Nate Parker’s latest film is finally seeing the light of day.
David Oyelowo stars in the film, titled Newborn. The film will release exclusively at AMC Theatres as part of a distribution deal between AMC and Parker and Oyelowo’s co-founded Mansa Studios. Oyelowo’s Yoruba Saxon also produces.
The film stars Oyelowo as Chris Newborn, who has served seven years in solitary confinement and, according to the logline, “seeks to rebuild his life and reconnect with his family only to find that freedom has become a terrifying psychological battleground.”
Who else stars in ‘Newborn’?
Olivia Washington, Barry Pepper and Jimmie Fails also star. Parker serves as writer and director, with Parker and Oyelowo both producing.
The collaboration between Mansa Studios and AMC “prioritizes collaboration, transparency, scale, urgency, and national visibility for independently produced films,” according to the film’s press release. Newborn is one of AMC’s “more ambitious exclusive theatrical engagements to date for an independently produced commercial thriller.”
Parker and Oyelowo said in a statement that the distribution deal will support Newborn.
“It was essential to us that audiences experience this emotionally charged, edge-of-your-seat thriller together—on the biggest possible stage, and AMC provides both scale and a dedicated audience,” said Parker.
“When it came to our distribution goals, AMC truly understood the empowering direct-to-consumer nature of the partnership we were seeking for our film while embracing the non-algorithmic yet immersive experience we wanted the audience to have,” added Oyelowo.
Nikkole Denson-Randolph, Chief Content Officer, AMC Theatres, also said, “Newborn is the kind of bold, provocative, and original storytelling that comes alive on the big screen. We’re proud to be the exclusive exhibitor supporting a release model that prioritizes theatrical.”
‘Newborn’ was originally called ‘Solitary’ and began production in 2020
The film has gone through a bit of a development hell, with production starting in 2020 under the name Solitary. However, according to Deadline, COVID-19 halted production, as well as the then-difficult time for indie film distribution. The AMC deal came after the company gave “a vote of distribution confidence,” according to the article.
Deadline also reports that Mansa Studios raised $12 million in seed funding from MaC Venture Capital, WndrCo, Galaxy Investment Partners, Base Ventures, Rainmaker Films, Black Capital VC, K Period Media and Robert F. Smith.
The film seems like a big move for Parker to return to the limelight after promoting his 2016 film The Birth of a Nation. In 1999, Parker and his friend Jean Celestin were accused of sexually assaulting a fellow Penn State University student. Parker was acquitted at trial in 2001, while Celestin was convicted, though that conviction was later overturned on appeal. Parker denied any wrongdoing. The woman who accused them died by suicide years later.
He wrote on Facebook in 2016 that he was “devastated” to learn of the victim’s death, writing at the time, according to the BBC, “I cannot – nor do I want to ignore the pain she endured and following our trial. While I maintain my innocence that the encounter was unambiguously consensual, there are things more important than the law. There is morality; no-one who calls himself a man of faith should even be in that situation. As a 36-year-old father of daughters and person of faith, I look back at that time as a teenager and can say without hesitation that I should have used more wisdom.”