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One month into Donald Trump’s second term, not a lot of people can follow Kamala Harris at the NAACP Image Awards, but Dave Chappelle can and did Saturday night.

Receiving the President’s Award during Saturday’s 56th NAACP Image Awards not long after the former Vice President was given the Chairman’s Award, the 2019 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor recipient put his honor and the venerated organization itself in the sharpest context and held it all together masterfully with a sharp streaming zinger.

“You know, look, I won a lot of awards recently, but this one tonight is probably the most special award I’ve ever gotten, because it’s from this institution that represents these people, us, people of color, black people,” he began.

“My god brother is here tonight, Ben Jealous,” Chappelle told a packed Pasadena Civic Auditorium. “Ben used to be the president of the NAACP,...

Exclusive: Weeks after the indie film crowd left Park City, the box score on the Sundance Film Festival marketplace looks like this: a splashy auction and $15M WW deal by Neon on Together to start, followed by a handful of deals that moved sluggishly, with numbers that got smaller as leverage shifted from sellers to buyers. A chorus of naysayers followed, though it bears noting that after a slow Toronto Film Festival deal pace last fall, the just completed Berlinale marketplace was also a snore. No matter how splashily festival markets showcase acquisition titles, they can’t make buyers spend money on them in this moment of extreme uncertainty. Does Sundance have fundamental flaws, or did the festival merely reflect that low ebb and possibly a new risk-averse normal in the shifting sands of the indie business?

Sundance Festival head Eugene Hernandez has been pondering that with his staff, as...

Talk about a surprise. When Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (who has been acting professionally since her debut as Ariel in 1995’s Broadway revival of “The Tempest” opposite Patrick Stewart) arrived on the Louisiana set of “Nickel Boys” (Amazon/MGM/Orion), her documentarian-turned-feature-director RaMell Ross told her to do something she had never done before: Look straight into the lens, without a reverse angle on her co-star. She couldn’t see her fellow actors because their faces were obscured by the camera, just as their faces were hidden from the audience.

Watching the lauded critical hit “Nickel Boys” requires an adjustment to a strict point-of-view aesthetic. But Taylor-Ellis had to make it work on the ground, on the fly. The tightly scheduled period feature (budgeted at $20 million) left little time to figure it out.

Reactions range widely to this avant-garde Colson Whitehead adaptation about a brutal southern school for boys, but among the “Nickel Boys” ensemble,...

In “Hollywood Black,” a four-part docuseries streaming on MGM+, director Justin Simien chronicles the vast and untold history of the Black experience in Hollywood. Inspired by historian Donald Bogle’s book by the same title, the series unearths parts of film history that don’t get taught in film school, and puts into historical, cultural, and societal contexts those performers and films that did break through to the mainstream. When Simien was a guest on an upcoming episode of the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, he talked about how he was inspired to make the series by his own recent discovery of films, filmmakers, and rich periods of Black cinema that he was previously unaware of and wasn’t taught in film school.

“I am so shocked because it’s not what you think, it’s not what you were conditioned to believe,” said Simien. “What you finally uncover is some of the work is so sophisticated,...

Hollywood has had its fair share of good and bad cinematic projects, with some even exceeding the bar to be termed as “racist” or “controversial”. One of these movies was the 2004 comedy/crime White Chicks, starring the renowned Scary Movie actor Marlon Wayans. This film recently celebrated two decades of its existence and, in the meanwhile, also ended up sparking a heated debate.

White Chicks. (2004) | Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing.

This debate was regarding the controversy surrounding the movie. Apparently, one viewer deemed this critically panned but fan-favorite piece of work as “the most racist movie that ever came out of Hollywood.” Ever since then, fans have been engulfed in a heated debate on whether this opinion is actually laughable, or laudable, when literal pieces like the live-action Dragonball: Evolution exist!

Marlon Wayans’ White Chicks Has Sparked a Controversial Debate on its 20th Anniversary

Helmed by filmmaker Keenen Ivory Wayans, one...

Oscar Micheaux is a trailblazing American filmmaker whose name and fandom — including Spike Lee and the late John Singleton — are better known than his groundbreaking films. A festival opening in New York on Friday, May 3, at Film Forum aims to fix that.

Though competition is steep in the New York film space, with 17 films and several curated special events, “Oscar Micheaux and the Birth of Black Independent Cinema” is designed to make history. Seven films on the schedule are new restorations of the original prints. Some screenings will be accompanied by live musical performances, much like when silent films were originally exhibited in the 1910s and 1920s. On May 5, there’s also a tribute for the recently deceased author and filmmaker Pearl Bowser, a pivotal architect of the renaissance Micheaux’s work now enjoys. The lineup also boasts conversations with DJ Spooky (aka Paul Miller), who composed new scores for...

John Wilkes Booth was desperate to be famous. Instead, he became infamous as the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. He had been born in 1838 as the ninth of ten children of the famed actor Junius Brutus Booth. Though he had shown talent, his career was often derailed by his emotional instability. His older brother Edwin Booth was considered one of the top actors of the day.

The handsome younger Booth had received strong reviews in a New York production of “Richard III” with the New York Herald declaring him a “veritable sensation.” Booth even told the paper “I’m determined to be the villain.” A staunch supporter of the Confederacy, by 1864 he had recruited several co-conspirators in his plan to kidnap Honest Abe. Their attempts failed, but on April 14, 1865, he learned Lincoln would attend the comedy “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater that evening, During the third act...

Before the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened its doors in 2021, even senior staffers were surprised by the depth of Black film history that dwelt in its archives. Looking through the film posters and memorabilia from race movies of the early 20th century, co-curator Doris Berger found herself amazed and chagrined. She had stumbled on a treasure trove and heritage she knew little about.

Berger is not alone and her experience isn’t surprising. The foundational titles most of us know and gravitate to first when we think of Black film tend to be the earnest classics of the 1960s, the blaxploitation movies of the 1970s, and the indie Black cinema of the 1980s and 1990s.

In those archives, Dr. Berger recognized a rich history screaming out for greater attention. The result was an exhibition, conceived and produced in partnership with National Museum of African American History and Culture film and photography curator Dr.

Sundance film festival: Netflix forked out $17m for the low-budget, high-concept mystery but while there’s some fun to be had, there’s something missing

With this year’s festival entering its dying days, market news remains unusually slight, a surprise given how strike-impacted buyers were reportedly foaming for schedule-fillers. Big sales so far haven’t been all that big – Jesse Eisenberg comedy A Real Pain at Searchlight, Steven Soderbergh ghost story Presence at Neon – and so there are questions that still need answering going into the last weekend.

But earlier this week, as others umm-ed and ahh-ed, Netflix made a bullish statement with a $17m purchase of low-budget mind-bender It’s What’s Inside, an unusually high number for a genre film without any stars attached. While it may well be trumped over the next week or so given how other, more commercial titles remain unsold, it’s currently stamped with this year’s biggest-of-fest tag.

Sundance has a long history of screening films that tackle issues of race in the U.S. from every possible angle. Some are angry, some satirical, and some quite gonzo.

Kobi Libii’s feature debut The American Society of Magical Negroes has the distinction of going for all three, and while it results in a wildly uneven tone, there’s something refreshing about its thoughtfulness. Cord Jefferson’s recent TIFF hit, American Fiction, arguably did a better job of balancing character and politics. But Libii is a talented world-builder, whether taking us into the esoteric halls of an all-Black Hogwarts, or the absurdly boho offices of a largely white Silicon Valley dot-com.

The title is probably the most provocative thing about it, but even that comes with a spoonful of sugar. A pre-credits title card affirms the role of...

The Color Purple costume designer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck will be honored with the Career Achievement Award at the 26th annual Costume Designers Guild Awards this year.

The award recognizes “an individual whose career in costume design has left an indelible mark on film and television.” Previous recipients include Ruth E. Carter, Deborah L. Scott, Michael Kaplan, Joanna Johnston, Jeffrey Kurland, Ellen Mirojnick, Sandy Powell, Marlene Stewart, Ruth Meyers, Ann Roth, Milena Canonero, Albert Wolsky, Colleen Atwood, and Theoni Aldredge, Sharen Davis, April Ferry, Aggie Rodgers, Judianna Makovsky and Eduardo Castro, among many others.

“Try not to allow someone’s negative thoughts or comments keep you from moving forward creatively. You can be nervous, but don’t be afraid to risk taking the first steps even if you can’t completely see the staircase!” says Jamison-Tanchuck.

Jamison-Tanchuck’s credits include Regina King’s triple-Oscar nominated One Night in Miami as well as...

David Leland, the British writer, director and actor whose credits include “Wish You Were Here,” “The Borgias” and more, died on Dec. 24, according to his agents Casarotto Ramsay & Associates. He was 82. A cause of death was not revealed.

Leland cut his teeth in theater, where he directed the world premiere of Michael Palin and Terry Jones’ “Their Finest Hours” and gave Pierce Brosnan his first opportunity to act on stage in the British premiere of Tennessee Williams’ “The Red Devil Battery Sign.”

A distinguished film and TV screenwriting career followed, including “Made in Britain” (1982) directed by Alan Clarke and starring Tim Roth; “Birth of a Nation” (1983) by Mike Newell; and Neil Jordan’s Oscar, Golden Globe and WGA-nominated “Mona Lisa” (1986), featuring a BAFTA-winning performance by Bob Hoskins.

Leland made his directorial debut with “Wish You Were Here” (1987), which won him the BAFTA for best original screenplay, and the film...

British director and actor David Leland has died aged 82, according to his long-time agency, Cassaroto Ramsay & Associates

The theater, film and TV star passed away on Christmas Eve (December 24), surrounded by his family.

Leland’s career spanned over five decades. He is known for writing two films about British suburban madam Cynthia Payne, the BAFTA-nominated Personal Services in 1987 and the Cannes Film Festival hit Wish You Were Here.

The former was directed by Terry Jones and starred Julie Walters, while Leland directed the latter himself, with Emily Lloyd starring.

Leland won the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay for Wish You Were Here and the film won the Fipresci prize at Cannes.

He is also noted for serving as co-showrunner of Showtime series The Borgias and for giving Pierce Brosnan his first stage opportunity in the British premiere of Tennessee Williams’ The Red Devil Battery Sign at The Round House, which Leland directed.

The suspect in the killing of former Netflix staffer and Array consultant Michael Latt this week has been revealed by the LAPD, as has the victim himself.

The police say Jameelah Elena Michl was arrested on Latt’s doorstep soon after the fatal shooting of the veteran studio operative and activist at his mid-Wilshire home at 6 p.m. November 27. Apparently living nearby in her car, the homeless woman had seemingly invaded the residence of Latt and his girlfriend on Monday evening. She did not make any effort to leave the scene of the crime, law enforcement officials confirmed.

Latt died soon afterwards at nearby hospital.

Still investigating the killing of Latt, 33, the LAPD tells Deadline no motive has emerged yet. Michl was arrested by officers from Wilshire Division and remained in custody on $3 million bail.

Latt’s mother, Michelle Satter, founded the Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Lab in 1981. She...

It’s often claimed that good things come in threes, but try telling that to anyone who sat through the Big Momma’s House trilogy. Film sequels, in essence, are nothing new in Hollywood—the very first sequel came back in 1916 with the silent film The Fall of a Nation, Thomas Dixon Jr.‘s follow-up to D. W. Griffith’s jaw-droppingly racist epic, Birth of a Nation.

However, the concept only became commonplace in the 1970s when a string of follow-ups to successful dramas made waves at the box office. The Godfather, Part II, Rocky II, and The French Connection II were among the first movies that helped usher in this new era of filmmaking. Today though, moviedom has expanded beyond even the sequel and into new territory where the word “franchise” is king. Buoyed in recent times by the dominance of comic book movies and an increasing appetite for nostalgia,...

Many filmmakers yearn for their work to be at the centre of a public conversation. But it’s not always a good thing.

Sometimes, movies – even great ones – are put under the microscope for problematic characters, plotlines or moments.

Often, this is a result of changing social standards. Films like The Jazz Singer utilised blackface at a time when it was more or less completely socially acceptable. Watch it now, however, and you’ll likely be mortified.

Other films, of course, are problematic the moment they hit cinemas – such as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

In some cases, the question of whether or not a film is offensive can provoke strong debate among fans and even those involved in making the film. This week, Michael Caine was in the news after hitting back at claims that the 1964 film Zulu was a “key text” for white supremecists.

Many filmmakers yearn for their work to be at the centre of a public conversation. But it’s not always a good thing.

Sometimes, movies – even great ones – are put under the microscope for problematic characters, plotlines or moments.

Often, this is a result of changing social standards. Films like The Jazz Singer utilised blackface at a time when it was more or less completely socially acceptable. Watch it now, however, and you’ll likely be mortified.

Other films, of course, are problematic the moment they hit cinemas – such as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

In some cases, the question of whether or not a film is offensive can provoke strong debate among fans and even those involved in making the film. This week, Michael Caine was in the news after hitting back at claims that the 1964 film Zulu was a “key text” for white supremecists.

Click here to read the full article.

The Black List is teaming with the NAACP and CBS Studios’ production venture for a new initiative aimed at supporting TV scriptwriters telling authentic stories about the Black experience.

Announced Tuesday, the partnership will see The Black List assist CBS Studios/NAACP Production Venture in identifying a shortlist of writers, after which one WGA-minimum script deal will be extended to a writer identified by the initiative.

The program launches on Aug. 16 and runs through Nov. 16, and will consider writers with feature films, pilots, plays or theatrical musicals hosted on the Black List website at no additional charge. Those who don’t currently have a script hosted on the site are encouraged to host their script on the site for at least a week before the deadline to guarantee eligibility.

“The NAACP’s response to the release of Birth of a Nation remains a...

The Black List will assist CBS Studios/NAACP in identifying a shortlist of talented writers who exemplify authentic storytelling of Black narratives through a submission period on blcklst.com that begins August 16 and is open until Nov. 16.

Interested writers with feature films, pilots, plays or theatrical musicals hosted on the Black List website can opt into consideration for this opportunity at no additional charge. Writers who do not currently have a script hosted on blcklst.com are encouraged to sign up and host their script for at least a week before the deadline to guarantee eligibility for this opportunity. They may also opt in to consideration for any of The Black List’s dozen other writer opportunities at no additional charge.

The Black List will then use all available data related to script submissions to determine a shortlist to be shared with CBS Studios/NAACP. Shortlisted writers may be asked to provide additional materials,...

(Warning: This “Black Bird” post features spoilers for the show’s finale.)

Audiences and critics have been hooked on the Apple TV+ series “Black Bird,” which wraps its limited run this Friday on the streamer.

Across its first five episodes, the six-episode series has been driven by suspense and an increasingly heightened intensity as Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton), a convicted drug supplier, attempts to lessen his jail term by befriending and eliciting a confession from Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser), a suspected serial killer just days away from getting out on a technicality.

In the finale, Hauser gave a chilling performance as Larry, as he finally confessed to Jimmy he’d committed nearly two dozen murders. For once, Jimmy couldn’t hold back his real feelings in front of Larry, telling him he was sick and would lose his appeal, prompting a ferocious outburst from the disturbed man who thought Jimmy a friend.

Another summer movie season has come and gone, and the film industry is a much different place at the end of August than it was at the start of May. As always, it’s been an enlightening time, full of huge surprises and game-changing takeaways. Three months ago, no one would have guessed that a Supreme Court Justice would — pound for pound — prove to be a greater box office draw than Dwayne Johnson, or that a movie about Jason Statham fighting a giant shark would be on pace to outgross Han Solo’s origin story. Three months ago, no one knew that Tom Cruise was about to make us forget that “The Mummy” ever happened, or that rom-coms were on the verge of a huge comeback (both in theaters and at home).

It’s a brave new world, and mostly for the better. Here are nine lessons we learned from the 2018 summer movie season.

On the 28th edition of the annual Halloween-themed “Treehouse of Horror” episode of “The Simpsons,” baby Maggie is possessed by a demon, and the voices of those tasked with exorcising it sound familiar to diehard horror fans: One of them is Ben Daniels, star of the Fox show “The Exorcist,” and the other is William Friedkin, who directed the 1973 movie.

Friedkin’s legacy extends far beyond that movie; two years earlier, he swept the Oscars with “The French Connection,” and later delivered “Sorcerer” and “To Live and Die in L.A.” The past decade found Friedkin continuing to produce edgy work, including two Tracy Letts plays (“Bug” and “Killer Joe”), numerous operas, and now a documentary, “The Devil and Father Amorth,” which premiered this fall at the Venice International Film Festival and explores the real-life context that inspired “The Exorcist.”

While visiting Lyon to deliver a masterclass at the Lumiere Festival,...

From creating fictional stories to keep audiences enthralled, scriptwriters and filmmakers are increasingly turning to real life heroes and pathbreakers to make movies upon. 2016 sees a plethora of movies that are based on real world people who have shaken the world with their remarkable achievements from humble beginnings. And why not, the world is filled with inspirational stories of actual incredible human beings who have done the unthinkable!

1. Mira Nair’s Queen of Katwe

Disney’s “Queen of Katwe” is based on the vibrant true story of Phiona Mutesi, a young girl from the streets of Kampala, Uganda whose world rapidly changes when she is introduced to the game of chess by soccer coach and former missionary Robert Katende, and, as a result of the support she receives from her family and community, is instilled with the confidence and determination she needs to pursue her dream of becoming an International chess champion.

Twentieth Century Fox, one of the second to last studios to present today, just went out with a bang, with James Cameron coming on stage to announce four Avatar sequels (vs. the previous three), confirmation of Deadpool 2 going forward and the fact that in 2017, Hugh Jackman’s Greatest Showman on Earth was a go for 2017. Mike Fleming broke news a couple of years ago about Jackman and Showman. We’ve been hearing that financing was still coming together, however, it was a title card in Fox’s final 2017 lineup.

This morning’s presentation didn’t start with opening remarks by domestic distribution president, Chris Aronson, rather Vanilla Ice, who rapped his hit single “Ice Baby” to an Ice Age sizzle reel with a femme dance crew behind him. Aronson then came on stage, decked in a big pompadour wig and a glitzy Vegas satin get-up that would be the envy of Elvis Presley.

Exclusive: Freestyle Digital Media, the newly acquired distribution arm of Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios, has snatched up North American distribution rights to The Syndrome. The documentary, directed by Meryl Goldsmith who wrote and produced it with Susan Goldsmith, will have a limited theatrical and digital release April 15.

The Syndrome follows a team of journalists, doctors, scientist and legal professionals who work to disprove the scientific validity of shaken-baby syndrome and showcase those wrongfully accused of the “child abuse theory.” The film examines origins of Sbs (also referred to as abusive head trauma), and exposes the people who have built careers on, and profited from, what they say is an unsubstantiated theory that has led to convictions of innocent people and ruined the lives of many more.

It’s the third pic signed by Freestyle since Allen’s Entertainment Studios acquired it in October in a reported high-eight-figure deal, joining...

Exclusive: In a record-breaking deal for the Sundance Film Festival, Fox Searchlight is wrapping up a deal to pay around $17.5 million to acquire world rights for The Birth Of A Nation. The deal’s still being finalized, but this brings to a close one of the most freewheeling all-night bidding battles ever seen here in Park City. It also births a major new filmmaking voice in Nate Parker, who directed and stars in a film he scripted and produced. The deal, which calls for a widescreen commitment in awards season, far surpasses precedent-setting Sundance acquisitions like the $10.5 million deal for Little Miss Sunshine in 2006, and the $10 million deal for Hamlet 2 in 2008.

The deal rivals the biggest ever made at a film festival: the $20 million Focus Features paid for world rights to the Tom Ford-directed Nocturnal Animals at the last Cannes, which matched the $20 million Paramount paid for the Denis...