Nate Parker is on a mission to cultivate his filmmaking chops into the next generation of entertainers. When school is in session next fall, Wiley College will have its first classes designed for students interested in pursuing a career in Hollywood, because Parker is bringing the first film and drama school to the campus.
Tonight the @NateParker School of Film and Drama was officially announced and will institutionalize at Wiley, Fall 2016. #Wiley_RYS16
— Wiley College (@WileyCollege) March 20, 2016
Parker has a talent for telling stories in a way that appeals to even the big wigs of Hollywood, as evident from his feature film directorial debut, The Birth of a Nation, making history this year. It makes sense that he is now taking that talent back to Wiley College, the site of one of his earliest films. Since playing the role of Henry Lowe in The Great Debaters, the film based on the school’s debate team, Parker has stayed connected to the HBCU as he was elected to the school’s board of trustees and even utilized the school’s a cappella choir for the soundtrack of The Birth of Nation. The actor spoke of his desires for the school by saying “the hope is that we cover all aspects of filmmaking, from sound, lighting, and cinematography, to just studying film specifically with the cultural component and the history of film.”
“You control the moving picture, you control the masses. So really getting them rallied around the idea of re-claiming the narrative of America, specifically through the eyes of people of color,” Parker said.
Before classes begin, a nine-day pilot program for the school will be held this summer, and 30 students are to be chosen for the school’s inaugural institute. Parker hopes that by bringing a film program to a school like Wiley College it may lead the path for changing the trajectory of the film industry itself. “If I can create a pipeline toward filmmaking physically through developing the college, having filmmakers be nurtured and cultivated here, and then having somewhere for them to go with respect for them actually being able to engage in filmmaking here in East Texas, then it kind of serves multiple purposes,” Parker said.
Applications for the summer institute are said to release this week, and the award-winning actor has plans to be actively involved in the school. One can only imagine what other big names will lend their expertise to the Marshall, Texas HBCU in the coming semesters.
If you were a student at The Nate Parker School of Film and Drama, what entertainers would you want as a professor? Tell us in the comments.
