One day before Nate Parker’s film, The Birth of A Nation, made Sundance history, we sat down with the multi-talented writer/director/actor/producer to talk about his vision and the sacrifice it took to bring it to fruition.
As we prepared to sit down with Parker to talk about his film that was the TALK of the Sundance Film Festival, from Main Street to the various screening sites, EVERYBODY was anticipating Parker’s film. As the days drew closer for the premiere, the buzz was deafening and the expectations sky-high!
SEE ALSO: REEL SHORTS | THE BIRTH OF A NATION
Conducting a set of interviews at the Blackhouse, Parker was passionate and effusive discussing the film that took him seven years to complete and $100,000 of his own money. He told his agents that he wouldn’t accept any acting projects until he completed his film. Made outside of the studio system, independently, The Birth of A Nation is a powerful, forceful, unapologetic look at Nat Turner and his spiritual war, also known as the slave rebellion that put the fear of God into slave owners over a 36-hour period in 1831.
His film played to enthusiastic audiences that rocked the Eccles Theater, including a standing ovation at the end of the film that extended through the closing credits. That reception, along with the film’s strong content would result in a bidding war that ultimately saw Parker’s film sell for the highest acquisition price in film festival history, going to Fox Searchlight for $17.5 million.
The studio hasn’t set a release date for their prestige film but it is anticipated that the film will be seriously pushed for awards consideration later this year.
Check out our interview, below: