensis through contemporary novels and screenplays. It's a brilliant film (the pointed double meaning of the title is just the beginning).

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/natturner/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Is there any physical release of the film?

[Werewolf by Night]

Just this DVD

[knives]

Thanks a plenty.

[domino harvey]

Great poster:

[mfunk9786]

The current release plans for this movie are being retooled due to details continuing to emerge about a lengthy rape trial involving the director and his co-writer, Jean McGianni Celestin, when they were in college at Penn State. The accuser committed suicide in 2012. Nate Parker's response to the emergence of this story and her death.

The Nate Parker trial is being re-examined now because of the public attention on “The Birth of a Nation,” which Fox Searchlight bought for a record $17.5 million out of last January’s Sundance Film Festival. When the movie first screened, it was crowned as an Oscar frontrunner, but the film’s release strategy has come into question in light of the recent allegations. Sources say that the senior executives at Fox Searchlight are monitoring press reports about the case, and are debating whether it is still possible to release the movie with a roadshow that would have Parker traveling to churches and college campuses talking about social injustice, which one of the conditions of the Sundance sale.

I would expect and hope that we can both keep the conversation about this on topic with its relevance to the film, but also not feel the need to completely jettison news about this into the sun because it's about Nate Parker's personal life. It's become very big news with regard to the release of the leader in the clubhouse for Best Picture. Parker was pretty great in his supporting role in Beyond the Lights and I expect this movie to be strong too, but this case [with more details here, in an article that seems a little too sympathetic to Parker] is certainly enough to give one pause about too much lionization of these two filmmakers.

[domino harvey]

From front runner to guaranteed total snub, wow. Luckily there are apparently quite a few other high profile POC-led films for the Academy to nominate in the wake of recent controversies

[Ribs]

Yeah, though almost all of them have been rushed through production to come out by the end of the year as far as I can tell so who knows if any of them will actually turn out well (and I'm mildly expecting them to split a 'progressive' vote to marginal nominations too).

(The one I'm putting my chips on is Denzel Washington's Fences though obviously Loving is the kind of story you're surprised they haven't already made an Oscar-nominated biopic about twenty years ago, and there's a few others too)

[The Narrator Returns]

Both the AFI and the Toronto International Film Festival have cancelled press conferences accompanying the film.

[movielocke]

From front runner to guaranteed total snub, wow. Luckily there are apparently quite a few other high profile POC-led films for the Academy to nominate in the wake of recent controversies

im extremely liberal but I find this entire media narrative incredibly disturbing. being found not guilty of rape in a court of law proves guilt, apparently.

I imagine the media that has driven the "not guilty means guilty" narrative will focus on getting a pro rape culture book like "to kill a mockingbird" off of curriculum, after all, I'm sure to them it promotes a culture that says rape accusations are false.

I understand the details and problems and politics of how rape is treated in our justice system, but a black man was found not guilty of raping a white woman--something that never happens in the United States--and now the media is trying to reverse that verdict in the court of public opinion.

[Black Hat]

im extremely liberal but I find this entire media narrative incredibly disturbing. being found not guilty of rape in a court of law proves guilt, apparently.

You're also smart enough to know sexual assault cases are the most difficult to prosecute. It's not the media 'convicting' him, have you read the court transcripts? The other man involved was convicted while he got off along with what happened to her, Parker continuing to work with him post conviction is what's disturbing. Parker's statement on the matter was terrible.

I can imagine the forum frowns on discussions of this ilk as if topics of morality, the moral responsibility of filmmakers, producers, performers etc, etc. somehow exists in a vacuum outside of the work. The problem with this view is society often times takes its social cues from art as well as the artists themselves. To pretend it doesn't is to me being actively complicit. Past that to intellectual wrestle with these issues is an important exercise. New York Magazine had a good discussion about Parker and his film.

[knives]

I don't have a dog in this fight as I know nothing of the situation, but if I understand you correctly he was found not guilty and his writing partner was found guilty (and presumably served some time). Thus your problem is that Parker is choosing to continue to work with this rapist who has served his time and has yet to show any behavior suggesting he will be a repeat offender? That to me sounds like you have the harder position to defend as it amounts to making criminals permanent pariahs even if they have done their legally demanded punishment and at least have the appearance of reformation. Added to this that it sounds like Parker has been friends with this person for a while and I have to agree with Movielocke's position.