Back in early 2016, at the Sundance Film Festival, actor-writer-director Nate Parker made international headlines for having his film “Birth of a Nation” purchased for a record $17.5 million by Fox Searchlight. Hailed as an instant Oscar contender, the film was poised to have a huge run and Parker was quickly positioned as one of the next big filmmakers. But then later that year, the director made headlines again, but this time as part of a sexual assault controversy, as decades-old accusations were brought back into the public eye, dashing any hopes for ‘Birth’ to become the awards behemoth that people anticipated.
Now, a few years later, Parker is hoping to mount a comeback with his upcoming film “American Skin,” and he’s found the place that will premiere it — the Venice Film Festival.
According to the event, Parker’s “American Skin” has been chosen to compete in the Sconfini section of Venice. The world premiere of the film will also feature an introduction and a post-screening Q&A hosted by Oscar-winning filmmaker Spike Lee. This, as you might guess, is sure to bring even more discussion about #MeToo and the Venice Film Festival. This year was already controversial when the original lineup was announced and filmmaker Roman Polanski was among those screening new films. And it was compounded by the fact that only two female filmmakers were chosen for the official competition.
“American Skin” is joined by “Beyond the Beach: The Hell and the Hope,” a documentary from filmmaker Graeme A. Scott, as the two latest films chosen to screen at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
The 76th Venice Film Festival will begin on August 28.