Two new films in their world premiere screenings, American Skin by American director, actor, screenwriter and producer Nate Parker (The Birth of a Nation) and Beyond the Beach: The Hell and the Hope, a documentary about the work of the NGO, 'Emergency', the debut as a director of English film producer Graeme A. Scott and American cinematographer Buddy Squires, complete the line-up in the Sconfini section of the 76th Venice International Film Festival.
The screening of American Skin will be attended by Spike Lee, who will present the film together with the director Nate Parker, and will discuss with him at the end of the projection.
Furthermore, American director Terence Nance, whose films (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, Swimming in Your Skin Again, Univitillen) have been screened at the Sundance Film Festival and the New York Film Festival, completes the Jury for the Venice Debut Film Award – Luigi De Laurentiis. The other members of the Jury are director Emir Kusturica (Serbia, president), director Antonietta De Lillo (Italy), actress Hend Sabry (Tunisia) and producer Michael J. Werner (USA).
The 76th Venice Film Festival, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by La Biennale di Venezia, will be held on the Lido from August 28th to September 7th 2019.
American Skin by Nate Parker (Sconfini)
This is the second highly anticipated feature-length film by the American director, actor, screenwriter and producer Nate Parker, who made his debut in 2016 to great acclaim as the director of The Birth of a Nation, presented at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience award and the Grand Jury Prize.
In American Skin, Lincoln Jefferson (played by Nate Parker) is a Marine veteran, and now a janitor at a prestigious junior high school in California, who is trying to mend his relationship with his son after his divorce. One day, during a routine police check, the boy is killed, but the officer guilty of shooting him is declared innocent without having to face trial. Disheartened for having been denied due process, Lincoln takes the entire police station hostage, and himself stages an actual trial in which the members of the jury are the inmates and common people, acting in the stead of Government to finally bring justice to his son.
Beyond the Beach: The Hell and the Hope by Graeme A. Scott (Sconfini)
This is the debut as a director of English producer Graeme A. Scott. He worked on this film with cinematographer Buddy Squires, who has been nominated for an Oscar and several Emmy Awards. Beyond the Beach: The Hell and the Hope gives a glimpse into the lives of doctors, nurses and volunteers who have given up their everyday lives to work in war-torn parts of the world for the Italian NGO 'Emergency'. Created in 1994 by war surgeon Dr. Gino Strada, Emergency staff have helped save over 9 million lives around the world. From treating frontline injuries caused by explosions in Kabul to the monotony of Refugee Camps in Iraq, as well as their deployment on the MOAS rescue boats off the coast of Libya, the staff explain how they could not simply stay at home and do nothing knowing they could ‘do something’. We see their laughter, tears and, at times, frustration doing what very few people are brave enough to do and we learn the hardships and emotional stress that they must endure to carry out their missions while never losing hope…