US Briefs: Academy president urges people to see 'The Birth Of A Nation'

Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs has said people should go and see The Birth Of A Nation, the embattled slave revolt drama that has become embroiled in a furore surrounding director and star Nate Parker’s past.

Speaking to TMZ on Thursday, Isaacs said, “I know just by the conversation that has gone on since Sundance that it’s clearly a movie that filmgoers should go and see.”

The executive, who it is understood has not yet seen the film, added: “People need to see the movie and judge the movie.”

Parker recently addressed old rape allegations stemming from his days at Penn State University, for which he was acquitted in 2001.

• Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi Arrival will open Alamo Drafthouse’s Fantastic Fest, set to run in Austin, Texas, from September 22-29. Announcing the second wave of programming on Thursday, festival top brass unveiled a roster that includes the US premiere of Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden, Ana Lily Amirpour’s The Bad Batch, and Paul Verhoeven’s Elle. Maren Ade’s German foreign-language Oscar submission Toni Erdmann and Paul Schrader’s Dog Eat Dog will also screen. Click here for the full line-up.
• Paramount Television and Anonymous Content have optioned the rights to nine-year-old reporter Hilde Lysiak’s forthcoming book series Hilde Cracks The Case. The books are inspired by actual news stories uncovered by the reporter. Scholastic will publish the first of the four books in autumn 2017.
• Joe Berlinger will join the International Documentary Association’s board. Berlinger’s credits includeTony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru and the Paradise Lost trilogy.
• DOC NYC will open its seventh annual edition on November 10 with the US premiere of Citizen Jane: Battle For The City by Matt Tyrnauer.