Toronto film festival stands behind ‘The Birth of a Nation’ amid controversy

TORONTO – The Toronto International Film Festival says it still stands behind “The Birth of a Nation,” as a 17-year-old rape case looms heavily over the slavery drama that’s slated to screen at the fest next month.

In 1999, a rape allegation was made against Nate Parker — the film’s co-writer, director and star — when he was a student at Penn State University. Parker was acquitted, but his college roommate (and “The Birth of a Nation” collaborator) Jean Celestin was initially found guilty of sexual assault in the same case. That conviction was later overturned.

Headlines are swirling about the case again after Parker discussed the charges in recent interviews. New reports have also surfaced that his accuser killed herself in 2012 after previous attempts.

“We’ve had these issues before, to be honest … with controversial films that we have shown, but we still feel that we obviously stand behind the film,” Piers Handling, director and CEO of TIFF, tells The Canadian Press.

“The film is a very serious film that deals with a subject that I think we should be dealing with. This subject should be explored, so we’re happy to be screening it.”

“The Birth of a Nation,” about the Nat Turner-led slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831, received raves from audiences and critics alike when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. It went on to win the festival’s Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize.

“We saw the film months ago and I was very moved by the story it told,” says Cameron Bailey, artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival.

“It’s a story that we still don’t see onscreen very often and so we wanted to invite the film, to bring it to Toronto to share it with our audience.

“I still think it’s a powerful story. I think the film tells a chapter of the history of American slavery in a very strong way, emotive way.”

After Sundance, the film was pegged as a serious Oscar contender and an important addition to an industry mired in diversity issues. But the renewed attention on the rape case in recent weeks has cast a pall over its future success.

“We, like everyone, have been reading coverage in the last couple of weeks and it’s painful,” says Bailey. “It’s a hard thing to think about, it’s painful all around.

“But we did believe that our job as a film festival is to present works of art that we feel are well made and tell important stories, and so we’re going to present the film as planned.”

Handling says he hasn’t heard any critics say they don’t want to review it at TIFF, or audience members who don’t want to see it.

“I honestly don’t know how this story will now take over the film or not,” he adds.

“But I think the Toronto public will be very curious to see it obviously as a film and perhaps some of our audience may stay away because of the issue itself.”