Nate Parker continues critical work of empowering young black filmmakers
For the second straight year, Nate Parker is acknowledging the need to empower young black filmmakers by taking matters into his own hands...
For the second straight year, Nate Parker is acknowledging the need to empower young black filmmakers by taking matters into his own hands.
The actor just wrapped his second year of providing instruction, guidance and inspiration to dozens of young college students through his Summer Film Institute at Wiley College – an HBCU in Marshall, Texas.
The institute, which hosted its inaugural class in 2016, is a creative partnership between the Nate Parker Foundation and Wiley College. Parker famously portrayed a Wiley College student in the 2009 film The Great Debaters, which also starred Denzel Washington.
The initiative is a significant one for Parker, who sees the training as an essential point of access for the next generation of storytellers.
“Transforming the industry to look more like America won’t just benefit these individuals,” Parker said through a foundation press release.”It will benefit the communities they come from and in time, the industry itself.”
The actor has additional plans to ensure the partnership’s longevity with Wiley, including the launch of the Nate Parker School of Drama and Theatre. The participating students in this year’s institute included poets, photographers, and, of course, aspiring filmmakers.
And they’re not just learning from Parker; the students receive hands-on instruction from a range of industry insiders – makeup artists, cinematographers, directors, acting coaches – you name it.
The program has a special emphasis on advancing the causes of social justice through art. Parker last wrote, directed and starred in The Birth of a Nation in 2016.
Check out the Institute’s Class of 2017 below:
For more information about the institute, click here.
