Last night at the Sundance Night Before Next event, at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, where he was honored with the Vanguard Award, Nate Parker, whose much-anticipated “Birth of a Nation” will be released this fall, announced that he and the cast, crew and producers of the film, were creating a Birth of a Nation fellowship that will sponsor one young filmmaker of color, 18 to 25 years old, every year, for the next five years, to participate in the Sundance Ignite program – a year-long fellowship with the Sundance Institute that allows aspiring filmmakers to attend the Sundance Film Festival and participate in events that will expose them to established filmmakers and other industry professionals.




Parker made “The Birth of a Nation” with the support of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, from development to post-production, through both grants and mentorship, so last night’s announcement of a Sundance fellowship named after the film, is only fitting.

Said Parker after receiving the Vanguard honor, “I often compare it to being on an island… You’re by yourself and all you have is your script, your dream, your voice. And you’re surrounded by an ocean of fear, an ocean of doubt, an ocean of despair, an ocean of reasons why that voice does not need to exist in the world… Sometimes you need someone that knows something, you need someone that supports something great, that recognizes something great. You need someone to tell you, ‘Yes, you can do it,'” of course a tip of his hat to the Sundance Institute for supporting him along the way, as he developed “Birth.”

Michael B. Jordan presented Parker with the Vanguard honor at the packed Hollywood event last night.

“The Birth of a Nation,” which won the Jury and Audience Award at Sundance, and was picked up by Fox Searchlight for a record $17.5 million, opens nationwide (in the USA) on October 7.

Watch Parker announce the new fellowship below.