Nate Parker Starts Wiley School of Film!

The Great Debaters? Wiley College? Ring a bell? Well, actor Nate Parker from the great movie wants to actually start a film and drama school to bring the school in East Texas back to life.

Ever since Parker started filming the movie, The Great Debaters, he stayed connected to Wiley College. He even used their a capella choir for his movie, Birth of a Nation.

He says, “You control the moving picture, you control the masses. So really getting them rallied around the idea of re-claiming the narrative of America, specifically through the eyes of people of color.”

Parker hopes that the new school will help push the young people in East Texas, and eventually around the world.

The first order of business is that the school will have a nine-day summer institute, and 30 high school and college students will be selected to attend. The classes will start int he fall of this year.

Parker says, “If I can create a pipeline toward filmmaking physically though developing the college, having filmmakers be nurtured and cultivated here, and then having somewhere for them to go with respect for them actually being able to engage in filmmaking here in East Texas, then it kind of serves multiple purposes.”

Applications for Wiley College will be available to fill out soon!