Black Reel Awards: Selma Ties the Record

Posted on February 20, 2015 at 7:37 am

It is a great honor to be one of the voters for the Black Reel Awards and I am so proud of our winners this year, with “Selma” deservedly tying the record set by “Precious” with eight awards.

Outstanding Motion Picture
Selma | Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner & Christian Colson (Paramount)

Outstanding Actor, Motion Picture
David Oyelowo | Selma (Paramount)

belle-poster — Copyright 2014 Twentieth Century Fox

Outstanding Actress, Motion Picture
Gugu Mbatha-Raw | Belle (Fox Searchlight)

Outstanding Supporting Actor, Motion Picture
Wendell Pierce | Selma (Paramount)

Outstanding Supporting Actress, Motion Picture
Carmen Ejogo | Selma (Paramount)

Outstanding Director, Motion Picture
Ava DuVernay | Selma (Paramount)

Outstanding Screenplay, Motion Picture
Chris Rock | Top Five (Paramount)

Outstanding Documentary
Anita: Speaking Truth to the Power | Freida Lee Mock

Outstanding Ensemble (Awarded to Casting Directors)
Selma | Aisha Coley (Paramount)

Outstanding Foreign Film
Fishing Without Nets (Kenya) | Cutter Hodierne (Drafthouse Films)

Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Male
Tyler James Williams | Dear White People (Lionsgate/ Roadside Attractions

Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Female
Teyonah Parris | Dear White People (Lionsgate / Roadside Attractions)

Outstanding Voice Performance
Morgan Freeman | The LEGO Movie (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Outstanding Score
Jason Moran | Selma (Paramount)

Outstanding Original Song
“Glory” from Selma | Performed by: John Legend & Common;
Written by: John Legend, Common & Che Smith (Paramount)

INDEPENDENT
Outstanding Independent Feature
The Retrieval | Chris Eska

Outstanding Independent Documentary
25 to Life | Mark Brown

Outstanding Independent Short
#AmeriCan | Nate Parker

TELEVISION
Outstanding Television Documentary or Special
Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown | Alex Gibney (HBO)

Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series
The Trip to Bountiful | Bill Haber, Cicely Tyson, Hallie Foote & Jeff Hayes (Lifetime)

Outstanding Actor, TV Movie or Mini-Series
Larenz Tate | Gun Hill (BET)

Outstanding Actress, TV Movie or Mini-Series
Cicely Tyson | The Trip to Bountiful (Lifetime)

Outstanding Supporting Actor, TV Movie or Mini-Series
Blair Underwood | The Trip to Bountiful (Lifetime)

Outstanding Supporting Actress, TV Movie or Mini-Series
Anika Noni Rose | A Day Late and a Dollar Short (Lifetime)

Outstanding Director, TV Movie or Mini-Series
Reggie Rock Bythewood | Gun Hill (BET)

Outstanding Screenplay, TV Movie or Mini-Series
Reggie Rock Bythewood | Gun Hill (BET)

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Awards Race and Diversity

On PBS for Black History Month: American Denial

Posted on February 19, 2015 at 3:31 pm

Next Monday, PBS’ Independent Lens series will show “American Denial,” a documentary about where racism comes from and why it is so difficult to overcome.

Follow the story of Swedish researcher Gunnar Myrdal, whose landmark 1944 study, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, probed deep into the United States’ racial psyche. The film weaves a narrative that exposes some of the potential underlying causes of racial biases still rooted in America’s systems and institutions today.

An intellectual social visionary who later won a Nobel Prize in economics, Myrdal first visited the Jim Crow South at the invitation of the Carnegie Corporation in 1938, where he was “shocked to the core by all the evils saw.” With a team of scholars that included black political scientist Ralph Bunche, Myrdal wrote his massive 1,500-page investigation of race, now considered a classic.

An American Dilemma challenged the veracity of the American creed of equality, justice, and liberty for all. It argued that critically implicit in that creed — which Myrdal called America’s “state religion” — was a more shameful conflict: white Americans explained away the lack of opportunity for blacks by labeling them inferior. Myrdal argued that this view justified practices and policies that openly undermined and oppressed the lives of black citizens. Seventy years later, are we still a society living in this state of denial, in an era marked by the election of the nation’s first black president?

American Denial sheds light on the unconscious political and moral world of modern Americans, using archival footage, newsreels, nightly news reports, and rare southern home movies from the ‘30s and ‘40s, as well as research footage, websites, and YouTube films showing psychological testing of racial attitudes. Exploring “stop-and-frisk” practices, the incarceration crisis, and racially-patterned poverty, the film features a wide array of historians, psychologists, and sociologists who offer expert insight and share their own personal, unsettling stories. The result is a unique and provocative film that challenges our assumptions about who we are and what we really believe.

Related Tags:

Race and Diversity Television

Replacing Jon Stewart — And Why the New Daily Show Host Should Be a Woman

Posted on February 15, 2015 at 4:08 pm

My friend Nell Scovell has an excellent piece in the New York Times about why the “host of possibilities” that Jon Stewart’s departure from “The Daily Show” opens up should focus on a woman as his replacement.

t will be the sixth time in just over a year that a prominent late-night desk will be up for grabs. All this turnover would seem like a great opportunity to throw a female host into the mix. But it hasn’t happened yet. So next time, right? There’s always next time. Except next time probably won’t be for a long time. Most late-night hosts stay put for decades. It’s the closest thing to a Civil Service job in TV.

Scovell’s list is long and telling. The departures of Matt Smith (Dr. Who), Craig Ferguson, David Letterman, Stephen Colbert, and Jay Leno all led to calls for women to be considered and replacements who are male. No question that all of those replacements are enormously talented. But are they the only talented options? Or the most talented?

The one solace: Whoever gets Mr. Stewart’s job will do better at hiring women than Jay Leno and Mr. Letterman, but that’s only because you couldn’t do worse. Mr. Leno went off the air with zero female writers; Mr. Letterman is set to bow with just one. (I like the image that together they average half a woman.)

At this point, I’d cheer a host being joined by a female sidekick.

This week’s release “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” has the heroes go into the future. There are some pretty wild predictions about what lies ahead, but for me, the one that I wish was less of a long shot is the future host of “The Daily Show,” my favorite of its correspondents, Jessica Williams.

Movies for Black History Month 2015

Posted on February 4, 2015 at 3:27 pm

Every family should observe Black History Month and movies like these are a good way to begin discussions and further study. Start with “Selma,” the brilliant film now in theaters, about Dr. Martin Luther King and the march for voting rights. Scholastic has some wonderful DVDs for the whole family.

1. Glory The true story of the US Civil War’s first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices of their own Union army and battling the Confederates, with brilliant performances by Denzel Washington (who won an Oscar), Morgan Freeman, and Matthew Broderick as the white officer who truly believed all men were equal.

2. Something the Lord Made The obstacles to education and professional advancement kept Vivien Thomas (Mos Def) from medical school, but he was a pioneer in heart surgery.

3. Roots Writer Alex Haley told the story of his own family going back to the capture of one of his ancestors from Africa to be sold into slavery in this historic miniseries.

4. Amistad A slave rebellion led to an historic Supreme Court case that addressed fundamental notions of personhood and inalienable rights.

5. With All Deliberate Speed This documentary about the Brown v. Board of Education case that transformed American schools and culture has interviews with lawyer Thurgood Marshall (who later became the first black Supreme Court justice) and others involved in the case.

6. Malcolm X Denzel Washington is mesmerizing in this story of the incendiary leader and his journey from complacency to activism to understanding.

7. Eyes on the Prize This PBS documentary covers the Civil Rights movement from the murder of Emmett Till to the march in Selma. There is also an excellent sequel.

8. The Rosa Parks Story Angela Bassett stars as the Civil Rights activist whose refusal to give up her seat on the bus electrified the nation.

9. The Loving Story The name of this history-making couple was really Loving. Their inter-racial marriage led the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the laws against miscegenation in 1967. When the lawyers asked Mr. Loving what he wanted them to tell the Court, he said, “Tell them I love my wife.”

10. A Great Day in Harlem This documentary tells the story of photographer Art Kane’s 1958 iconic photograph of all of the great jazz musicians of the era.

And more: Nine from Little Rock: Pioneers of Desegregtion, Hoop Dreams, 42, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, and Wilma

New Web Series: That’s Racist! with Mike Epps

Posted on February 1, 2015 at 8:00 am

I’m a big fan of Mike Epps, and am excited about “That’s Racist!,” his new web series on AOL. It is a provocative look at racism and stereotypes. Are Asians bad drivers? Are Jews cheap? Do African-Americans all like fried chicken? These and other stereotypes are explored by experts and people inside and outside of the groups who confront the assumptions, both positive and negative.

And here’s the first episode: