Nate Parker sat down with V103’s Kenny Burns to discuss his provocative new film “American Skin” and also talked about the state of being Black in America.
Parker, who wrote, directed, and starred in the new movie, revealed the critical reason why he felt he needed to make this movie, which was written and filmed in 2019 before racial tensions boiled over in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020.
“We’re hitting a breaking point, where the status quo is just not acceptable anymore… As the late great Dr. King said, ‘we must be dissatisfied with our conditioning.’ We can’t just continue to say, well ‘it’s just the way it is,’” Parker said at the start of the interview.
“American Skin,” tells the story of a war veteran, Lincoln Jefferson (played by Parker), who seeks justice after his unarmed teenage son is killed by police during a routine traffic stop. The film is especially poignant in the wake of last year.
Burns praised the film for its ability to “capture the nuances today,” revealing his own 16-year-old son “bought all the way into it.”
“It is critical, I made the film for your 16-year-old, inspired by his experience and to encourage him that this future that we are looking at hoping to change is in his hands,” Parker said.
Parker also explained that “what we’re seeing right now is the young people are standing in ways that we could only have dreamed of. They’re using their platforms, they’re using technology in a way that we didn’t have access to when we were their age.”
Parker said the film was shot using various types of technology including iPhones, dash cameras, GoPros, and stick-up cams, as a way to better relate to younger audiences by “getting the energy of now.”
Parker said he wrote the film as a “love letter and wake up call” for his nephew and revealed that he would’ve released it on YouTube for free if he had to because we need it.
“American Skin” is available now on Amazon Prime.
