The actor and director, who has been absent since a sexual assault charge resurfaced, will premiere American Skin with Spike Lee

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Actor-director Nate Parker will premiere his film American Skin at this year’s Venice film festival, three years after he became mired in controversy over charges of sexual assault.

The film, which is being “presented” by Spike Lee, sees Parker star as an Iraq war veteran whose teenage son is killed by a white police officer.

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“My brother, Nate Parker, has concocted a BRAVE TOUR DE FORCE,” Lee said in a statement. “I haven’t been affected by a film like this on so many levels in a long, long time. It is my hope and prayer that the movie audience will understand this battle between LOVE and HATE, which has divided our world. Bravo Nate, Bravo.”

Both Parker and Lee are expected to attend the festival and take part in a Q&A with the audience after the screening.

Parker, who appeared in films such as Non-Stop and Beyond the Lights, became the toast of 2016’s Sundance film festival with his historical drama The Birth of a Nation, which told the story of Nat Turner’s slave revolt. The film was bought for a record $17.5m by Fox Searchlight with Oscar hopes in mind.

But a charge against Parker was resurfaced from his days in college. Parker, along with his college roommate, Jean Celestin, was accused of raping an unconscious woman. He was acquitted while Celestin was convicted, although this was overturned. The woman later killed herself after two attempts during the trial. “As a 36-year-old father of daughters and person of faith, I look back on that time as a teenager and can say without hesitation that I should have used more wisdom,” Parker said in a Facebook post.

The Birth of a Nation, which was receiving mixed reviews along the festival circuit, ended up incurring massive losses for Fox and Parker disappeared from the spotlight.

This year’s festival will also see the premieres of a Joker origins drama starring Joaquin Phoenix, James Gray’s sci-fi epic Ad Astra starring Brad Pitt and a new film from Roman Polanski.