tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25494519988103541332024-02-02T08:41:30.787-05:00'Nother Brother EntertainmentDankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.comBlogger161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-5697078224534182982021-12-21T12:00:00.002-05:002021-12-21T13:26:53.897-05:00Morgan State: A Full Circle Moment<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj2vslmOM2Hq93JmvDR99auR9rdBXygQ1E2Z8GhOg7hy4e5-pNAImBCXBIYLyDg1xgAQqeSh6lQNBP996QvitxwKMB3OedOiJf7XCtHn9T6NDj76_OzyOY9NMFOzABr2vSMXxyHz_9aV19RWybB09B9Fyajtc52I4XHyXjOFeOD70rnuekfJXuEXipiUw=s3088" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj2vslmOM2Hq93JmvDR99auR9rdBXygQ1E2Z8GhOg7hy4e5-pNAImBCXBIYLyDg1xgAQqeSh6lQNBP996QvitxwKMB3OedOiJf7XCtHn9T6NDj76_OzyOY9NMFOzABr2vSMXxyHz_9aV19RWybB09B9Fyajtc52I4XHyXjOFeOD70rnuekfJXuEXipiUw=s320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dankwa Brooks on the Main Quad at Morgan State Univeristy, September 2021</td></tr></tbody></table><p>It what seems like a million years ago, I started my collegiate life at <b>Morgan State University</b>. In a wonderful full circle moment, this fall I returned to teach! </p><p>Morgan State University is a public HBCU (Historically Black College and University) in Baltimore, Maryland and is the largest of Maryland's HBCUs.</p><p>As I <a href="https://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2012/03/protecting-your-script-and-its-not.html" target="_blank">stated on this blog before</a> "I transferred from Morgan State University, where I studied screenwriting, to <b>Towson University</b> where I studied film and directing"</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYo1W1viEXtukrMUW8-y3Gp7eCO1OmLYWNNHVrcDISUxqOZdsNuP75zF6vXK2GwL1NVMaPu6cg2tu5mOufJSDekQBvqVXjLPqooNjYERWe4jm65DRczrbZgO2zuHz4CaAqppyGauIvPB13c7pAJUHuJeLvSb5TQiwhbYFbHeYLBCoMPKuSTZC8Iqa3zw=s640" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYo1W1viEXtukrMUW8-y3Gp7eCO1OmLYWNNHVrcDISUxqOZdsNuP75zF6vXK2GwL1NVMaPu6cg2tu5mOufJSDekQBvqVXjLPqooNjYERWe4jm65DRczrbZgO2zuHz4CaAqppyGauIvPB13c7pAJUHuJeLvSb5TQiwhbYFbHeYLBCoMPKuSTZC8Iqa3zw=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My college IDs</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Even though I transferred after two years, I LOVED my time at Morgan and have always called it my “unofficial alma mater”. As a student at Morgan I marveled at the Black folk of all shapes, sizes, hues and hairstyles all gathered for one purpose–higher learning. It was great to be in the middle of all that unmitigated Black potential. I also loved my time at Towson University, but my time at Morgan as Black folk say “hit different”. </p><p>My love of Morgan permutates several levels and layers as Morgan has ALWAYS showed me love. Let me count the ways.</p><p>First and foremost, I loved my classes at Morgan, especially studying Black art. As <a href="https://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-harlem-renaissance-book-review.html" target="_blank">I’ve stated before</a> "I knew about the <b>Harlem Renaissance</b>, but I fell in love with the time period when I studied it in Humanities at Morgan State University."</p><p>I’ve spoken to multiple classes at Morgan as a Guest Lecturer, some while I was still a student there.</p><p>In as many times, I was also a guest on the campus radio station, WEAA, on several different shows. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhiO2RmbcAAtRgGAgqtcNzRv3Ey8EzPGd_-XXlnRyQmm6h8XQMSILXYIkcvdmhzllRMKcQ1pObxY_We2k6-RTDOfZmxts8Nz0o_PefOP-rEXaNKoEhkSrPQh8CXm7h1ifJnHJMkijRVUtPu2QCf7ukuFeO1rHVi9QLIfOYkEH8_Pobg4r88pQAPgcQk3A=s1600" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1370" data-original-width="1600" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhiO2RmbcAAtRgGAgqtcNzRv3Ey8EzPGd_-XXlnRyQmm6h8XQMSILXYIkcvdmhzllRMKcQ1pObxY_We2k6-RTDOfZmxts8Nz0o_PefOP-rEXaNKoEhkSrPQh8CXm7h1ifJnHJMkijRVUtPu2QCf7ukuFeO1rHVi9QLIfOYkEH8_Pobg4r88pQAPgcQk3A=w400-h343" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>My family also has a long connection to Morgan. My uncle Gilbert is a proud alumnus, and my family has a history of supporting Morgan events. My uncle Jerome regular attends the MSU Choir Annual Christmas Concert. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxmA5dI7q8bqQHkMAk6fNKx5vYKwKXG0cyQtA-_s_ALTQ0HYzJPwfdKuZjQE_uRHncWZydhEM4oSondInSRd3dhiRYLulULZ1vEyHPAqpHLWkTWP1i1rNeF-rCCe4jWMP6yRwSQbPYklpnUlrQ3bjJfQ0B8yFacdVmXY4PniGdju10d1W79LGiGl77Zw=s2048" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxmA5dI7q8bqQHkMAk6fNKx5vYKwKXG0cyQtA-_s_ALTQ0HYzJPwfdKuZjQE_uRHncWZydhEM4oSondInSRd3dhiRYLulULZ1vEyHPAqpHLWkTWP1i1rNeF-rCCe4jWMP6yRwSQbPYklpnUlrQ3bjJfQ0B8yFacdVmXY4PniGdju10d1W79LGiGl77Zw=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Left to Right: My uncles Jerome and Gilbert with the Morgan mascot. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>So going back to teach at Morgan would seem like a no-brainer right? Not necessarily. </p><p>See after fourteen and a half years, I took early retirement from Baltimore Police (civilian), to move back home to Brooklyn, New York where I was born and raised. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwN8xk5FYgJWY_MTnvj06ylFBNblrYq6bWj-afAZ8Y3wXkyWnfUFCcCj7Udg-1O6VCt-qCyFUDohz-_rKxS9uHSWIHOirWIoYxLJLoVio0Ko9jq8EJIL3-7GNVkUrsq-39xrenq5eBWl4H3UZ4j3NM3193UaI-c3yrMQPo_con1nk08Cc1n-JBNo-WXg=s1600" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="1600" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwN8xk5FYgJWY_MTnvj06ylFBNblrYq6bWj-afAZ8Y3wXkyWnfUFCcCj7Udg-1O6VCt-qCyFUDohz-_rKxS9uHSWIHOirWIoYxLJLoVio0Ko9jq8EJIL3-7GNVkUrsq-39xrenq5eBWl4H3UZ4j3NM3193UaI-c3yrMQPo_con1nk08Cc1n-JBNo-WXg=w400-h143" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Me through the years at Baltimore Police</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>I moved back home in 2019 and after a whirlwind of success (I’ll explain more about that in a moment) and a pandemic, I received the referral to teach at Morgan. I had to though contemplate even going back to Baltimore to work. My closest friends told me that they KNEW moving back to Baltimore wasn’t a consideration–and it wasn’t, but I had to think about how I could take advantage of this opportunity. Not even adding the extra responsibility of traveling during a pandemic. </p><p>Frankly, I don’t think I would have done it for any other school other than Morgan. </p><p>Besides speaking to classes and appearing on WEAA, I always maintained my connection to Morgan. <a href="https://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-2020-sundance-film-festival.html" target="_blank">After I won another screenwriting contest</a>, that “success” I spoke of, I returned to Morgan to take this picture. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEie0TTKC0hvpJkIPBBO5Bs8wdMwo84wsw6tJZgCxDSfaA5CySIQVH8LBS4uHP_lJhu8SxBAwbLb_c6wkvThyrgeUimnhVCzF4lprSN76r9Nqsch5PVXbzjNzdy1SHFvXUt1dm8otpZIzcJBEk1fK_djdUZn_IczvvsMu-V7JzrXIX8cvDGpJcIZANwc8w=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEie0TTKC0hvpJkIPBBO5Bs8wdMwo84wsw6tJZgCxDSfaA5CySIQVH8LBS4uHP_lJhu8SxBAwbLb_c6wkvThyrgeUimnhVCzF4lprSN76r9Nqsch5PVXbzjNzdy1SHFvXUt1dm8otpZIzcJBEk1fK_djdUZn_IczvvsMu-V7JzrXIX8cvDGpJcIZANwc8w=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><p>As I’ve said before, I HAD to take this pic in front of Morgan because it’s where I learned screenwriting in the “Writing for Television” program. I could always write good—write well, but I didn’t know a damn thing about PROPER screenwriting until my studies at Morgan State. </p><p>That aforementioned love and connection to Morgan informed my decision to return. I accepted the position as Adjunct Professor in Multiplatform Production (video production) at the School of Global Journalism & Communication. Teaching at the School of Global Journalism & Communication was also fortuitous because even though my major in undergrad was film, I’ve always loved writing, so I minored in journalism. </p><p>I was scheduled to teach at Morgan on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I figured that if I traveled to Baltimore on Tuesday mornings I could go teach and then stay with my uncle Gilbert until Thursday–and that’s exactly what I did. </p><p>I spent three days and two nights in Baltimore, the rest of the week I would be home in Brooklyn.</p><p>When I finally told my students the last week of classes, they kept asking me “How did I do that?”, “When did I sleep?” stuff like that, which made me chuckle. The answer was a lot of preparation. Just like I prepared their lessons, I had to prepare my commute. Of course, as a filmmaker I documented my experience. Below is an example.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA62EePKN8S3ooQ03jb1XSUYNKncFrWtR5CP4gycvinQrwgdGET3T_1FoNnuod-v8eEJLRqXRbBLTSCZNOjf08b-ufcey29V2qN145qRewbVSCYawqSqV2z-z1hKdJWMTYx13PAl0bwLFu0FM3UFSoFO6_NHtAgWgtJvf3marHkTwh4RQoGvTvMHInsQ=s1600" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1225" data-original-width="1600" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA62EePKN8S3ooQ03jb1XSUYNKncFrWtR5CP4gycvinQrwgdGET3T_1FoNnuod-v8eEJLRqXRbBLTSCZNOjf08b-ufcey29V2qN145qRewbVSCYawqSqV2z-z1hKdJWMTYx13PAl0bwLFu0FM3UFSoFO6_NHtAgWgtJvf3marHkTwh4RQoGvTvMHInsQ=w400-h306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;">Teaching at Morgan was a wonderful experience, especially now. Even though it was my first semester teaching, it was not the first for my students and fall 2021 was their first classes on campus in 18 months and they were SO HAPPY to be back. The entire campus was happy to be back, everyone on campus followed protocols, even outside. It was challenging to teach for hours in a mask at first, but I got used to it. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTn76vLrtYGtSjAnef33Fqa5PXOab5JzdWdTu__vRc_OXW6HnTGJFM7vdkfC9L12sdEtSB-Dg2N_050A45Oyt-QQ-_ixibfq8MVjdEUJvdGtsgDzKJJAzhbGORQRZysRqsijyIt_F8bNvwuqSqWQt8w2rAomGibVm-Tr31SFZ4d2dV3BxF1JUAfQtHCQ=s3088" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTn76vLrtYGtSjAnef33Fqa5PXOab5JzdWdTu__vRc_OXW6HnTGJFM7vdkfC9L12sdEtSB-Dg2N_050A45Oyt-QQ-_ixibfq8MVjdEUJvdGtsgDzKJJAzhbGORQRZysRqsijyIt_F8bNvwuqSqWQt8w2rAomGibVm-Tr31SFZ4d2dV3BxF1JUAfQtHCQ=s320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me in my classroom at Morgan State University between my classes.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I’ve talked to other educators, and it is very different teaching in person than it was over video and I can see that. That in-person interaction is irreplaceable. </p><p>To be honest, the Black Lives Matter, social justice protests in the summer of 2020 also played a factor. </p><p>My life’s work as an adult has been a focus on film and ancillary media. The mission of <b>‘Nother Brother Entertainment</b> has always been "to further propagate diverse images through development of films and ancillary entertainment media which includes a presence on social media." Now it is popularly called DEI, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Since last summer literally every company’s focus has been DEI. I’ve been Black all my life so “DEI’ has always been a factor–forever. </p><p>I told my students that last week of classes that it was MY HONOR to travel, round trip, over 400 hundred miles to teach them each week. And it was. </p><p>In the words of Issa Rae “I’m rooting for everybody black” and the opportunity to teach the next generation of Black minds was simply something I could not ignore or deny. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXXYVxMOuyoLQkEkh1v4dPn6kO_PRHTfSd7_5ZO7r1ElSSuKdFlgSpu--AqTWrLqpmK5XCZ65hO7UIK6UqMsAeA2nyFRMgoHnUnobpBtnCjwG0BS8XBON2-qP9OtskEtqWpwz1dCloQdS2ibwfWal6IMtmILo0hWX9sWwh-KKc3wG5hnttPX6W_IU0_g=s3088" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXXYVxMOuyoLQkEkh1v4dPn6kO_PRHTfSd7_5ZO7r1ElSSuKdFlgSpu--AqTWrLqpmK5XCZ65hO7UIK6UqMsAeA2nyFRMgoHnUnobpBtnCjwG0BS8XBON2-qP9OtskEtqWpwz1dCloQdS2ibwfWal6IMtmILo0hWX9sWwh-KKc3wG5hnttPX6W_IU0_g=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-64051976262535539162020-08-06T14:13:00.002-04:002020-08-06T14:17:47.961-04:00In Hollywood 2020, Black Is The New Black<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjushXAl4fWJ00fdwRV8THT9LVP6i4tH_PT5utN6s-FUYb6v_x85aT6KgmBgEs_L74cl25GFhIU3Iy73fq0r3bGlCBqLynu3hzJe_uErTyqHM53lPrIfH3pWLlJR34vZf59vbQKfv8QSGM/s1600/blackhollywood1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="400" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjushXAl4fWJ00fdwRV8THT9LVP6i4tH_PT5utN6s-FUYb6v_x85aT6KgmBgEs_L74cl25GFhIU3Iy73fq0r3bGlCBqLynu3hzJe_uErTyqHM53lPrIfH3pWLlJR34vZf59vbQKfv8QSGM/w400-h318/blackhollywood1.jpg" width="400" /></a>
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The mission of <b>‘Nother Brother Entertainment </b>has always been "To further propagate diverse images through development of films." To that end a lot of blog posts on this blog are also devoted to diversity and inclusion. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Our social networks contain not only information about our productions, but information about filmmaking and the film industry. In line with our mission, our additional content also chiefly focuses on diversity and inclusion in the film industry.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Below are links to recent Diversity and Inclusion initiatives in Hollywood that have occurred this year in chronological order of date of publication. Will try to update with more articles as they are available.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br />
</div><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Black writers are getting hired. But they aren’t getting promoted</h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRMv-uON88tV0GMKH2L5w8UNDd436y0E5oj4IYvalw1HBG3C7NcOQx8MxUbbTAH0QII_FcokK1f_3iPwuxeh_JmCNtS_XkKgO48b2Mg4-H30vI6T9tcN49yVp5ZmRSlX3m_AIqibufkLA/s773/Black-writers-get-hired-But-they-aren-t-getting-promoted-Los-Angeles-Times.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="773" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRMv-uON88tV0GMKH2L5w8UNDd436y0E5oj4IYvalw1HBG3C7NcOQx8MxUbbTAH0QII_FcokK1f_3iPwuxeh_JmCNtS_XkKgO48b2Mg4-H30vI6T9tcN49yVp5ZmRSlX3m_AIqibufkLA/w400-h291/Black-writers-get-hired-But-they-aren-t-getting-promoted-Los-Angeles-Times.png" width="400" /></a></div><div>By Anousha Sakoui | <b><i>Los Angeles Times</i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">JUNE 24, 2020 </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-06-24/black-writers-are-getting-hired-but-they-arent-getting-promoted">https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-06-24/black-writers-are-getting-hired-but-they-arent-getting-promoted</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Over 100 Black Creatives And Allies Launch “Change The Lens” Pledge To Boost Diversity In Film And Advertising</h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhvXhxw46PmnlGEcQIhECZvKtr31_AxSff-o1iRff56fnruTBLCuxlCl0iGt_YoCNQ-Mx7cb9aQTqqIT7cPbiu3hqYR-zMGzzzI6Yo9BxJPIPoy_Y4zgTP8ZQILmTnTScxAHxjy5xmVhY/s708/Over-100-Black-Creatives-Launch-%25E2%2580%2598Change-The-Lens%25E2%2580%2599-Pledge-To-Boost-Diversity-In-Film-And-Advertising-%25E2%2580%2593-Deadline.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="708" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhvXhxw46PmnlGEcQIhECZvKtr31_AxSff-o1iRff56fnruTBLCuxlCl0iGt_YoCNQ-Mx7cb9aQTqqIT7cPbiu3hqYR-zMGzzzI6Yo9BxJPIPoy_Y4zgTP8ZQILmTnTScxAHxjy5xmVhY/w400-h262/Over-100-Black-Creatives-Launch-%25E2%2580%2598Change-The-Lens%25E2%2580%2599-Pledge-To-Boost-Diversity-In-Film-And-Advertising-%25E2%2580%2593-Deadline.png" width="400" /></a></div>By Dino-Ray Ramos | <b><i>Deadline </i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">JULY 9, 2020 </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://deadline.com/2020/07/black-creatives-change-the-lens-pledge-diversity-inclusion-representation-1202981662/" target="_blank">https://deadline.com/2020/07/black-creatives-change-the-lens-pledge-diversity-inclusion-representation-1202981662/</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCHlAx749K8wvfkgrTMj0Ywx5iW-G0Y7tRlRwg47bAWM0dvv4r_-6WAma-5o8b7DRfP74FAVi7O63iOI7m421juSaWRyXSj91lz0Zxcks9rkdQmAA-tz_lIp4W0pKHLLuHPhm9psn-8bA/s656/CBS-Commits-to-Expanding-Development-From-BIPOC-Hollywood-Reporter.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="656" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCHlAx749K8wvfkgrTMj0Ywx5iW-G0Y7tRlRwg47bAWM0dvv4r_-6WAma-5o8b7DRfP74FAVi7O63iOI7m421juSaWRyXSj91lz0Zxcks9rkdQmAA-tz_lIp4W0pKHLLuHPhm9psn-8bA/w400-h378/CBS-Commits-to-Expanding-Development-From-BIPOC-Hollywood-Reporter.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">by Lesley Goldberg | <b><i>The Hollywood Reporter </i></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">JULY 13, 2020</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/cbs-commits-expanding-development-bipoc-1303011">https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/cbs-commits-expanding-development-bipoc-1303011</a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A Rush to Use Black Art Leaves the Artists Feeling Used</h1><h4 style="text-align: left;">Black creative professionals say they have been used to lend legitimacy to diversity campaigns while being underpaid and pigeonholed.</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmcdOd8cc1Iim60PLL__OWmgewaxLg5ZYn5mhNotJ4Qi3Qb89y-X4tjZkmWBtMIHSm0tMUXlAhPBidMAeyWWITQixz-PcOMSfRhupUC-PSWPmE05LNsMS6dwIQX-N5cgxS45yPUYfYLXA/s1225/A-Rush-to-Use-Black-Art-Leaves-the-Artists-Feeling-Used-The-New-York-Times.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="859" data-original-width="1225" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmcdOd8cc1Iim60PLL__OWmgewaxLg5ZYn5mhNotJ4Qi3Qb89y-X4tjZkmWBtMIHSm0tMUXlAhPBidMAeyWWITQixz-PcOMSfRhupUC-PSWPmE05LNsMS6dwIQX-N5cgxS45yPUYfYLXA/w400-h281/A-Rush-to-Use-Black-Art-Leaves-the-Artists-Feeling-Used-The-New-York-Times.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">By Tiffany Hsu and Sandra E. Garcia | <b><i>New York Times</i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">JULY 20, 2020</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/business/media/black-creatives-protests.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/business/media/black-creatives-protests.html</a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwaVXD_CsGfJwHWK56azKS4xjykmSZY9sQo7Exke5QYL4CCfaR52FvIgSN4UE6yDZBMWlFcyncQ4KgFvHDfVrr_hAgAkkyQEvgn6pY99BeI1gxx2CfeGFMeZLF9ZH7T-w_COS-7D1Gkpk/s1671/MBJ+THR.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1671" data-original-width="1125" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwaVXD_CsGfJwHWK56azKS4xjykmSZY9sQo7Exke5QYL4CCfaR52FvIgSN4UE6yDZBMWlFcyncQ4KgFvHDfVrr_hAgAkkyQEvgn6pY99BeI1gxx2CfeGFMeZLF9ZH7T-w_COS-7D1Gkpk/w269-h400/MBJ+THR.jpg" width="269" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">by Rebecca Ford | <b><i>The Hollywood Reporter</i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">JULY 23, 2020</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/news/changehollywood-michael-b-jordan-color-change-launch-roadmap-inclusion-1304003">https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/news/changehollywood-michael-b-jordan-color-change-launch-roadmap-inclusion-1304003</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div>
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Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-1307603638140483962020-02-29T01:20:00.000-05:002020-02-29T09:55:35.298-05:00The 2020 Sundance Film Festival <br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So, at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival this happened</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBSXgxdtQcPABZDAybtxq2Ofg6J7yrh_uXSWIV0JosTWLT8FOWSuxVg_AzEC6HqAydQZCogU3dDEnAwwyNb80A8HE4DUUXm-fyedoXF96wgv_1F08CvXTcVZnLYMtt2COvdclD4tUTxr7I/s1600/Sundance+pic+w+Judges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBSXgxdtQcPABZDAybtxq2Ofg6J7yrh_uXSWIV0JosTWLT8FOWSuxVg_AzEC6HqAydQZCogU3dDEnAwwyNb80A8HE4DUUXm-fyedoXF96wgv_1F08CvXTcVZnLYMtt2COvdclD4tUTxr7I/s400/Sundance+pic+w+Judges.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Dankwa Brooks</b> with the Judges of the competition</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">From the Press Release:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">"<b>Donald Dankwa Brooks</b> was awarded first place for his original script that demonstrated a keen awareness of the complex perspectives surrounding criminal justice. He was one of five finalists — selected from the more than 100 submissions that came from competitors across the country — awarded a trip to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah to pitch their scripts to a panel of esteemed judges. The judges included representatives from <b>Strayer University,</b> <b>The Blackhouse Foundation</b>, the criminal justice system, and the film and television industry."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> (Read the entire article via the link at the bottom of this post.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It was a SUCH a whirlwind of being there that it took me this long to write about it. LOL</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsX2EgFbcMsYiPEitlEkJicv5LbBnaSJykGyUTFVQXkRXYzcZpPW4wVaZf03-h_XxoO-Saro2ke9U-6tr2vKJU95bzIX7JjvPNtTWi7SUMyMP5OT1KvEOx6XBV7hk6TqzPi_Sj__ouwlc/s1600/sundancedayone-tpr-011820-1-1024x629.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="1024" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsX2EgFbcMsYiPEitlEkJicv5LbBnaSJykGyUTFVQXkRXYzcZpPW4wVaZf03-h_XxoO-Saro2ke9U-6tr2vKJU95bzIX7JjvPNtTWi7SUMyMP5OT1KvEOx6XBV7hk6TqzPi_Sj__ouwlc/s320/sundancedayone-tpr-011820-1-1024x629.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The competition took place at the <b>Sundance Film Festival</b>, the annual film festival, that takes place in Utah, is the largest independent film festival in the United States. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">This is the social media announcement of the competition.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxQTUjiqiqr8bjsKRkaiaQIezzbRxFG8wZIRSjjR9ASexQcB0SBqH6SXQ3mqyZiu1epCnKQTRv_qIK_nxoX3ietV4nu6u7P3qK5mx85cAIZl4XsQ11H7II-0Tn5iPj7myy-0Oyumnp27q/s1600/Sundance+Finalists+graphic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxQTUjiqiqr8bjsKRkaiaQIezzbRxFG8wZIRSjjR9ASexQcB0SBqH6SXQ3mqyZiu1epCnKQTRv_qIK_nxoX3ietV4nu6u7P3qK5mx85cAIZl4XsQ11H7II-0Tn5iPj7myy-0Oyumnp27q/s400/Sundance+Finalists+graphic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The day after we all arrived at Sundance, we had the Pitch Competition. After I won, everything after that was a blur. LOL. There was a ton of pictures and interviews. <b>Strayer Studios</b>, the internal filmmaking unit of Strayer University, filmed EVERYTHING, and those materials will be available shortly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">We had another Meet & Greet to attend and then we were free to experience the festival and the insane crowds. LOL. My driver from the airport told me that the crowds that first weekend would be insane and indeed they were.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">My family and friends asked me to keep them updated about my time at Sundance and I tried to on social media at hashtag <b>#NBE_Sundance</b>. If you search that hashtag across social media (On Facebook, but mostly Instagram and Twitter), you’ll see my real-time posts. Below are a couple of my tweets.</span><br />
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From our official <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PhotoShoot?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PhotoShoot</a> 📸 The Five Finalists of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ScriptED?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ScriptED</a> competition!<br />
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I COULD NOT BE PROUDER of being in the same company with these talented women! It was a sure fire whirlwind of attention and press. I can’t wait to see what’s next for all of us <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBE_Sundance?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBE_Sundance</a> <a href="https://t.co/UPdcX0s9Fm">pic.twitter.com/UPdcX0s9Fm</a></div>
— Dankwa Brooks (@DankwaBrooks) <a href="https://twitter.com/DankwaBrooks/status/1221475282516758528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AboutLastNight?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AboutLastNight</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/the_blackhouse?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@the_blackhouse</a> Meet the Filmmakers Party presented by WarnerMedia 150 🕺🏾💃🏾🕺🏾💃🏾<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBE_Sundance?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBE_Sundance</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackHouse2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackHouse2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sundance2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sundance2020</a> <a href="https://t.co/qAD1Ybp8Ez">pic.twitter.com/qAD1Ybp8Ez</a></div>
— Dankwa Brooks (@DankwaBrooks) <a href="https://twitter.com/DankwaBrooks/status/1221091108727357440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I’ve been to other film festivals, but Sundance is really “next level” and something to behold. I’m still kind of recuperating, but I can’t wait to go back! LOL</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">My last full day at Sundance I recorded a Thank You message to the overwhelming response I got from everyone. You can watch that message below.</span><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fe63PGA7oOA" width="400"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Here is the official 2020 highlights video</span>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kADqnOVbgCk" width="400"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">💡READ</span></b> the official press release below and stay tuned to this blog for more announcements.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200124005496/en/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Strayer University and The Blackhouse Foundation Name Donald Dankwa Brooks Winner of Scriptwriter Competition to Bring Real Perspectives on Criminal Justice to the Classroom</b></a></span><br />
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Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-9515099593862853152020-02-27T00:19:00.000-05:002020-03-07T15:35:27.942-05:00The Harlem Renaissance - BOOK REVIEW<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGp2oJQf6cHNCTiO_12o6plUJ1qBAL41piz8ZL7nI41cylnfpUsblGWxpwo_DfNhD9z_UEywv06xnQycTgqCCe8kjaHLJuPTPCkrxXWePWOXS0ehB_1pszEJ61hrmlEem4NL2QXz-UmT4J/s1600/Harlem+Renaissance+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="494" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGp2oJQf6cHNCTiO_12o6plUJ1qBAL41piz8ZL7nI41cylnfpUsblGWxpwo_DfNhD9z_UEywv06xnQycTgqCCe8kjaHLJuPTPCkrxXWePWOXS0ehB_1pszEJ61hrmlEem4NL2QXz-UmT4J/s320/Harlem+Renaissance+book.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/420803.The_Harlem_Renaissance">The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture, 1920-1930</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/93577.Steven_Watson">Steven Watson</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3071483280">5 of 5 stars</a></span><br />
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I knew about the <b>HARLEM RENAISSANCE</b>, but I fell in love with the time period when I studied it in Humanities at MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY. This book is an excellent further exploration of that time period. The book not only highlights the key figures, but the entire environment in which this historically cultural time took place. <br />
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Black folk didn’t have a lot of money, didn’t have a lot of anything, but what we had was SOUL. In the book you can see that ever since our presence on this continent, black folk had to do more with less and DID, even to the admiration and adoration of white folk. This book expertly details a lot of that. It also details the patrons of the Renaissance and how that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. <br />
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The book touches on all aspects of the renaissance, including the environment/community like the section on the famous “Harlem Rent Parties”, the night life, the famous clubs like <b>THE COTTON CLUB </b>and<b> THE SAVOY BALLROOM </b>and the music artists/performers like<b> JOSEPHINE BAKER, EARL “SNAKEHIPS” TUCKER, BESSIE SMITH, BILL “BOJANGLES” ROBINSON </b>and<b> ETHEL WATERS</b>. The book focused most on the intellectuals, writers and journalists of the renaissance. <br />
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Famous figures like <b>W. E. B. DU BOIS, LANGSTON HUGHES </b>and<b> ZORA NEALE HURSTON </b>are heavily featured, but also<b> JAMES WELDON JOHNSON, ALAIN LOCKE, ARTURO SCHOMBURG, WALLACE THURMAN, CLAUDE MCKAY, JEAN TOOMER </b>and<b> COUNTEE CULLEN</b> are featured prominently. <br />
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The book also highlighted the patrons of the renaissance like the “Harlem Hostess” <b>A’LELIA WALKER</b>, but also white patrons like <b>CHARLOTTE MASON </b>and <b>CARL VAN VECHTEN</b>. <br />
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As a passage in the book stated, “CONTROLLING THE BLACK IMAGE. One consequence of the rising white interest in African-American literature was the black intelligentsia's drive to control its own image. Renaissance writers, intellectuals, and artists were charged with articulating a racial identity that not only plumbed indigenous black experience but simultaneously assumed a positive face for white society.“ This is ALWAYS the struggle. <br />
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The book was a WEALTH of information on this time period. This was SUCH a prodigious time for black artists and being a black artist, the Harlem Renaissance has always made me PROUD.
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<b><u>EPILOGUE</u></b></div>
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Because I’m so in love with the time period, I took copious
notes via GoodReads on the book and shared them on the site <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user_status/book/420803?page=1&text_only=true" target="_blank">HERE</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5345402-dankwa-brooks">View all my BOOK reviews on GoodReads</a>
Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-17528807579893024862019-04-29T09:14:00.000-04:002020-02-20T11:47:19.457-05:00John SingletonBelow is my tribute to <b>John Singleton</b> (January 6, 1968-April 29, 2019) and a short video tribute by <i><b>The Hollywood Reporter</b></i><br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw28FefgfBk/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#Repost @dankwabrooks ・・・ My heart is so heavy right now. 💔 JOHN SINGLETON was one of the FIRST black filmmakers to inspire me. You see the batch of filmmakers pictured on that New York Times Magazine cover are the ones that made this black kid🙋🏾♂️think I could be a filmmaker too and Singleton was chief among them. As a movie fan I loved ‘Boyz n The Hood’ the first time I saw it. I was too young to get into the whole blaxploitation era so ‘Boyz’ was one of the FIRST films that I saw that CAPTURED the black experience that I knew in the hood. It was raw, it was visceral, it was something I innately knew, even though it was set in a city over 2,000 miles away. I FELT that film. Even after I myself went to Film School, knew A LOT MORE about the techniques he employed to direct this film and upon rewatching it thought “this is a f*cking masterpiece!” I discovered that quote about “protecting your vision” not too long before I posted it, but as stated it “exemplifies why” I switched majors in college to study directing and filmmaking. Again he personified what I felt as a black filmmaker. I am forever in your debt Mr. Singleton and I join the fray of filmmakers, BLACK filmmakers, who were influenced by you. Your art will forever live on and continue to inspire many. Rest In Peace sir. 🎬🌹</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/notherbrother/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> 'Nother Brother Ent.,LLC</a> (@notherbrother) on <time datetime="2019-04-29T23:47:11+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Apr 29, 2019 at 4:47pm PDT</time></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsakXAfzUlxwNYUT29995o0Lg5EgTbkO4C5k1vo3tKjIShK3Np-XL94IhpKypdW0ujbcLZ4_cL4PjTkhojjAnXpGSg9B9c0kMnuyYmCH-kufq3YaAodoH_04n0Bws2vD6tK94jUjKQJYo/s1600/directors-chair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="115" data-original-width="45" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsakXAfzUlxwNYUT29995o0Lg5EgTbkO4C5k1vo3tKjIShK3Np-XL94IhpKypdW0ujbcLZ4_cL4PjTkhojjAnXpGSg9B9c0kMnuyYmCH-kufq3YaAodoH_04n0Bws2vD6tK94jUjKQJYo/s200/directors-chair.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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SEE more posts on this blog about<br />
<b>John Singleton</b> <a href="https://notherbrother.blogspot.com/search/label/John%20Singleton" target="_blank">HERE</a>Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-49322026773217483652018-08-06T09:19:00.001-04:002020-02-20T11:48:13.523-05:00Jinn - Review <br />
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<img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1013" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqWSMJVmv312J4v-6Nl6KhOedb8hF_0boxWZwkkCIXSVh_Ra6oeLRbIjKfcnmcV4BeSm8_k4xcAn5YGGScI_lvG0y_qsRX55HdZzT3bFUBIiPkP8sfQG9nqdG-b3_K_sLqQRwTmZFV4J7S/s320/Jinn-poster+2.jpg" width="216" /> </div>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">JINN</span></b><br />
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<b>Written and Directed by</b> Directed by Nijla Mu'min<br />
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<b>Produced by</b> Elton Brand, Angela Harvey, Jason Kampf, Mike C. Manning, Shandra L. McDonald, Amy McGary, Kristen McGary, Billy Mulligan and Tommy Oliver.<br />
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<b>Cinematography by</b> Bruce Francis Cole<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
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<b>Starring: </b>Zoe Renee, Simone Missick, Hisham Tawfiq, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Dorian Missick.<br />
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<b>Summary: </b>Summer is a 17-year old carefree black girl, whose world is turned upside down when her mother, a popular meteorologist named Jade Jennings, abruptly converts to Islam and becomes a different person, prompting Summer to reevaluate her identity.<br />
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<b>REVIEW:</b> What a wonderful coming of age story featuring a brown girl as its lead. It’s not often I see an intelligent, heartwarming story about young black people that’s not about inner city crime and or its residual effects on black life. This film is about another aspect of black life, one that isn’t often explored in film and a religion that isn’t often politicized and or ‘weaponized” as a storytelling device in a spy/action movie–Islam.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOSIfSuRwvMXYNcGmp97tBbNSoVchBcQ2JtO2VyFhqKnAA_BWOJcgKc0riEBJwa-cMFwHLGWjFq28dcsSFSseJkvxOKzHmPFN2K81Wx4R8NeI1OfB2I7c5MIKzwcCILfwGHJ5mchl11dl0/s1600/Jinn4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOSIfSuRwvMXYNcGmp97tBbNSoVchBcQ2JtO2VyFhqKnAA_BWOJcgKc0riEBJwa-cMFwHLGWjFq28dcsSFSseJkvxOKzHmPFN2K81Wx4R8NeI1OfB2I7c5MIKzwcCILfwGHJ5mchl11dl0/s400/Jinn4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left to right: <b>Zoe Renee </b>and<b> Simone Missick</b></td></tr>
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I’m not a Muslim, but having many close family members of the faith, I know a lot about it and this film captured it perfectly. All the tenets are there and it’s not heavy handed or watered down. If there ever was a perfect blend of the faith with an everyday relatable story this is it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqoX6tSRa1xhmQMEk6GehT2I0ScESU9VzePqVs_ZU2XK2HjCwymmlr_1SLCVUFf9gJBqtAtbS08BtcpOdxfkv9b0KcNHLi-g2XjkRRp0x72dOLAR_SxU6w8Uzqv3xRPm4d1ZW6W7Jv3hwc/s1600/Jinn2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="1600" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqoX6tSRa1xhmQMEk6GehT2I0ScESU9VzePqVs_ZU2XK2HjCwymmlr_1SLCVUFf9gJBqtAtbS08BtcpOdxfkv9b0KcNHLi-g2XjkRRp0x72dOLAR_SxU6w8Uzqv3xRPm4d1ZW6W7Jv3hwc/s400/Jinn2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Zoe Renee </b>(center) and <b>Kelvin Harrison Jr</b>. (right)</td></tr>
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The performances by the cast are great including the lead <b>Zoe Renee</b> who plays 17-year old Summer to perfection. She is instantly relatable, lovable and real. You never think she’s a perfect angel, but she isn’t a miscreant either. She’s the perfect blend of what adolescents usually are–evolving. Also great is <b>Kelvin Harrison Jr.</b> as her love interest in the film "Tahir". Their chemistry comes off as sweet and sincere without being saccharine.<br />
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<b>Simone Missick</b> (known as “Misty Knight” from<i> Luke Cage</i>, pictured below) as her mother is also great and gives a really heartfelt performance as a woman and mom who is evolving herself.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvQmK2SMt017OyF4kfW5Wh3T-VspJalmg4L6nt11Ntu0xk7JEEK-T_aSbTZj4rQ7SSr3dBHmVNwhWz4ockWgXL8Ta8lwmsXa-JDPp-HM-ePB5HN7qJTXRsGo3WzzwALKDPsruIrLZ91_WQ/s1600/Jinn3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="1438" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvQmK2SMt017OyF4kfW5Wh3T-VspJalmg4L6nt11Ntu0xk7JEEK-T_aSbTZj4rQ7SSr3dBHmVNwhWz4ockWgXL8Ta8lwmsXa-JDPp-HM-ePB5HN7qJTXRsGo3WzzwALKDPsruIrLZ91_WQ/s400/Jinn3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Everything about this picture succeeds because of the wonderful tone by writer/director <b>Nijla Mu'min</b>. This picture have really been heavy handed and trite or really maudlin, but never was. Beautifully shot by cinematographer <b>Bruce Francis Cole</b>, every scene, every shot perfectly escalated the story in a natural organic way.<br />
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This film is an achievement in every aspect and one of the best independent films I’ve seen this year!<br />
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Notes: I saw this film this past weekend at the<b> 7th Annual Blackstar Film Festival</b> in Philadelphia where this happened.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackStar18?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackStar18</a> Best Feature Narrative<br />
“Jinn” directed by <a href="https://twitter.com/Nijla1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Nijla1</a> <a href="https://t.co/H7z7ulf76j">pic.twitter.com/H7z7ulf76j</a></div>
— BlackStar Film Fest (@BlackStarFest) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlackStarFest/status/1026286911764267010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2018</a></blockquote>
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And previously<br />
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Special Jury Recognition for Narrative Feature Competition for Writing goes to Jinn written and directed by Niljla Mu’min. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SXSW?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SXSW</a> <a href="https://t.co/qS2ltszFWf">pic.twitter.com/qS2ltszFWf</a></div>
— SXSW (@sxsw) <a href="https://twitter.com/sxsw/status/973750465354756096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2018</a></blockquote>
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No word yet on when this film will be widely released, but I'll be sure to update this review with those details. Until then you can watch the trailer below and below that visit the film's website.<br />
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<b><span style="background-color: #f6b26b; font-size: large;">UPDATE AUGUST 14, 2018</span></b><br />
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Orion Classics announced today [August 14, 2018] that they have acquired the North American and Latin American rights to <b><i>Jinn</i></b>. Orion Classics has set a theatrical release for the drama on Nov. 15 followed by a Nov. 16 release on VOD and Digital HD.–<b><i>Deadline</i></b></blockquote>
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<b>VISIT THE FILM'S WEBSITE</b></div>
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by <i><span style="color: blue;">clicking </span></i>the graphic below</div>
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<br />Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-15274883092109642892018-03-09T09:01:00.000-05:002019-01-23T08:05:09.588-05:00Black Panther - Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixupG85INJiWoSm1uuCwdVpLCdZP_2cgSQYIAEgYsiZfF795SapZNTbfDW-l7EvbZnRD1WwCMCix0JLXD-sYarxoeL-NNfyQbGkLiMaq516pvZvG6PYAM1VIGt4qHz9ZaKmmAToW4MDX0c/s1600/Black+Panther.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixupG85INJiWoSm1uuCwdVpLCdZP_2cgSQYIAEgYsiZfF795SapZNTbfDW-l7EvbZnRD1WwCMCix0JLXD-sYarxoeL-NNfyQbGkLiMaq516pvZvG6PYAM1VIGt4qHz9ZaKmmAToW4MDX0c/s320/Black+Panther.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">BLACK PANTHER</span></b><br />
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<b>Directed by </b>Ryan Coogler<br />
<b>Produced by</b> Kevin Feige<br />
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<b>Written by</b><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole<br />
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<b>Starring<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></b><br />
Chadwick Boseman<br />
Michael B. Jordan<br />
Lupita Nyong'o<br />
Danai Gurira<br />
Martin Freeman<br />
Daniel Kaluuya<br />
Letitia Wright<br />
Winston Duke<br />
Angela Bassett<br />
Forest Whitaker<br />
Andy Serkis<br />
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<b>Cinematography by</b> Rachel Morrison<br />
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<b>Production Design by </b>Hannah Beachler<br />
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<b>Costume Design by</b> Ruth E. Carter<br />
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<b>Release Date:</b> February 16, 2018 (USA)<br />
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<b>Summary: </b>After the death of his father, T'Challa returns home to the African nation of Wakanda to take his rightful place as king. When a powerful enemy suddenly reappears, T'Challa's mettle as king -- and as Black Panther -- gets tested when he's drawn into a conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people.<br />
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<b>REVIEW:</b> I never thought that I would see a superhero movie so entrenched in black/African culture on a scale such as this. It is also one of the best origin stories in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).<br />
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If you didn’t know before, you certainly will after watching this film, that Black Panther is a BLACK superhero. Thankfully we now have other black heroes currently in media (<i>Luke Cage</i>, <i>Black Lightning</i>), but while those are television series and urban, this film is definitely something else.<br />
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<i>Black Panther</i> is a hugely a self-contained origin story. By “self-contained” I mean that unlike the origin story of <i>Thor</i> (2011), which spread its story between two locales, Asgard and Earth, this film takes place, for the most part in Wakanda.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZUel0Jpm_hiZXwM3NIXkZvtftAsMuGyLguqiavSgHYVas3j9shsTzdsAVwlgZOBU66VkZuH2xeJg2Li8Gt89SUPIdJG_0X0dmRK2btwMxsBY95EPFG55LW_mINki0E-Zep-rp2clUOI-h/s1600/wakanda-grid-uproxx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="650" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZUel0Jpm_hiZXwM3NIXkZvtftAsMuGyLguqiavSgHYVas3j9shsTzdsAVwlgZOBU66VkZuH2xeJg2Li8Gt89SUPIdJG_0X0dmRK2btwMxsBY95EPFG55LW_mINki0E-Zep-rp2clUOI-h/s400/wakanda-grid-uproxx.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wakanda in <i>Black Panther</i></td></tr>
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It’s a film about a hero that’s steeped in family, tradition and honor. While Wakanda is a fictional African country you can see the filmmakers took every chance they could to interline African cultural nuances (I’ll explain more on that later). Wakanda is a futuristic country that was never colonized by outsiders because it thrived in secrecy. That tradition of secrecy is the engine that drives the entire story.<br />
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Having established the culture of the story, this is STILL a superhero movie and the action never disappoints! The new king quickly goes on an undercover mission to recover a precious Wakandian export as well as confront an old adversary named Ulysses Klaue. What the king and his cohort discover on that mission is that they have a new even more menacing adversary in Erik Killmonger.<br />
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Without giving anything away it is from that point that everything moves fast in the movie and that’s really the only problem I had–it moved too fast. Certain events happen and before you know it–the end.<br />
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The star-studded cast in the film never disappoints from the king T’Challa himself <b>Chadwick Boseman</b>, who brings all the regality and statesmanship we saw in<i> Captain America: Civil War</i> (2016) and expands upon it. We also get to see some of his more personal side as he deals with the many challenges of his new throne.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left to Right: <b>Winston Duke, Andy Serkis, Michael B. Jordan</b> character posters</td></tr>
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The “challenges” in the movie come from a great trio, <b>Winston Duke</b> as M'Baku steals a lot of the scenes he’s in and the other two <b>Andy Serkis</b> as Ulysses Klaue and <b>Michael B. Jordan</b> as Erik Killmonger pose the greatest challenge to the new king. Serkis had a lot of fun with his role and you can see his Klaue’s main goal is to expose the hidden country that is Wakanda and pillage it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFXAPu8B8_bPyqDp2p2MAu4TDteMfK2lPExW41fUhUNaTmzGwxght6zZT8OuCrB0K8OsJJVOJUNJdOqriQsRH5HRUGzt8BAC943DwK0EiGHavdfC165bJuc3PZmOEKvETN1PqcMybsTD-W/s1600/Killmonger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="423" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFXAPu8B8_bPyqDp2p2MAu4TDteMfK2lPExW41fUhUNaTmzGwxght6zZT8OuCrB0K8OsJJVOJUNJdOqriQsRH5HRUGzt8BAC943DwK0EiGHavdfC165bJuc3PZmOEKvETN1PqcMybsTD-W/s320/Killmonger.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Michael B. Jordan</b> as Killmonger</td></tr>
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Killmonger’s goal is aligned with Klaue’s–until it’s not. That’s all I’m going to say except, all three pose worthy adversaries to T’Challa.<br />
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The other supporting characters Zuri played by <b>Forest Whitaker </b>and Ramonda played by <b>Angela Bassett</b> lent grace and presence to their characters. <b>Martin Freeman</b> as Everett K. Ross was good too and as one of the only non-black cast members did not overshadow the larger story. <b>Lupita Nyong'o</b> as Nakia was good as well as a spy operative for Wakanda who also happens to be T’Challa’s ex-girlfriend.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQc5wO9aVouoZpG3dMo3LGWXBT4gG43WhA0ypMu_RVmxomHc26kkt5z89ceFG5MTFYc5SRzdHRsxk-XSH24TPJhMPZVpholbCSssYCbEectpTTQkzRkMd9A0MCXZYmyR6RpsI-U2t6Xw7T/s1600/Dora+Milaje.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="900" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQc5wO9aVouoZpG3dMo3LGWXBT4gG43WhA0ypMu_RVmxomHc26kkt5z89ceFG5MTFYc5SRzdHRsxk-XSH24TPJhMPZVpholbCSssYCbEectpTTQkzRkMd9A0MCXZYmyR6RpsI-U2t6Xw7T/s400/Dora+Milaje.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dora Milaje </td></tr>
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The other women in the film standout though. From the awesome Dora Milaje to Princess Shuri, they were terrific.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphenX_wQY0Y2ZnHLHzey8P1aKQKH8BWLC4s7VibVk2O3jnpZyl9Aqvo0CdEp1o5PTUg5K4AF7dpROdKuXJR5zGl9JFYm3QwkJwqn8HHP_e5bNzXfn8AKxGcMhCgMoTMe5Bbcl8D4QgmQmN2/s1600/Letitia-Wright-Black-Panther-04.w1200.h630.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1199" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphenX_wQY0Y2ZnHLHzey8P1aKQKH8BWLC4s7VibVk2O3jnpZyl9Aqvo0CdEp1o5PTUg5K4AF7dpROdKuXJR5zGl9JFYm3QwkJwqn8HHP_e5bNzXfn8AKxGcMhCgMoTMe5Bbcl8D4QgmQmN2/s320/Letitia-Wright-Black-Panther-04.w1200.h630.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">left to right: <b>Chadwick Boseman </b>and<b> Letitia Wright</b> in<i> Black Panther</i></td></tr>
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<b><br />Letitia Wright</b> as Shuri, T’Challa’s younger sister and the head of Wakandian tech, was an effervescent delight in every scene she was in. She brought genuine laughs without coming off silly as well as projecting that she is also a scientific genius. The Dora Milaje statuesque and magnificent were led by the ever capable <b>Danai Gurira </b>as Okoye.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKPyvNHJ8KnmLxyNhbJxGjeYKhUaft3fDZj9zFMpIC40nGAfc45Rrp6Sf9tTsxGpa1m9HpPrIJj2JlRm9Ra6b5kqs5PNlnkaiElp5XSmlY_CRNRE43lvPLUlEKdACmSnorIZY4qdyOCXGb/s1600/Okoye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1001" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKPyvNHJ8KnmLxyNhbJxGjeYKhUaft3fDZj9zFMpIC40nGAfc45Rrp6Sf9tTsxGpa1m9HpPrIJj2JlRm9Ra6b5kqs5PNlnkaiElp5XSmlY_CRNRE43lvPLUlEKdACmSnorIZY4qdyOCXGb/s320/Okoye.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Danai Gurrira</b> as Okoye</td></tr>
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Gurrira as Okoye was my favorite character in the film and when you see it, you’ll see why.<br />
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The entire cast were perfect in their roles regardless if the role was major or minor. Each played a part in fully realizing this origin story.<br />
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I can’t end this review without giving props–Mad Props to the filmmakers.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Ryan Coogler </b>and <b>Chadwick Boseman</b> on the set of <i>Black Panther</i></td></tr>
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First and foremost I have to mention the director <b>Ryan Coogler</b>, who not only directed, but co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Robert Cole. Coogler proves once again that he is a force to reckon with in Hollywood. He is aided by great cinematography work by recent Oscar nominee<b> Rachel Morrison</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Hannah Beachler</b></td></tr>
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The wonderful and interlined African influence I spoke of earlier was definitely realized through the amazing work of Production Designer <b>Hannah Beachler</b>. In case you don’t know, in film and television, a Production Designer is the person responsible for the overall visual look of the production. Meaning they control the look of everything you see on screen. The look of every set in the film. Even if it's an existing location, the Production Designer may have things added or taken away to suit the film.<br />
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As she stated, Beachler wanted to honor the comics with her designs, and then fill in the gaps with research concentrated on Sub-Saharan Africa, pulling inspiration from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ethiopia, as well as the designs of Zaha Hadid.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Ruth E. Carter</b></td></tr>
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Aided in the rich, bold look of the film was Oscar nominated Costume Designer <b>Ruth E. Carter</b>. The Costume Designer is responsible for every item of clothes worn in the film. Even before the movie premiered people were “cos playing” her designs. (You can see an excellent example of that below in the “Bonus Features”).<br />
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For Black Panther Carter referenced the Maasai, Himba, Dogon, Basotho, Tuareg, Turkana, Xhosa, Zulu, Suri and Dinka people in her designs for Wakanda. Both Beachler and Carter wonderfully brought to life this “afro-futuristic” country with real world exuberance.(VIDEO of her talking about the designs is below in the "Bonus Features" as well.)<br />
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As you can see the filmmakers painstakingly not only created an entertaining superhero movie, but went through great lengths to make sure that even though this is a fictional African country, it still retains a lot of real life African culture and to me that is the real success of the film. Black Panther is a film overflowing with African legacy, pride and tradition–that also happens to be a great superhero film. It indeed makes you think about Wakanda now and “Wakanda forever”.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #073763; color: white; font-size: large;">UPDATES</span><br />
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<b><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">JANUARY 21, 2019</span></b><br />
I LIVE TWEETED the Feature Commentary in a Twitter thread linked below<br />
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On this <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLKDay2019?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLKDay2019</a> and before the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OscarNoms?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OscarNoms</a> tomorrow, finally, finally gonna listen to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackPanther?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackPanther</a> Feature Commentary with Director RYAN COOGLER and Production Designer HANNAH BEACHLER <a href="https://t.co/HWOpNRys1y">pic.twitter.com/HWOpNRys1y</a></div>
— Nother Brother Ent. (@NotherBrother) <a href="https://twitter.com/NotherBrother/status/1087511521515708416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">JANUARY 22, 2019</span><br />
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Congratulations to Marvel Studios' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackPanther?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackPanther</a> on its seven Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OscarNoms?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OscarNoms</a> <a href="https://t.co/ediJCl4iTS">pic.twitter.com/ediJCl4iTS</a></div>
— Black Panther (@theblackpanther) <a href="https://twitter.com/theblackpanther/status/1087709187889684481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2019</a></blockquote>
Read more about <b><i>Black Panther's</i></b> Academy Awards nominations at <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/black-panther-history-first-superhero-movie-best-picture/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">‘Black Panther’ Becomes 1st Superhero Movie Nominated for Best Picture</a><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: #0b5394;"><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: #0b5394;">BONUS FEATURES</b></span><br />
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Below are a TON of bonus features about the film as well as links to the other posts about the filmmakers right here on the blog<br />
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<b style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="color: white;">BLOG POST:</span></b> <a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2017/09/black-panthers-production-designer.html" target="_blank">Black Panther’s Production Designer Talks About Bringing the Film to Life</a> [featuring Hannah Beachler]</div>
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<b style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="color: white;">BLOG POST:</span></b> <a href="https://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2012/09/what-does-production-designer-do.html" target="_blank">What Does a Production Designer Do?</a> [featuring Hannah Beachler]</div>
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<span style="color: white;"><b style="background-color: #0b5394;">REVIEWS</b></span> of previous films by <b>Ryan Coogler</b> [<b><i>Fruitvale Station</i></b> (2013) and <b><i>Creed</i></b> (2015) ] at the link <a href="https://notherbrother.blogspot.com/search/label/Ryan%20Coogler" target="_blank">HERE</a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="color: white;">Stories on our TWITTER</span></span> about the filmmaking of the film</div>
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Wakanda Is a Fake Country, but the
African Language in ‘Black Panther’ Is Real <a href="https://t.co/RtvpsmAPuE">https://t.co/RtvpsmAPuE</
a> </a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WakandaForever?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WakandaForever</a></div>
— Nother
Brother Ent. (@NotherBrother) <a href="https://twitter.com/NotherBrother/status/965341686233796608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18,
2018</a></blockquote>
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The Top Ten African Tribes featured in
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackPanther?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackPanther</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackPantherSoLit?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackPantherSoLit</a>🔥 <a href="https://t.co/cJ4fA7qTRl">https://t.co/cJ4fA7qTRl</a>
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— Nother Brother Ent. (@NotherBrother) <a href="https://twitter.com/NotherBrother/status/960798301426737152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6,
2018</a></blockquote>
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👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽EXCELLENT BREAKDOWN of the African influences and Design Of BLACK PANTHER -<a href="https://t.co/5fknVLVWVS">https://t.co/5fknVLVWVS</a></div>
— Nother Brother Ent. (@NotherBrother) <a href="https://twitter.com/NotherBrother/status/873645832448487425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="color: white;">From our FACEBOOK page</span> </span>VIDEO of Costume Designer <b>Ruth E. Carter</b> talking about the costumes of Black Panther<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="523" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPopSugar%2Fvideos%2F1198010210235448%2F&show_text=1&width=400" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="400"></iframe>
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<b style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="color: white;">ARTICLE:</span></b> <a href="https://news.marvel.com/movies/84382/architectural-inspirations-behind-wakanda-marvel-studios-black-panther/" target="_blank">The Architectural Inspirations Behind Wakanda In Marvel Studios' 'Black Panther'</a></div>
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Excellent example of <b>Black Panther</b> CosPlay Published two days before the movie premiered in theaters.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdXuHVL82TMRFgR30mEz64CCaQUrwQEvP06S-CSnRh9sXM7iBQ9scBMGQaT4Zx6vcEPMAyf0Pw3mr16MVo1-DtcM84pzXc9K1t__YiKp2S0lCaxIFCtYQcIq1GhD6i77c_3SHpncocmhJ/s1600/Black+Panther+cosplay.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="599" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdXuHVL82TMRFgR30mEz64CCaQUrwQEvP06S-CSnRh9sXM7iBQ9scBMGQaT4Zx6vcEPMAyf0Pw3mr16MVo1-DtcM84pzXc9K1t__YiKp2S0lCaxIFCtYQcIq1GhD6i77c_3SHpncocmhJ/s320/Black+Panther+cosplay.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Read more about these photos <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BfMtkNgheX0/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HERE</a> </div>
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<b style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="color: white;">ARTICLE:</span></b> <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/black-panther-costume-designer-talks-tribal-tech-inspirations-1074564" target="_blank">'Black Panther' Costume Designer Talks Tribal-Tech Inspirations</a><br />
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<b style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="color: white;">ARTICLE:</span></b> <a href="https://fashionista.com/2018/02/marvel-black-panther-movie-costumes-hair-makeup" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Costume, Hair And Makeup In Marvel's 'Black Panther' Are A Celebration Of Black Culture And Heritage: From the new Black Panther supersuit to Lupita Nyong'o's Wakanda-honoring knots. </a><br />
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Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-15054411334993651752017-09-13T06:49:00.001-04:002017-09-13T06:51:22.822-04:00Cinematography of Lighting Black Skin-HBO's 'Insecure' [VIDEO]<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0D4v3f0KoBcSA5LVOYJO8Zody4gPkLURgYvOtWUSA9i_7Qtf_0lvZr2BxMEu5nil6QMrysO_AQi20uKGiVFcqLHTTp7Mm7dcn0O4Vh0o-5WKF1-rCF9ZQvawVYHsATvxpMKRBfv8yl_yG/s1600/Insecure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="759" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0D4v3f0KoBcSA5LVOYJO8Zody4gPkLURgYvOtWUSA9i_7Qtf_0lvZr2BxMEu5nil6QMrysO_AQi20uKGiVFcqLHTTp7Mm7dcn0O4Vh0o-5WKF1-rCF9ZQvawVYHsATvxpMKRBfv8yl_yG/s400/Insecure.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>HBO: <i>Insecure</i></b></td></tr>
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<b>Ava Berkofsky</b>, '<i>Insecure’s </i>director of photography, was brought on for the show’s second season (currently airing on HBO) to give the show a more movie-like look, which includes making black faces not only legible, but striking.<br />
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“When I was in film school, no one ever talked about lighting nonwhite people,” Berkofsky said in a phone interview with Mic. “There are all these general rules about lighting people of color, like throw green light or amber light at them. It’s weird.” These rules are a start, but they’re far from a complete picture.<br />
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“The conventional way of doing things was that if you put the skin tones around 70 IRE, it’s going to look right,” Berkofsky said. IRE, a unit used in the measurement of composite video signals (named for the initials of the Institute of Radio Engineers), ranges from 0 to 100. “If you’ve got black skin, [dialing it] up to 50 or 70 is just going to make the rest of the image look weird.” The resulting image looks very bright, Berkofsky noted, similar to what you’d see in traditional sitcoms like <i>The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air </i>or<i> The Cosby Show</i>." –<i>Mic</i><br />
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READ the entire article about lighting black skin on <i>Insecure</i> @ Mic <a href="https://mic.com/articles/184244/keeping-insecure-lit-hbo-cinematographer-ava-berkofsky-on-properly-lighting-black-faces#.d07pTAGFJ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> <b>HERE</b></a> and WATCH the great video below.<br />
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<br></br>Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-28144812141514932932017-09-01T07:05:00.002-04:002018-03-08T16:08:59.844-05:00Black Panther’s Production Designer Talks About Bringing the Film to Life African American film Production Designer <b>Hannah Beachler</b> has worked on <b><i>Fruitvale Station </i></b>(2013), <b><i>Creed</i></b> (2015), <b><i>Miles Ahead</i></b> (2015), <b><i>Lemonade</i></b> (2016), <b><i>Moonlight</i></b> (2016) and the upcoming <b><i>Black Panther</i></b> (2018).<br />
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In the video linked below she talks about working on <b><i>Black Panther</i></b>.<br />
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[VIDEO] Black Panther’s production designer <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HannahBeachler?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HannahBeachler</a> talks bringing the nation of Wakanda to life <a href="https://t.co/O3RUYKBzeh">https://t.co/O3RUYKBzeh</a></div>
— Nother Brother Ent. (@NotherBrother) <a href="https://twitter.com/NotherBrother/status/971842017004277760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 8, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<b><span style="background-color: #f1c232; font-size: large;">ADDITIONAL </span></b><br />
You can read more about what exactly a Production Designer does in our post<br />
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<a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2012/09/what-does-production-designer-do.html" target="_blank">What Does a Production Designer Do?</a></h3>
<br />Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-77555497313574045072017-07-12T10:54:00.001-04:002019-06-28T07:20:03.823-04:00Conversations with Black Actors [VIDEOS] Here is a <b><i>YouTube</i></b> playlist comprised of African American actors. Most of the interviews are from <b>SAG-AFTRA</b> acting union's "Conversations" video series with actors, but MORE have been added from other platforms and are continuing to be added.<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue;">Click</span></i></b> below to watch!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLERsB8iVlIcm9o54CNkZw5AEAQb2zqYQs" width="430"></iframe>
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See our other posts about acting by clicking the graphic below
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<a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/search/label/acting" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="547" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj64ZEN8fxxCU-ZQfUoRmcnYfg46_rHueXXPs9NmvCdahWDpslObYH2aarXOL0toIswPW1nldgM9LBDe6SeBDSrnX9E3Y92nY6nyugsl1rQDI8icB3w10rChds79f0Hqk3noWdfFOrnehyq/s320/NBE+acting+graphic.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-88266989670173464272017-03-20T16:49:00.002-04:002017-04-10T12:26:10.462-04:00Happy 60th Spike Lee<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9Pk-I8TDQzLlRmBXJETDlmv9tGsv3IZyHVbBKHNikgLZ65BXNtgCxad6ibr3stn8vdSExy17AAr2rbDIgrjlvlGzRBHLwnii2UY23lxdbVblWBc79_D7nt6PmMl_BqSZvbc8xZqZDPlv/s1600/Spike+Lee+60th.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9Pk-I8TDQzLlRmBXJETDlmv9tGsv3IZyHVbBKHNikgLZ65BXNtgCxad6ibr3stn8vdSExy17AAr2rbDIgrjlvlGzRBHLwnii2UY23lxdbVblWBc79_D7nt6PmMl_BqSZvbc8xZqZDPlv/s400/Spike+Lee+60th.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Today is the 60th birthday of<span style="color: #444444;"><b> Shelton Jackson Lee</b>, better known as <b>Spike Lee</b>. His early works influenced me to become a filmmaker and I am a huge fan of his overall body of work.</span></span><br />
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I wrote more about his impact on me personally in the post <a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2013/08/why-i-donated-to-spike-lees-fundraising.html" target="_blank"><b>Why I Donated to Spike Lee’s Fundraising Campaign</b></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">A</span>side from his film work what I think is great about Spike was that he has also made a career out of being a teacher. In 1993 he began to teach at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in the Graduate Film Program. It was there that he received his Master of Fine Arts and in 2002 was appointed Artistic Director. <br />
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Before then he first started teaching with his books. In many of his early films Spike has written books about them and what it took to make them. I've read several and below are list of the books. <br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><i>Spike Lee's Gotta Have It: Inside Guerilla Filmmaking</i></b> </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">by Spike Lee</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spike Lee wrote, directed and starred in She's Gotta Have It, the independent-film success story of 1986. Shot on a shoe-string budget of $175,000 in black-and-white 16mm, the film was made with Spike Lee's persistence and talent plus the help of family and friends. It grossed $8 million at the box office and proved to be a major hit with both critics and audiences. Now Spike Lee reveals how he did it, mapping out the entire creative and production processes-from early notebook jottings to film festival awards. Spike Lee's Gotta Have It is a unique document in film literature - it's funny, absorbing, and fresh as the hit film itself. (Goodreads)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Published October 1, 1987 by Fireside Books. I read this book, but then stopped. Read why via my Goodreads updates below<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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December 7, 2013 – Finished Reading</div>
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November 9, 2013 –<br />
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page 82</div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user_status/show/35080672" style="color: #00635d; text-decoration: none;">22.28%</a> "I think I'm stopping at page 100. This book is a WEALTH of information. I got this copy from the library. Must BUY a copy!"</div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user_status/show/35079423" style="color: #00635d; text-decoration: none;">20.65%</a> "I can't remember where I left off at so I'll start after the survey"</div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user_status/show/32890669" style="color: #00635d; text-decoration: none;">20.38%</a> ""At the beginning of Spike's Journal on 'She's Gotta Have It'. Very intriguing. I've never kept a journal while developing a film, but I do keep extensive notes. This is the page where he shares his Survey for women to flesh out his script and make it as accurate as possible." (page 75 of 231)"</div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user_status/show/32345285" style="color: #00635d; text-decoration: none;">5.43%</a> "After a long Foreword this page starts The Interview: Spike Lee with Nelson George November 21, 1986"</div>
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September 1, 2013 – Started Reading</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij9aqn4UmPXh9ex7-BKLbCkllpdcSw1Hvxx-f1-2Z0pScr1YR2qCk4vNhhhPAVfQcq_7pW_OJfCyZjTNuwGAaXlX2jp7mjiTzCZ1gsocdot8U0kQomc-WZ6wMtgg4QaE50ArcVqy-xoPMT/s1600/Spike+2+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij9aqn4UmPXh9ex7-BKLbCkllpdcSw1Hvxx-f1-2Z0pScr1YR2qCk4vNhhhPAVfQcq_7pW_OJfCyZjTNuwGAaXlX2jp7mjiTzCZ1gsocdot8U0kQomc-WZ6wMtgg4QaE50ArcVqy-xoPMT/s200/Spike+2+book.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><i>Uplift the Race: The Construction of School Daze</i></b> </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">by Spike Lee, Lisa Jones</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spike Lee rises again. This time, he and Lisa Jones document his transition from struggling independent to mainstream filmmaker with the making of the Columbia Pictures film, School Daze. No longer working with a small cast and a painfully tight budget, Spike Lee and his crew find themselves working in a swirl of university politics, a cast of thousands, big musical production numbers and the not-insignificant pressures of coming up with a hit in the majors. He "uplifts the race" by demystifying the process of producing an entertaining commercial film that, at the same time, delivers a stinging - yet funny - critique on American culture. (Goodreads)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Published February 15,1988 by Fireside Books <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGkiRMvQKtJZdyF02i7FaYZxScrCeN35BaGJOTTyQHOaJjMTnmFeX7NsjkYKERXNcaQelvVGEMQq4OPChlyK9_qZYFWXKpTeMbSwe3_I7iZzkqhvoOcWWiKG-uGc8iGxlL7GjOXTTYX2gE/s1600/do-the-right-thing-companion-book-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGkiRMvQKtJZdyF02i7FaYZxScrCeN35BaGJOTTyQHOaJjMTnmFeX7NsjkYKERXNcaQelvVGEMQq4OPChlyK9_qZYFWXKpTeMbSwe3_I7iZzkqhvoOcWWiKG-uGc8iGxlL7GjOXTTYX2gE/s200/do-the-right-thing-companion-book-cover.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Do the Right Thing: A Spike Lee Joint</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </o:p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">by Spike Lee</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The phenomenon of Spike Lee continues with this revealing and engaging look at his outstanding career, his creative process, and the screenplay for his dynamic movie Do The Right Thing. Spike Lee burst full formed into the screen world with his award-winning, commercially successful independent film She's Gotta Have It. In the few short years following this stellar debut he has established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the film industry and in American popular culture. This book reveals Spike Lee as a Hollywood iconoclast and gifted visionary and takes us though the dramatic sequence of events that brought the movie Do The Right Thing to fruition. It is a testimonial to his developing genius, written in the stingingly funny and informed language of Spike Lee. (Goodreads)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Published 1989 by Fireside Books. I read this book. Read my review below. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1154550.Do_the_Right_Thing" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Do the Right Thing: A Spike Lee Joint" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328482893m/1154550.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1154550.Do_the_Right_Thing">Do the Right Thing: A Spike Lee Joint</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/25601.Spike_Lee">Spike Lee</a> My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/170371144">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
‘Do the Right Thing’ is my FAVORITE “Spike Lee Joint”. Don’t know why it took me so long to get this book, but it did. Probably because I owned, and poured over all of the extras on the 2 Disc DVD. What more could I learn right? Turns out a lot more. Yes the DVD was very detailed, but much insight is to be gained in this book mostly curated from his journals while making DTRT.<br />
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For most of all of his early films, Spike Lee published an accompanying book. This was also mostly before DVDs with all of their commentaries and extras. Even back then it seems that Mr. Lee knew that other filmmakers like me were interested not only in his films, but the stories behind them as well.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrl_6MDFw2-xwJam6vfdWMQFM4VrvD4JRpJajutAW7iCb6VZhqvDwPuxo7pUyKXegt3fGdX_eZ4fetCyuClLTYc7m22xSDwrQ9FCWqxZZ2DLI74jWlNj7xXN920e9MpcO2HZak6BSBVgL/s1600/MoBetterBook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrl_6MDFw2-xwJam6vfdWMQFM4VrvD4JRpJajutAW7iCb6VZhqvDwPuxo7pUyKXegt3fGdX_eZ4fetCyuClLTYc7m22xSDwrQ9FCWqxZZ2DLI74jWlNj7xXN920e9MpcO2HZak6BSBVgL/s200/MoBetterBook.jpg" width="161" /></a></div>
<b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Mo' Better Blues</i></b><span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> by Spike Lee, Lisa Jones</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Documents the making of the movie Mo' Better Blues, a film that captures the lives and traditions of the great jazz musicians, in a volume that includes the film's script and production notes. (Goodreads)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Published August 15, 1990 by Fireside Books</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqFUpGl4iOmA28DcGBxn2-y6LO4ZjfRW9ElvQ5T1VvgPdgdkoYAtpT-kbmAUKr5oZO12inxJ9jFzoXOkR9TffH0LatPmbpWARlljP1YGeEa_vagj3ysedZcU_AbtlbqeHq_iv2dIUYuBes/s1600/ByAnyMeansNeccesaryBook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqFUpGl4iOmA28DcGBxn2-y6LO4ZjfRW9ElvQ5T1VvgPdgdkoYAtpT-kbmAUKr5oZO12inxJ9jFzoXOkR9TffH0LatPmbpWARlljP1YGeEa_vagj3ysedZcU_AbtlbqeHq_iv2dIUYuBes/s200/ByAnyMeansNeccesaryBook.jpg" width="123" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><i><b>By Any Means Necessary: Trials And Tribulations of the Making of Malcolm X</b></i> </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">by Spike Lee, Ralph Wiley</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The director of Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever describes the troubles he encountered while making Malcolm X, a film based on the life of the slain African-American leader. (Goodreads)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Published December 1,1992 by Hyperion. I read this book, read my review below.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<o:p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></o:p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/645950.By_Any_Means_Necessary" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="By Any Means Necessary: Trials And Tribulations of the Making of Malcolm X" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328485244m/645950.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/645950.By_Any_Means_Necessary">By Any Means Necessary: Trials And Tribulations of the Making of Malcolm X</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/25601.Spike_Lee">Spike Lee</a> My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/170369551">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
I don’t even know why I bought this book about the film ‘Malcolm X’ (1992) but if you ever want to know how hard it is to get a film made in Hollywood ESPECIALLY a period piece epic, this is the book you should read. Even if you’re not that interested in how a movie is made, it is STILL an interesting read as a tale of “Trials and Tribulations”.<br />
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By Any Means Necessary is not just a means to piggyback on brother Malcolm’s famous phrase, but it crystallizes exactly the mentality Mr. Lee had in mind when making this film. To me the narratives in this book were just as engrossing as the film itself.<br />
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PS: For the record the famous quote is-<br />
"We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary. ” — Malcolm X, 1965
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">ADDITIONAL</span></b></div>
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Read more of my posts about <b>Spike Lee</b> <a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/search/label/Spike%20Lee">here</a>
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<br />Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-48160125936876253982017-03-13T09:19:00.000-04:002020-03-19T11:03:56.561-04:00Get Out - Review <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibohR5MAn6vBd8oUMYSDROGUs_bBWxjWQtiFxFK7rxhzFRbcJ3MgUNN7hOysHsQjvFfnMOE48wXfysLK1lzL_eOnpE5zwGiet8yRrGIKasfumZ2ke9guVDwZPZulPnR2GajOnZZkmgzFsw/s1600/getoutIMG_6400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibohR5MAn6vBd8oUMYSDROGUs_bBWxjWQtiFxFK7rxhzFRbcJ3MgUNN7hOysHsQjvFfnMOE48wXfysLK1lzL_eOnpE5zwGiet8yRrGIKasfumZ2ke9guVDwZPZulPnR2GajOnZZkmgzFsw/s320/getoutIMG_6400.jpg" width="202" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><b>GET OUT</b></span><br />
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<b>Written & Directed</b> by Jordan Peele<br />
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<b>Produced by</b> Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., Sean McKittrick and Jordan Peele<br />
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<b><u>Starring<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></u></b><br />
Daniel Kaluuya<br />
Allison Williams<br />
Bradley Whitford<br />
Catherine Keener<br />
Caleb Landry Jones<br />
Marcus Henderson<br />
Betty Gabriel<br />
Stephen Root<br />
LaKeith Stanfield<br />
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<b>Cinematography by</b> Toby Oliver<br />
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<b>Release date:</b> February 24, 2017 (United States)<br />
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<b>Summary:</b> When Chris (<b>Daniel Kaluuya</b>) goes home with his white girlfriend Rose (<b>Allison Williams</b>), he is apprehensive as she hasn't told her parents that he is black. Once they get there things turn creepy.<br />
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<b>Review:</b> The brilliance of this film is that it captures that "black face in a white space" feeling and manages to turn into what it is—a horror show. Ok it might not in reality be a horror show, but as depicted in most of the film, it can get it a bit—odd.<br />
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It's not often you get to see black folk at the center of a horror movie that doesn't involve voodoo or something like that, but this film does—while also weaving in issues of race. In other words, Chris' blackness. It just doesn’t deal with it in the way you think. Not in an overt way. Everything is dealt with as it is in life—with subtlety.<br />
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Before Chris and Rose even get to the parents house they have to deal with Chris' blackness in a simple incident that deals with it in a very real way. As soon as the couple gets to her parents house things become creepy as hell, especially as Chris meets the black employees at the parents home.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Bradley Whitford </b>and <b>Catherine Keener</b></td></tr>
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The parents are played to perfection by <b>Bradley Whitford</b> and <b>Catherine Keener</b> (pictured above) as is their creepy ass employees played by <b>Marcus Henderson </b>and<b> Betty Gabriel </b>(pictured below).<br />
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Things continue to descend into creepiness as his girlfriend's brother (<b>Caleb Landry Jones</b>) shows up to the family dinner and seems more fascinated with Chris than her Obama loving father. The whole time there you can feel that there’s something creepy underfoot and none of it good.<br />
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After a creepy ass first day and night, things only get creepier at the annual get together Rose’s parents have the next day with their white friends. The party scenes expertly depicts that "black face in a white space" feeling and what's it like to bite your tongue when a white person doesn't say something outright racist, but is definitely culturally insensitive.<br />
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The film does a great job at depicting everything in a creepy and surreal way especially through the performances of the cast. Every single one of the cast listed above knock their performances out of the park. Without giving anything away, they played their roles perfectly in accordance with the story. When everything is revealed, and it is, you’re still left guessing what’s going to happen until the end.<br />
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Great job by Writer/Director <b>Jordan Peele, </b>(pictured seated below)<b> </b>in his directorial debut<b>,</b> for maintaining the clever ambiguity of the story throughout. What makes this film great is that it is so layered with creepiness and racial undertones you really don't know what's going on—until you do. <br />
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<b style="background-color: white;">ADDITIONAL INFO</b><br />
I intentionally left a lot of things in my review vague because the mystery of the story is one of the best parts. For those of you who have seen the movie below is a great slideshow. I figured most of these out, but it's still a cool addendum to the film.<br />
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<b style="background-color: white;">UPDATE: MAY 22, 2017</b><br />
Live tweets of the Director's Feature Commentary by <b>Jordan Peele </b>@ <b>'Nother Brother</b> on Twitter. Again I intentionally left out a lot of stuff to remain spoiler free and to not give away everything he said on the commentary which was really good. Check out the Twitter thread below.<br />
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Here we go! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GetOut?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GetOut</a> Feature Commentary with Writer/Director JORDAN PEELE <a href="https://t.co/jXfGlMIP1b">pic.twitter.com/jXfGlMIP1b</a></div>
— Nother Brother Ent. (@NotherBrother) <a href="https://twitter.com/NotherBrother/status/866757348701995008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<b><span style="color: red;">WARNING</span>: Major Spoilers</b> <a href="http://bit.ly/2mDplm7" target="_blank">12 Revealing Details You May Have Missed In 'Get Out' </a>
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Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-5634799823608562232016-12-19T11:49:00.000-05:002018-10-26T08:01:34.280-04:002016: The New Renaissance in Black Television <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://shadowandact.com/did-2016-kick-off-a-new-renaissance-in-black-television/" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTg20Gh8bB3SUGlO79K6fCQ3WMB7mwd7XGS8waUsbwIb7DwdGvwMeD4XaHL4ZBYBX6N_iXMAUk3u4gpA2hx8oHR_91feJX5cnp-RyPdBBzWfbj3pBZtDtOOt44Oo0iJwOBUTQr9qn9K4B_/s400/BlackRenaissance+IMG_2651.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I explain how 2016 kicked off a brand new era in black television.</div>
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2016 saw an unprecedented number of television shows with black creators and I not only break down how that was different than years past, I detail the black creators as well as the huge ratings these new shows are bringing in.</div>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="20" height="20" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhczGEkoACFR7a1njUdqLulCKH68Q5cK8wtDEgSCDf2wAwrs0-1bnanU_Xhilmiv3aHarP8KBilS-uUxMrdRMH_Yep1T62vltAFLZlL0x7s9s-_6B8G6bKuS8Wix7y8r92j97sc_X8Y7qq6/s200/rainbowdot.gif" width="20" /> Read it all at<b><i> Shadow & Act </i></b><a href="https://shadowandact.com/did-2016-kick-off-a-new-renaissance-in-black-television/" target="_blank">HERE</a></div>
Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-31327927891253602142016-08-26T11:33:00.000-04:002017-02-02T07:33:51.237-05:00How Much Everyone Working On a $200 Million Movie Earns [VIDEO]Great video by <b><i>Vanity Fair</i></b> enumerating the salary of EVERYONE on the film set of a blockbuster film makes. As Jay-Z said "Men lie, women lie, the numbers don't!"<br />
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Check out the video below via our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/NotherBrother/videos/?ref=page_internal" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook page</a><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FNotherBrother%2Fvideos%2F10153640431522078%2F&show_text=0&width=560" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="400"></iframe>Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-68812287615755993292016-05-23T09:51:00.003-04:002016-05-25T10:44:07.910-04:00Actors Talk the Acting Process [VIDEOS]<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Found via website <i><b>Shadow & Act</b></i>, a series of videos courtesy of “The Off Camera Show” with host Sam Jones – featuring several actors like <b>Don Cheadle</b>,<b> Michael B. Jordan</b>,<b> Tatiana Maslany </b>(“Orphan Black”), <b>Robert Downey Jr.</b>,<b> Ethan Hawke</b>,<b> Jake Gyllenhaal</b>,<b> Krysten Ritter</b> (“Jessica Jones”) and <b>Kevin Bacon</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Topics discussed include the auditioning process, building backstory for characters they play, prepping for roles, playing multiple characters simultaneously (in Maslany’s case), working with acting coaches/mentors, and more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">As Shadow & Act said “If you’re an actor (especially if you’re still new to the craft), you may get something out of what they each share about various aspects of the work. And if you’re a filmmaker, you may learn something here as well."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">See more videos embedded together at Shadow & Act by clicking the graphic below <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-52079555405320061982016-04-28T09:58:00.001-04:002016-04-28T15:35:07.003-04:00My 2015 Maryland Film Festival Experience [VIDEOS]<div class="MsoNormal">
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Last year for the <b>Maryland Film Festival</b> was totally surreal. The festival started three days after the curfew was lifted following the Baltimore Riots (also called the Freddie Gray riots, the Baltimore Uprising, the Baltimore Unrest etc). It was a tumultuous time in Baltimore. Baseball games were being played without crowds, people were afraid to come into the city, the police were still dealing with after effects of the unrest. It was a heck of a time to have a film festival, but MFF did and I was a part of it.<br />
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In the midst of the turmoil, I wrote what is becoming an annual article for <i><b>i</b></i><b><i class="">ndiewire</i></b> blog <b>Shadow & Act</b> <a href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/2015-maryland-film-festival-kicks-off-this-week-may-6-18-black-films-to-put-on-your-to-see-list-20150504" target="_blank">2015 Maryland Film Festival Kicks Off This Week (May 6-10) - Black Films to Put on Your To-See List </a> detailing the films playing at the festival featuring black personnel (cast, subject or crew).<br />
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At the festival, one of the first feature films I saw was also a surreal moment. As I said then "<i>Do The Right Thing</i> in Baltimore a week after the Baltimore Riots"<br />
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Seeing that classic film that captured racial strife so brilliantly a week after the riots was just wild. It was quite a somber moment in the city at that time and this screening was equally somber.<br />
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The next day I attended a great panel, "A Work in Progress: Writing Race". As the <i>Baltimore Sun</i> put it:<br />
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In the wake of unrest in Baltimore, a panel discussion [A Work in Progress: Writing Race] at this week's Maryland Film Festival will feature four notable writers whose works touch on Baltimore, race or some combination thereof: "The Wire" creator <b>David Simon</b>; Pulitzer Prize winner and Baltimore writer <b>Taylor Branch</b>; National Book Award winner <b>James McBride</b>; and essayist and commentator <b>Ta-Nehisi Coates</b>, a National Magazine Award-winning editor at Atlantic magazine.</blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Left to Right: <b>Ta-Nehisi Coates</b> & <b>David Simon</b></td></tr>
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All four men are working on the script for the upcoming HBO mini-series, "America in the King Years," which is being produced for HBO by Simon's Blown Deadline Productions. It is based on Branch's three-volume history of the Civil Rights movement.</blockquote>
(You can see video of the "A Work in Progress: Writing Race" panel at the end of this post.)<br />
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That next day it was my pleasure to introduce the film <i>Girlhood</i> at the festival.<br />
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I really loved that film and it was my pleasure to present it to the MFF audience. You can read my review of <i>Girlhood</i> <a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2015/05/girlhood-review.html" target="_blank">here</a> )</div>
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I was planning on seeing several other films after <i>Girlhood</i>, but I was asked to do this.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>CLICK</i></b> for a bigger view</td></tr>
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BREAKING NEWS: MFF announces a discussion about filmmaker responsibility and engagement with the community from 3pm-4pm in the Tent Village! All Tent Village panels are FREE and open to the public! Our Tent Village is located in the east lot at the MICA Lazarus Center (131 W North Avenue).<br />
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This panel will feature Stanley Nelson, director of MFF 2015's THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION; Steve Hoover, director of MFF 2015's CROCODILE GENNADIY; Ramona Diaz, director of DON'T STOP BELIEVIN': EVERYMAN'S JOURNING; and Chip Dizard, director of OH, BALTIMORE. The panel will be moderated by Dankwa Brooks, Multi-award winning writer and director of MAKING HISTORY.</blockquote>
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I guess it was my turn to be on a panel LOL, but a chance to moderate a panel with a filmmaker I admired–no brainer! </div>
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I had a chance to hang out with <b>Stanley Nelson</b> before the panel at the festival and it was really a great moment. The panel went really great as well as our filmmakers had great answers about filmmaker responsibility and community engagement.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Top left to right: <b>Stanley Nelson </b>and<b> Dankwa Brooks</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bottom left to right: <b>Steve Hoover</b>,<b> Chip Dizard </b>and<b> Ramona Diaz</b></span></div>
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We covered issues like telling your story without exploitation and more. A really great discussion.</div>
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Later on that evening was the Maryland Film Festival premiere of<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution</i></b></td></tr>
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Of course I was right there, it was another great film by Mr. Nelson and I wasn't the only one to think so! Here’s video of the audience reaction from the<b><span style="color: blue;"> 'Nother Brother Entertainment </span></b>Facebook page.</div>
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(I wrote more about Mr. Nelson on the <span style="color: blue;"><b>'Nother Brother Entertainment</b></span> blog <a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2016/04/master-documentarian-stanley-nelson.html" target="_blank">here</a> )<br />
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So as you can see I had an extremely busy time at the 2015 Maryland Film Festival and even though it was busy it was still a blast!<br />
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You can see all of our posts about the<b> Maryland Film Festival</b> <a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/search/label/Maryland%20Film%20Festival" target="_blank">here</a>
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Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-56333754035976084292016-04-13T08:00:00.000-04:002016-04-28T10:11:12.141-04:00Master Documentarian Stanley NelsonSo I was looking for some films to see at the 2010 <b>Maryland Film Festival</b> decided to see <i><b>Freedom Summer</b></i> and WOW! I was really blown away by this film.<br />
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As I said back in 2010 "The official website’s description “powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story” is absolutely right." I also said "Excellent work by the filmmaker<b> Stanley Nelson</b> and makes me want to check out his other work." And that's what I did! I watched his film<i><b> Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple</b></i> (2006) and another excellent work!<br />
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When his next film came to the Maryland Film Festival 2014’s <b><i>Freedom Summer</i></b> I KNEW I had to see it and meet the man.The below picture is right after I saw <i>Freedom Summer</i>.<br />
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<i>Freedom Summer </i>was another excellent film and of course last year when his latest film was coming to the festival <b><i>The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution</i></b> (2015) (Poster below)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKCNAMq-SFdpVUrmIuN0rk4V7w338LPgSsy84D0KKNtz_qf6yOj-KrxTD6wX6euEe-lawV7D-sdIQQ8StxlfVQDyBBPD08ZhwIFiX3AHZ95A1uOGOExPC7q6eHPlOddB7KiU-MhwfM6iL3/s1600/BlackPanthers_27x40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKCNAMq-SFdpVUrmIuN0rk4V7w338LPgSsy84D0KKNtz_qf6yOj-KrxTD6wX6euEe-lawV7D-sdIQQ8StxlfVQDyBBPD08ZhwIFiX3AHZ95A1uOGOExPC7q6eHPlOddB7KiU-MhwfM6iL3/s400/BlackPanthers_27x40.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
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I actually got a chance to hang out with Mr. Nelson last year, but that’s a story for <a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2016/04/my-2015-maryland-film-festival.html" target="_blank">later</a>. I urge you to check out the works of this “Master Documentarian”.<br />
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Here are some of the titles from his filmography (hyperlinks lead to more of what I said about the films here on the blog)<br />
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<b style="font-style: italic;">Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind</b> (2000)<br />
<b style="font-style: italic;">The Murder of Emmett Till </b>(2003)<br />
<b style="font-style: italic;">Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple </b>(2006)<br />
<i><a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2010/12/coming-soon-two-films-to-see.html#riders" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Freedom Riders</a> </i>(2010)<br />
<i><a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2015/05/my-favorite-film-at-2014-maryland-film.html" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Freedom Summer</a> </i>(2014)<br />
<b style="font-style: italic;">The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution</b> (2015)<br />
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What’s Mr. Nelson’s next films? Let him tell you via the tweets below<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
My next film is
a 2 hr doc on the history of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HBCUs?src=hash">#HBCUs</a>. A first ever. Follow
the production at <a href="https://twitter.com/HBCUrising">@HBCUrising</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackPanthersPBS?src=hash">#BlackPanthersPBS
</a></div>
— Stanley Nelson (@StanleyNelson1) <a href="https://twitter.com/StanleyNelson1/status/699808457281523712">February 17,
2016</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
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.<a href="https://twitter.com/DrRPBenjamin">@DrRPBenjamin</a>
Thank you! My next film after a doc on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HBCUs?src=hash">#HBCUs</a> will look at
economics of Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, btw.</div>
— Stanley Nelson
(@StanleyNelson1) <a href="https://twitter.com/StanleyNelson1/status/703244886867181570">February 26,
2016</a></blockquote>
It goes without saying that I’m looking forward to BOTH films!<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">APRIL 2016</span> </span></b><br />
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Emmy-winning nonfiction filmmaker <b>Stanley Nelson</b> will be honored at the upcoming <b><i>75th Annual Peabody Awards</i></b>.<br />
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The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards) program, recognizes distinguished and meritorious public service by American radio and television stations, networks, online media, producing organizations, and individuals.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A prolific documentary filmmaker, a seeker of truth and justice, Stanley Nelson Jr. has examined the history and experience of African-Americans in a powerful, revelatory body of work that includes three Peabody winners–The Murder of Emmet Till, Freedom Summer and Freedom Riders —and ranges from Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple to Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice. A MacArthur Genius Fellow, Nelson is also co-founder of Firelight Media, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing young documentary filmmakers who advance underrepresented stories.</blockquote>
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Read more about Mr. Nelson in a 2011 <i>New York Times</i> article below.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #073763;"><span style="color: #073763;">___________________________________________________</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">An Explorer of Black History’s Uncharted Terrain</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Stanley Nelson</b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mike Hale, <i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/arts/television/for-stanley-nelson-the-prize-is-documentary-filmmaking.html?_r=0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">New York Times</a></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">May 3, 2011</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">FOR some people, filmmaking is a lifelong dream. For Stanley Nelson, it began as more of a situational thing, a response to time and place. The time was the late 1960s and early ’70s, the place to be avoided was Vietnam, the refuge was film school at the City University of New York. “It was kind of my motive to stay in school no matter what, you know what I’m saying?”<br /><br />In some ways Mr. Nelson, whose graying hair is the only thing that betrays his 59 years, has been in school ever since. An accomplished director and producer of documentaries, primarily for television — his latest film,<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/">“Freedom Riders,”</a> makes its debut on Monday night as part of the PBS series “American Experience” — he has spent his career exploring the byways of black history and culture, and passing along the stories he finds.<br /><br />“I feel like I’m trying to tell African-American audiences something they haven’t heard,” he said, “because I feel like if I tell African-American audiences something new about their history, then it’s definitely going to be new for white folks too.<br /><br />“In some ways,” he continued, “I’m trying not to be that guy in ‘Tarzan’ who interprets the drums for Tarzan. I don’t want to be that person.”<br /><br />“Freedom Riders” is Mr. Nelson’s first film to deal directly with the civil rights movement, and he has stayed away from the “great men” of black history: Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. His subjects, in television terms, have been more everyday or more offbeat, but no less important for that: African-American newspapers, professors and vacation resorts; the black nationalist Marcus Garvey and the murder victim Emmett Till; the suicides at Jonestown; and the music of Sweet Honey in the Rock.<br /><br />The breadth and seriousness of his work documenting black life in America, assembled with little fanfare and sometimes less money, place him in a select group of filmmakers that would include his mentor, William Greaves, as well as more famous names like Gordon Parks and Spike Lee. But speaking at the temporary offices of his production company, Firelight Media, on 131st Street in Harlem recently, Mr. Nelson was more the weary traveler than the auteur. He had just returned from trips to China, Houston, St. Louis and Chicago, promoting his new film, about the 1961 Freedom Rides across the South and the violent reaction they inspired.<br /><br />Taking a break from his producing chores on a Firelight film about Jesse Owens, Mr. Nelson recalled the reactions to “Freedom Riders” in China.<br /><br />“It was crazy,” he said, settling into a chair and commencing an off-and-on struggle to stay awake. “Some of the questions were the same as here, and some were really very, very different. One that kind of stood out was, one guy asked, ‘Why was there segregation in the U.S.?’ Which was such a beautiful question. You know, it’s so beautiful.”<br /><br />Mr. Nelson’s word choices sometimes hark back to the days of peace and love, when he was an aspiring director with no interest in nonfiction (“What I knew about documentary films were those terrible documentaries that I saw in school”) and a disdain for the blaxploitation movies that constituted the movie industry’s depiction of African-Americans on-screen.<br /><br />For his thesis, he made a “kind of crazy” short film about a dead woman. “I was very influenced by foreign films,” he said. “So she wakes up in the middle of a field and she goes to a psychiatrist who gives her some mumbo jumbo, and then she goes to a priest and he gives her some mumbo jumbo, and then she goes to a drug dealer and he gives her some mumbo jumbo. And then she kind of wakes up, and she’s been hit by a car.”<br /><br />Out in the world, he first apprenticed with Mr. Greaves, a prolific documentary and television director and producer best known for the experimental film “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm,” and then worked for five years for the communications branch of the United Methodist Church, where, he said, he learned how to make films with a message that were still entertaining.<br /><br />While there he began work on his first feature film, “Two Dollars and a Dream,” about the pioneering black businesswoman Madame C. J. Walker. The church allowed him to use its facilities for his own work one day a week. The idea came from closer to home.<br /><br />“Well, my grandfather was her business partner,” Mr. Nelson said. “So the story had been circulating around my family for a long time. What’s embarrassing is that it took me so long to think of it as a film.”<br /><br />It also took him a long time to make it: seven years, much of it spent raising money. The film was finally released in 1989. While conducting research on Walker, he stumbled on the subject for his next movie, “<a href="http://www.pbs.org/blackpress/film/index.html">The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords</a>.”<br /><br />“Here were these papers that were owned and operated by black people,” he said. “And the writers were black, and the editors were black, and the photographers were black, and the cartoonists were black. I mean, somebody was making a living as a black cartoonist in 1920 — well, how about that? That’s incredible.”<br /><br />Mr. Nelson’s second film took as long to make as his first, and he suspects that has had something to do with his determination to avoid familiar topics. “It took me seven years to make Madame C. J. Walker, it took me seven years to make ‘The Black Press,’ ” he said. “So going into a film, it has to be something that is really important to me. You know, because I might be seven, eight years down the line, still working on it.”<br /><br />Research for “The Black Press” led Mr. Nelson to Garvey (who published the influential newspaper Negro World), and “Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind” initiated his relationship with “American Experience,” for which he has done five projects so far, including “The Murder of Emmett Till” and “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple.” Despite the steady collaboration, each film has required a new pitch and a new negotiation. “PBS has been great, but it’s been one film after the other,” he said. “And there’s been no kind of relationship, in some terms. It’s like we meet in a bar by accident.”<br /><br />“Freedom Riders” is the first film Mr. Nelson has written and directed that was not his own idea — PBS brought the project to him after optioning Raymond Arsenault’s 2006 book, “Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice.” Asked if he had any qualms about the work for hire, Mr. Nelson laughed and said, “Well, I think they had raised all the money.”<br /><br />“And I always kind of wanted to do a film about the civil rights movement, about one piece of the civil rights movement,” he added. “About dissecting a piece of it, because I think ‘Eyes on the Prize’ was a great, great, beautiful series, but it kind of made this whole lump thing of the movement.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />Mr. Nelson’s “American Experience” films can be found on DVD from <a href="http://www.shoppbs.org/home/index.jsp">shoppbs.org</a> and other online retailers, but his other films are harder to track down. (“Two Dollars and a Dream” can be bought at <a href="http://filmakers.com/">filmakers.com</a>, which caters to institutional customers, for $350.) Those with a Netflix subscription, however, have access to a special treat: “A Place of Our Own,” his best and most atypical film, is currently available for streaming.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">That 2004 work, conceived as a straightforward documentary about black resort towns around the country, became a poetic and highly personal film about Mr. Nelson’s family summer home at Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, his parents and siblings, and a set of issues not often aired in public: the fault lines of class, generation and skin color that exist among African-Americans.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“It was more personal than I ever realized it would be, than I ever wanted it to be, than it will ever be again,” he said of “A Place of Our Own.” He had to be persuaded — “over and over and over again” — to allow the editors to put the focus on his fractured relationship with his father and to record the wistful first-person narration that sets the film’s tone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Part of the story it tells is of Mr. Nelson’s upper-middle-class upbringing, with a dentist father and librarian mother who sent him to a progressive private school in Manhattan and whisked him off to Martha’s Vineyard every summer. Both “pieces” of his childhood, as he calls them, were cocoonlike (to put it one way) and intensely supportive (to put it another).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">They did not remove “the kind of disconnect and disassociation that I think all black people have,” he said, but they did give him “some feeling of comfort in the world.” And they informed the kind of filmmaker he would become.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“I’m just trying to make the best film that I possibly can,” he said. “I’m not carrying a lot of baggage. I’m not thinking about this or that. I’m not bitter. And that’s kind of how I see myself.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In addition to producing the Jesse Owens film, Mr. Nelson is negotiating with PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to do a connected series of films on topics including the slave trade, historically black colleges and the Black Panther party. He would like to direct a film about the Panthers, a favorite subject, himself. But there’s another topic — another subject of study — about which he seems to be even more excited.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“I’ve always wanted to do a film about James Brown,” he said. “Because I love James Brown, and I think it’s kind of this great story, and great music. I do think there’s something about that music. You know, especially for black people. You say James Brown, people start to smile. Why? Why is it that people start to smile? I’m not there yet.”</span></div>
Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-84203542987440494362015-12-29T08:00:00.000-05:002020-03-21T08:23:18.595-04:00Chi-Raq – Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg4aWoxUifNiviCd45tHe5qyMz21adFB7JxYE-AZFMG7Gwcm3jXEt3_c10KF3tDYyUzoYjS4Jrad8f7s3-GDBB2fhWYRMD35ebXDumXoytX3Mm8KKJgaThlA2yArX3hgWU57Bvd3YVdHa4/s1600/ChiraqPoster.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg4aWoxUifNiviCd45tHe5qyMz21adFB7JxYE-AZFMG7Gwcm3jXEt3_c10KF3tDYyUzoYjS4Jrad8f7s3-GDBB2fhWYRMD35ebXDumXoytX3Mm8KKJgaThlA2yArX3hgWU57Bvd3YVdHa4/s320/ChiraqPoster.JPG" width="216" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">CHI-RAQ</span></b><br />
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<b>Directed by</b> Spike Lee<br />
<b>Produced by</b> Spike Lee<br />
<b>Written by</b> Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee<br />
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Based on Lysistrata by Aristophanes<br />
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<b>Edited by</b> Ryan Denmark and Hye Mee Na<br />
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<u><b>Starring</b></u><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Nick Cannon<br />
Wesley Snipes<br />
Teyonah Parris<br />
Jennifer Hudson<br />
Angela Bassett<br />
John Cusack<br />
Michelle Mitchenor<br />
Harry Lennix<br />
Dave Chappelle<br />
Samuel L. Jackson<br />
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<b>Cinematography by</b> Matthew Libatique<br />
<b>Released:</b> December 4, 2015 (USA)<br />
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<b>Summary: </b><i>Chi-Raq </i> is a satirical musical drama set in Chicago, the film is a satire that touches on the gang violence prevalent in some neighborhoods on the city's south side, particularly that of Englewood. The film is based on Aristophanes'<i> Lysistrata</i>, a Classical Greek comedy play in which various women withhold sex from their husbands as punishment for fighting in war. The name "Chi-Raq" is a portmanteau of "Chicago" and "Iraq" as well as an endonym commonly used by South Side residents to liken the area to a war zone due to its extremely high crime rates.<br />
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<b>Review: </b>I don’t think I’m speaking out of school when I say <i>Chi-Raq</i> is <b>Spike Lee’s</b> most significant work in years. Spike returns to his social issues roots as only he can. The film is a satire and has humor, but it’s still very serious. The first part of the film deals with the murder of a child from a stray bullet. A bullet fired by warring gangs. The film touches on all the gang violence and gang mentality without being another “hood film”. Yes there is explicit language, drinking and smoking, but most of it is told in a rhyming scheme. Yes, most of the dialogue is spoken in rhyme. When I read about it, it sounded really off base, but watching the film it didn’t bother me at all. Spike Lee really weaves it in and out and it never comes off tired. Like a theater director friend of mine said, think of it as old <b>Rudy Ray Moore/Dolemite</b> records. It’s an artistic affect, a technique and it works. The films weaves in the humor/satire, rhyming, the messages, real life statistics and still had some of the most powerful scenes in cinema 2015.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Samuel L. Jackson</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> in</span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;"> <i>Chi-Raq</i></b></td></tr>
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Most of that power comes from the across the board terrific performances. <b>Nick Cannon</b> was really good and frankly, far better than I thought he might be. <b>Angela Bassett </b>really brings it as one of the older women in the community who has seen far too many shootings and murders she has some great scenes. <b>Samuel L. Jackson</b> is perfect as the narrator/Greek chorus of the film "Dolmedes". His narration really ties the multiple storylines together and no one can deliver lines like Sam Jackson.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Jennifer Hudson</b> in<b> <i>Chi-Raq</i></b></td></tr>
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The early scenes with <b>Jennifer Hudson </b>were good, but she really builds to some terrific, powerful scenes as the film goes on. A really great performance.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRYxLSiiguoLLkRROzwn1naSldSBJY3c_aJWtxCyUhxooAIJwBPITPPHbITkQl6y5Tcx7H6UUAOEglr3G-JmB0D6_CpyjgXxABwen7x_nlZ9CJPCjAt-CJc0_VewIo-59BiluySBTYYirZ/s1600/chi-raq_03_Cusack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRYxLSiiguoLLkRROzwn1naSldSBJY3c_aJWtxCyUhxooAIJwBPITPPHbITkQl6y5Tcx7H6UUAOEglr3G-JmB0D6_CpyjgXxABwen7x_nlZ9CJPCjAt-CJc0_VewIo-59BiluySBTYYirZ/s400/chi-raq_03_Cusack.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">John Cusack</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> in</span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;"> <i>Chi-Raq</i></b></td></tr>
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One of the most powerful scenes in the film was the child’s funeral lead by a spectacular performance by <b>John Cusack</b>. Spike and his editors deserve recognition for crafting a long funeral of a child–yet still making it compelling and moving. I think in the hands of a lesser filmmaker the scene could have really come off as maudlin and dare I say trite. John Cusack really delivers in this scene with a powerful sermon.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><b>Teyonah Parris</b> in</span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;"> <i>Chi-Raq</i></b></td></tr>
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The film though belongs to the terrific Leading performance of <b>Teyonah Parris</b>. Her character Lysistrata doesn’t start off as one of the “conscious sisters” you might suspect. Not a ghetto “hood rat”, but not exactly conscious either. Her character has the greatest character arc and leads the rebellion of “no peace, no piece” (even though the film addresses it more explicitly) to a worldwide phenomena. You believe Lysistrata every step of the way in her journey from bystander to leader. Definitely a star-making performance.<br />
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I thought <i>Chi-Raq</i> was terrific and a true return to form for Spike Lee. I admit, I didn’t know what to think going into see Chi-Raq, but as I said on social media “I loved it! Everything it did, everything it was trying to say."<br />
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<b>COMMENTARY</b><br />
I have to say that from the start people really got the idea of this movie WRONG, from the community to the prospective audiences. Chicago residents and City Council members had requested that Lee change the name of the film, going so far as to threaten the tax credits that the filmmaker will receive from the city. (<i>Chicago Tribune</i>) Then the lighthearted trailer (which more than likely the studio put together) was released and that caused people across social media to decry that Spike was making light of the extremely high murder rates in Chicago. Then audiences that saw it never got the rhyming scheme or the satire.<br />
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As Spike Lee said, he wasn’t making “Menace II Society 2” nor I thought should he. We have seen too many of those type of “hood films” and I applaud Spike for making something artful yet impactful. I think if more people see it, more will get it than not. I saw it in theaters on Opening Day, but as of this publishing <i>Chi-Raq</i> is available across multiple VOD (Video On Demand) platforms. If you’re interested, see it for yourself and make up your mind then.<br />
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<b style="background-color: white;">ADDITIONAL INFO</b><br />
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<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.915px;">Read more of my posts about </span><b style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: "trebuchet ms", verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.915px;">Spike Lee</b><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.915px;"> </span><a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/search/label/Spike%20Lee" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #223344; font-family: "trebuchet ms", verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.915px;" target="_blank">here</a></span></li>
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<br />Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-89653494666215896412015-12-04T06:00:00.000-05:002015-12-30T12:40:24.908-05:00Creed - Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">CREED</span></b><br />
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<b>Directed by </b>Ryan Coogler<br />
<b><br /></b> <b>Produced by</b> Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin King-Templeton, William Chartoff, Charles Winkler and David Winkler<br />
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<b>Screenplay by</b> Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington<br />
<b>Story by</b> Ryan Coogler. Based on Characters by Sylvester Stallone<br />
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<b><u>Starring</u></b><br />
Michael B. Jordan<br />
Sylvester Stallone<br />
Tessa Thompson<br />
Phylicia Rashād<br />
Tony Bellew<br />
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<b>Cinematography by</b> Maryse Alberti<br />
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<b>Released:</b> November 25, 2015 (USA)<br />
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<b>Synopsis:</b> Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) never knew his famous father, boxing champion Apollo Creed, who died before Adonis was born. However, boxing is in his blood, so he seeks out Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and asks the retired champ to be his trainer.<br />
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<b>Review: </b>Even though this could be considered the seventh <i>Rocky</i> film, both a spin-off from the original series and a successor to 2006's <i>Rocky Balboa</i>, this film is definitely a spin-off of the Rocky franchise– without being a sequel.<br />
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The story is really good and deftly straddles the line of being an homage in places without being a copy. You think you know where everything is going, and while you’re probably right, it’s still so cleverly done that it never feels trite.<br />
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<b>Michael B. Jordan</b> is as great as ever as the title character Adonis “Doni” Johnson, the biological son of Apollo Creed born after Apollo died (in 1985’s <i>Rocky IV</i>). Jordan not only gives a great acting performance filled with equal parts vulnerability and strength, but you can tell that he took the boxing training seriously as well. Through Jordan and <b>Ryan Coogler’s</b> direction, <i>Creed </i>has a very realistic portrayal of boxing and boxing training.<br />
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Jordan was not the only good performance in the picture as every performance excels. <b>Phylicia Rashād</b>, as Apollo’s widow/Doni’s adopted mother “Mary Ann” and <b>Tessa Thompson</b> as Doni’s girlfriend “Bianca”, the women in Doni’s life were great in the film each bringing their own fortitude to help make Doni the strong man he needs to be. Rashād is pretty much the "mom role", but Thompson is giving a whole character of her own and not just "the girlfriend".<br />
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Because every boxing film needs an antagonist boxer, Creed has one in "'Pretty' Ricky Conlan" portrayed by real-life pugilist <b>Tony "Bomber" Bellew</b>. Bellew was also really good and menacing in his role. The real surprise in this picture though was <b>Sylvester Stallone</b>. I repeat this is NOT a Rocky sequel. It is totally Adonis [Creed] Johnson's picture, but even in a small supporting role Stallone gave the best performance I’ve ever seen from him. All of the “awards talk” is completely valid.<br />
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Ryan Coogler’s direction is really great as he skillfully crafted the aforementioned “very realistic portrayal of boxing and boxing training” with thrilling suspense. As it should be, the “big match” was the most thrilling part of the film. The punching feels real, the trauma feels real, the agony feels real! The boxing is not the only great thing about this picture. The dramatic notes are equally thrilling. The drama is good throughout, but as he did with the third act in 2013’s <i>Fruitvale Station</i>, the third act in Creed is powerful and strikes all the right notes.<br />
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I will echo the buzz online, <i>Creed</i> is a terrific picture, Michael B. Jordan the truth and Ryan Coogler the real deal!<br />
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<b style="background-color: white;">ADDITIONAL INFO</b><br />
This film conceptualized by <b>Ryan </b><b class="">Coogler</b>, took a lot to get pull together. After 2013’s <b><i>Fruitvale Station </i></b>(which I reviewed <a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/2013/07/fruitvale-station-review.html" target="_blank">here</a> ) when Coogler signed with WME (<b>William Morris Endeavor</b>, talent agency) he identified <i>Creed</i> as a dream project. While Coogler already had the relationship with <b>Michael B. Jordan</b> (from <i>Fruitvale Station</i>), the agency put him together with <b>Sylvester Stallone</b>. Stallone loved the idea, a spin-off of his original Oscar-winning 1976 film <b><i>Rocky </i></b>and felt it was strong enough for him to bring back his signature screen character. Stallone and Coogler then approached MGM’s Gary Barber and Jon Glickman, and they flipped for it. (Some info from<i> Deadline</i>).<br />
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<br />Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-56437456920513244532015-11-11T08:00:00.000-05:002016-01-15T07:31:53.879-05:00'Nother Brother Now Stands with ARRAY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today we're proud to announce that we're partnering with ARRAY!<br />
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ARRAY is the rebirth of the <b>African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM) </b>Founded by filmmaker <b>Ava DuVernay</b> in 2010.<br />
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We are an independent film distribution and resource collective comprised of arts advocacy organizations, Maverick volunteers and Rebel member donors worldwide.<br />
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Our work is dedicated to the amplification of independent films by people of color and women filmmakers globally. Varied voices and images in cinema: Array now!</div>
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As you can tell by the many posts on this blog we have always believed in the mission of ARRAY (even when it was AFFRM) and now <b><span style="color: blue;">'Nother Brother Entertainment</span></b> is bringing the mission to Baltimore!</div>
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Our inaugural screening will be this Saturday of the film <i class="">Ayanda</i>.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw9m0KRUD2tfiW8buD-kkwtfsCDxx3sxr6oDsgOvtyr1dDlGmEMjQi4z7SsdX1tnf41N3nsNTFfPZTaH7d5uVCUjR2w5fhLXTNqAuyHbSQC0y214gmeOuvf5nzUWFPbKVvs4qI_3qcq0V2/s1600/ARRAYDoubleFeature_Ecard_BALTTowson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw9m0KRUD2tfiW8buD-kkwtfsCDxx3sxr6oDsgOvtyr1dDlGmEMjQi4z7SsdX1tnf41N3nsNTFfPZTaH7d5uVCUjR2w5fhLXTNqAuyHbSQC0y214gmeOuvf5nzUWFPbKVvs4qI_3qcq0V2/s400/ARRAYDoubleFeature_Ecard_BALTTowson.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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As the graphic says, you can get INFO+TIX at the ARRAY webpage @ <a href="http://www.arraynow.com/ayanda/" target="_blank">http://www.arraynow.com/ayanda/ </a></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.915px;"><b>See all of our posts about ARRAY/AFFRM by clicking their logo below</b></span></span></div>
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Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-87020161381627486502015-09-08T17:14:00.000-04:002015-11-18T07:30:56.366-05:00AFFRM Is Now ARRAY<div class="original-url">
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Aiming to diversify storytelling, Ava DuVernay expands scope of film distribution collective</b></span></div>
By Glenn Whipp, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-ava-duvernay-20150908-story.html"><i>Los Angeles Times</i></a><br />
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September 8, 2015<br />
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Just a few years before Ava DuVernay's beautifully realized civil rights drama "Selma" took her to the Oscars and the Golden Globes, the director found herself wondering whether her debut feature, the intimate character study "I Will Follow," would ever see the light of day.<br />
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"I knew no studio or indie distributor was going to want it," DuVernay says. "It was too woman, too indie, too outside what could make a dollar for them."<br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Taking matters into her own hands, DuVernay started the African American Film Festival Releasing Movement, a distribution collective designed to put her movie — and others to follow — in front of audiences. The grass-roots company went on to release two movies a year.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now, five years later and after what she calls a post-"Selma" "identity crisis," DuVernay has decided to double down on that effort, announcing Tuesday that she's rebranding the company and relaunching it as Array, broadening its scope to support and help women and more kinds of filmmakers.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There's a generation of filmmakers of color and women whose primary concern is that no one will see their work," DuVernay says. "And that is a huge barrier. They're asking, 'Why make something if no one will see it?'</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Right now, there is a fundamental disrespect inherent in the distribution and amplification of films. There is a cinema segregation in how films are seen and not seen. What we're saying is, we're not going to depend on those things anymore."</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">DuVernay doubled her company's membership to around 1,200 donors during a drive in May that saw her taking to Twitter, organizing a daylong question-and-answer session between black filmmakers and fans. Supporters include longtime collaborators such as actor <b>David Oyelowo </b>as well as<b> Jessica Chastain </b>and<b> Kerry Washington.</b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Array has two films set for release this fall: South African director Sara Blecher's coming-of-age drama "<b>Ayanda and the Mechanic</b>" and Takeshi Fukunaga's debut feature, "<b>Out of My Hand</b>." Last week, USC graduate Tina Mabry's first film, "<b>Mississippi Damned</b>," a dark family drama that won acclaim on the festival circuit after its debut at Slamdance in 2009, won new life on Netflix through a partnership with Array.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mabry's movie had premiered in Park City the day after <a href="x-apple-msg-load://F95483E6-526D-43E1-9FD9-B831FBEDDDE1/topic/entertainment/movies/lee-daniels-PECLB000005135-topic.html" style="max-width: 100%; text-decoration: none;" title="Lee Daniels">Lee Daniels</a>' daring, distinguished drama "Precious." Sales reps told Mabry that the market couldn't support two black films, no matter that they were very different movies.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"That was a big blow," Mabry says. "Those meetings were tough. You had to navigate how to hold your tongue and still express the shortsightedness of how people were looking at your movie and the marketplace in general."</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A week after its rebirth on Netflix, Mabry says she has been blown away by the response from people discovering her film six years after its premiere.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It's a lifesaver. It really is," Mabry says. "Audiences can't watch something if they don't know it exists. Now with Netflix we're finding the people we wanted to reach in the first place."</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That's emblematic of the sea change happening within the movie industry. When DuVernay made "I Will Follow" — a film chronicling a woman's grief over the death of a loved one during a single day — she was adamant that the movie play in theaters. She made a deal with AMC and "browbeat" art house programmers to book her movie.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now, with the likes of Cary Fukunaga's highly anticipated drama "Beasts of No Nation" premiering next month on Netflix — on the same day it will be released in a handful of theaters — DuVernay says she has become "destination agnostic." Array will rely on theatrical distribution as well as new streaming platforms.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"The consumer is deciding what they want to see and when and how, and filmmakers are more aware and accepting of the fact that success is not predicated on your movie showing in a traditional theater for a certain amount of time," she says. "[Steven] Soderbergh's doing a TV series on Cinemax. Skinemax? <em style="max-width: 100%;">Really?</em> Jill Soloway, who won the Sundance directing award the year after I did, is making 'Transparent' on ... <em style="max-width: 100%;">Amazon</em>? The place I buy books? But now, as long as it's in a place where people can grab it — and different people want to grab it in different ways — it doesn't matter."</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Though new platforms have created opportunity, the number of women and minority filmmakers remains startlingly low. A 2013 USC research study, for instance, found that of the 565 directors of top-grossing movies from 2007-12, just 33 were black. And of those, only two were black women. (There hasn't been a similar study tracking smaller, independent movies.)</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Keeping momentum going and growing — Array aims to significantly boost the number of films it releases beyond the original company's two a year — has required a commitment of both time and money from its founder. Since "Selma," DuVernay has created, written and directed an upcoming TV series, "Queen Sugar," for the Oprah Winfrey Network, shot a series of commercials and begun work on a timely documentary.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She's holding off on publicly sharing details about the latter project, though over a recent breakfast, DuVernay was happy to talk about her next feature, a murder-mystery love story set during Hurricane Katrina that she's now writing and will shoot next spring with Oyelowo.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Discussing her decision to pass on directing the Marvel Comics movie "Black Panther," however, holds little appeal. It simply wasn't a story she was interested in telling, she says. And it wasn't hard to say no. Just as, ultimately, recommitting to help distribute movies that allow people of color and women to see themselves on screen was an enterprise she couldn't abandon.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There are all kinds of problems in Hollywood that need to be fixed, but this is one I can do something about because I have the experience," DuVernay says. "And, I have to tell you, it satisfies me immensely."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.915px;"><b>See all of our posts about ARRAY/AFFRM by clicking their logo below</b></span></span></div>
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Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-50768055672228955262015-08-28T10:33:00.001-04:002015-08-28T12:24:56.856-04:00Straight Outta Compton - Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGNZ9n3zu1HmRWBFIuYDHLrsjvKpMBpfoFlWXaYD8XMYjyG8YqQ2nriKvGxAxuvnSkxsCgOhyphenhyphenweTQOMJIrQrZITLG4WpWUKs1bQXgSgMkSPMgOY8o2NIAQtjIB3HPCttWkB_sc6lV07Iak/s1600/Straight_Outta_Compton_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGNZ9n3zu1HmRWBFIuYDHLrsjvKpMBpfoFlWXaYD8XMYjyG8YqQ2nriKvGxAxuvnSkxsCgOhyphenhyphenweTQOMJIrQrZITLG4WpWUKs1bQXgSgMkSPMgOY8o2NIAQtjIB3HPCttWkB_sc6lV07Iak/s320/Straight_Outta_Compton_poster.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Straight Outta Compton</span></b><br />
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<b>Directed by </b>F. Gary Gray<br />
<b>Screenplay by</b> Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff<br />
<b>Story by</b> S. Leigh Savidge, Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff<br />
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<b>Produced by</b> Ice Cube, Tomica Woods-Wright, Matt Alvarez, F. Gary Gray, Scott Bernstein and Dr. Dre<br />
<b><br /></b> <b>Cinematography by</b> Matthew Libatique<br />
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<b><u><br /></u></b> <b><u><br /></u></b> <b><u><br /></u></b> <b><u>Starring:</u></b><br />
<b>O'Shea Jackson, Jr.</b> as Ice Cube<br />
<b>Corey Hawkins </b>as Dr. Dre<br />
<b>Jason Mitchell </b>as Eazy-E<br />
<b>Aldis Hodge</b> as MC Ren<br />
<b>Neil Brown, Jr.</b> as DJ Yella<br />
<b>Paul Giamatti</b> as Jerry Heller<br />
<b>Keith Stanfield </b>as Snoop Dogg<br />
<b>R. Marcus Taylor</b> as Suge Knight<br />
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<b>Released: </b>August 14, 2015 (USA)<br />
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<b>Summary:</b> Story about the rise and fall of the Compton, California hip hop group N.W.A and borrows its title from the name of N.W.A's 1988 debut studio album.<br />
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<b>Review: </b>The first thing I thought about this film was “wow, they got it right!” They managed to include all the pertinent facts about the rap group that I knew and was privy to (through the media) as it happened.<br />
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I had all the albums, read all the articles and they managed to include it all–with gritty realism. The movie starts out the gate showing raw, real hood life and continued to do so throughout while depicting all the pivotal moments in the group’s history. If you didn’t know anything about N.W.A. as I’ve read some people say, this film is a good starting point.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Left to Right: <b>O'Shea Jackson, Jr</b>. (Ice Cube), <b>Neil Brown, Jr.</b> (DJ Yella) and <b>Aldis Hodge</b> (M.C. Ren). </td></tr>
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The performances throughout were terrific. I was surprised at how good <b>O'Shea Jackson, Jr.</b>, as his real life dad Ice Cube, was. I also really liked <b>Aldis Hodge</b> and <b>Neil Brown, Jr. </b>as MC Ren and as DJ Yella respectfully.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Left to Right: <b>Corey Hawkins</b> (Dr. Dre) and <b>Jason Mitchell</b> (Eazy-E)</td></tr>
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The standouts in the cast though were <b>Corey Hawkins</b> as Dr. Dre and <b>Jason Mitchell </b>as Eazy-E. Both actors were terrific in their roles and really anchored the film. Both actors were pretty much unknown and gave what I think are the pivotal performances of their careers. With these crucial roles you needed really good actors to sell the story and they did.<br />
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The director,<b> F. Gary Gray</b> did a terrific job at not only making sure he cast the right actors for these roles, but that the overall tone was realistic. He had to cut down his film from over 3 hours to the eventual 2 hours and 27 minutes, but still retained the essence of the rise and fall of one of most influential rap groups in history. Of course he couldn’t tell everything, but what he did tell was pretty damned good.<br />
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Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-86965844990620843372015-07-15T09:00:00.000-04:002017-04-21T10:15:45.371-04:00Three Black Directors with Aisha Tyler<div class="MsoNormal">
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As a multi-hyphenate that includes being an actor and comedian Aisha Tyler would appreciate this blog entry title. On separate episodes of her show, she sits down with three black directors to discuss any and everything, starting with their upbringing and ending with their careers. Through her podcast, Girl on Guy she has conversations with various people in entertainment, sports etc and these are three conversations with black directors that I found very illuminating.</div>
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The conversations are ALL THE WAY LIVE as they are loose with the language and the stories. I discovered her podcast through a podcast and she is great. You can hear Aisha’s extreme intelligence as well as her crass humor. Every convo is like one you’d have at a party or get-together over drinks.<br />
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Check out the podcasts below.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Paris Barclay</b></td></tr>
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<b>Girl On Guy 139: Paris Barclay <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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From May 13, 2014</div>
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“The way that I conquer fear is I don’t conquer it. I never conquer it. It doesn’t go away. I just keep walking. I just keep doing what I’m supposed to do until I realize I’m not afraid anymore.”</div>
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Join <i>Sons Of Anarchy</i> director and <b>Director’s Guild of America</b> President <b>Paris Barclay</b> and Aisha as they burn through weaponizing your name, having nothing to count on, making the tile, having too much hope, flunking out of Harvard before you begin, explosive parties, shooting <b>L.L. Cool J</b>, getting derbrided, and being a real life mad man. Plus, Paris ends his long, illustrious love affair with alcohol, and finds a new love in the process.</div>
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<b>UPDATE:</b> This podcast was free, but now you need a subscription to listen to. (It's affordable) You can listen to it <a href="http://www.girlonguy.net/podcast/girl-on-guy-139-paris-barclay/" target="_blank">HERE</a></div>
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Read more about the subscriptions at the end.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>John Ridley</b></td></tr>
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<b>Girl On Guy 175: John Ridley <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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From March 10, 2015<br />
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“Everything good that came out of my career was out of the absolute worst moment… if this is as bad as it’s going to get, I’m not crossing the Edmund Pettus bridge… I’ve still got a computer. Go write some shit.”<br />
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Join Oscar-winning screenwriter (of <i>Twelve Years a Slave)</i>, novelist, director and showrunner of <i>American Crime </i><b>John Ridley</b> and Aisha as they chop up polymathy, relentlessness, optimism, restraint, prolificacy, intractability and radical creative flexibility.</div>
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Listen to the podcast below</div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="150" scrolling="no" src="https://app.stitcher.com/splayer/f/22841/37256757" style="border: solid 1px #dedede;" width="220"></iframe><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Eric Dickerson</b></td></tr>
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<b>Girl On Guy Bonus X20: Ernest Dickerson <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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From Oct 31, 2013</div>
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Join director <b>Ernest Dickerson</b> and Aisha as they slice through drawing movies, urban myths, pulling all nighters, medical horrors, meeting <b>John Sayles</b>, rainy days on the film set, why first days are the hardest, protecting your film, creative desperation, zombie creation, and why every film is terrifying. Plus Ernest gets lucky in DC, and Aisha is mentally scarred for life by a certain Japanese film.<br />
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Unfortunately, this is a premium episode, which requires a subscription to access it. But I think it is WELL WORTH the “price of admission”. I think the subscriptions are reasonable too (<i>Girl On Guy</i> - 30 day subscription for $ 1.99 USD, 6 month subscription for $ 4.99 USD and 1 year subscription for $ 8.99 USD)</div>
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Ernest drops some real jewels of wisdom here, hence why you have to pay for it. LOL</div>
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Read more about the podcast <a href="http://girlonguy.girlonguy.libsynpro.com/girl-on-guy-bonus-x20-ernest-dickerson#IcGLGbftLI1v88QD.99" target="_blank">here</a></div>
Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-48392092381999749852015-06-29T15:19:00.000-04:002020-03-21T08:29:06.889-04:00'Do The Right Thing' 25th Anniversary in Brooklyn [VIDEOS]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A year ago today I went back home to Brooklyn for the 25th anniversary screening of <b><i>Do The Right Thing</i></b> with <b>Spike Lee</b> and cast and crew in attendance. Before that I’ve seen<i> Do The Right Thing</i> many times before, but never on the big screen and this was quite the experience.<br />
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First of all this was my first time in actual Brooklyn in like forever. I’ve been to New York plenty of times, but not in Brooklyn. My family moved to Queens and I would go to see them. When I saw this screening advertised online I knew I had to be there!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbb-7gDo-MFKZasIQnFEL_dKNFak9OsAiyTR2W8PM55DH7W73rW5BaKvbKjKLtGdBPBd092el3K3HyNI47pG0DyQGlMELbKR-BCAGFCKpQnGUkWKZmSGCsmgmc_fHLb73W06X-sc8emDYo/s1600/BAM+++Closing+Night++Do+the+Right+Thing%25E2%2580%259425th+Anniversary.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbb-7gDo-MFKZasIQnFEL_dKNFak9OsAiyTR2W8PM55DH7W73rW5BaKvbKjKLtGdBPBd092el3K3HyNI47pG0DyQGlMELbKR-BCAGFCKpQnGUkWKZmSGCsmgmc_fHLb73W06X-sc8emDYo/s400/BAM+++Closing+Night++Do+the+Right+Thing%25E2%2580%259425th+Anniversary.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>BAMcinématek</b> and the A<b>cademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences</b> present this 25th anniversary celebration of Spike Lee's masterpiece, presented on the Steinberg Screen at the BAM Harvey Theater. In this landmark Brooklyn classic, the streets of Bed-Stuy boil and tensions run high on the hottest day of the year. Loaded with an amazing supporting cast (including <b>Samuel L. Jackson</b>, <b>John Turturro</b>, and <b>Rosie Perez</b>) and music by <b>Public Enemy</b>, <i>Do the Right Thing</i> swings effortlessly from satire to social commentary, and 25 years after its controversial release it remains an important cultural touchstone for a very different Brooklyn.—BAMcinématek</blockquote>
In attendance were actors from the film <b>Rosie Perez</b>,<b> Danny Aiello</b>,<b> Bill Nunn</b>,<b> Joi Lee</b>,<b> Rick Aiello</b>,<b> </b>Production Designer<b> Wynn Thomas</b>,<b> </b>Line Producer<b> John Kilik </b>and Editor<b> Barry Brown </b>and of course Writer/Director<b> Spike Lee</b>.<br />
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Ironically, I had a chance to see <i>Do The Right Thing</i> twice more on the big screen since then. The last time a week after the Baltimore riots (which was a surreal moment) at the 2015 Maryland Film Festival. Of the subsequent times I’ve seen it, I have to say that the Brooklyn screening was the LIVEST!<br />
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After they announced the cast and crew of the screening and Spike Lee made his introduction, the audience ERUPTED in cheers as Rosie Perez danced in the opening credits.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U35MvblI4og" width="400"></iframe> The biggest cheer came the first time <b>Ruby Dee</b> came on the screen. Ruby Dee died just 18 days before this screening. Of course the next big cheer came when <b>Ossie Davis</b> first appeared on screen. The cheering never occurred in the subsequent screenings. I knew I was home in Brooklyn.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnsnNfOYnLw8Byfk803Dgc_-pBB6_CMapB0IIrJPvim5OrQF63aFXQOt2m-upETtnVJ-RQOGJjyePXBzM4jbmwfB22lybexgwDWkTH_-fARNvEixnnb8t1i_-3Iyypvc7iPIjG7IHg8CkD/s1600/ruby-dee-ossie-davis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnsnNfOYnLw8Byfk803Dgc_-pBB6_CMapB0IIrJPvim5OrQF63aFXQOt2m-upETtnVJ-RQOGJjyePXBzM4jbmwfB22lybexgwDWkTH_-fARNvEixnnb8t1i_-3Iyypvc7iPIjG7IHg8CkD/s400/ruby-dee-ossie-davis.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Ruby Dee </b>and <b>Ossie Davis</b></td></tr>
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The audience laughed at exactly what they were supposed to laugh at, but the BIGGEST laughs came from every scene with "the corner men" anchored by the late great <b>Robin Harris</b>.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ppqtlo8z95w" width="400"></iframe>
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After the screening they had a Q&A with the cast and crew<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0wn8AJ-0UmqG3hnRKWc8WXp2uTMDy8F5PQ8NY202Mv7KWmrP7fB5k4FwyO_-QuILyxofyH6GSD02cjdcMfOxrC_8mAAjnc7u-fhUlvLSMvPULexR2MwiW1co9I2OoV2DTEqf960gLJt5Z/s1600/Do+The+Right+Thing+at+BAM-QA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0wn8AJ-0UmqG3hnRKWc8WXp2uTMDy8F5PQ8NY202Mv7KWmrP7fB5k4FwyO_-QuILyxofyH6GSD02cjdcMfOxrC_8mAAjnc7u-fhUlvLSMvPULexR2MwiW1co9I2OoV2DTEqf960gLJt5Z/s400/Do+The+Right+Thing+at+BAM-QA.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">From right to left: <b>Dr. Khalil Gibran</b> interviewed <b>Spike Lee</b>,<b> Rosie Perez</b>,<b> Danny Aiello</b>,<b> Bill Nunn</b>,<b> Joie Lee </b>and<b> Rick Aiello</b> at BAM's Harvey Theater in Fort Greene on Sunday night for the 25th anniversary of <i><b>Do The Right Thing</b></i></span>. Photo by Rob Abruzzese.</td></tr>
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Some press pics of the night <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/wNcdMvNoDLeVBM5w9" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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I went to New York for the whole day and had a great time seeing friends and family, but it was special to be at this screening of my favorite Spike Lee Joint with the cast and crew and very special to be back home in Brooklyn.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdtrzsMVevWrkxCBfMeFmHHqBOrQJs3oY_r5znTXYrsVFB4ScdjXF8qEE_Pk0v8lC2eJwOnkW2BpRmQB1F4znRnTi-s0Vv_q1cMW8B2SVlPWssCguGKWRXoZixxxCj7Dr22N1i-CxTbS98/s1600/Dank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdtrzsMVevWrkxCBfMeFmHHqBOrQJs3oY_r5znTXYrsVFB4ScdjXF8qEE_Pk0v8lC2eJwOnkW2BpRmQB1F4znRnTi-s0Vv_q1cMW8B2SVlPWssCguGKWRXoZixxxCj7Dr22N1i-CxTbS98/s320/Dank.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pic I took that day June 29, 2014</td></tr>
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Below you can see two clips from the Q&A I was proud to be there to witness.<br />
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In this first clip Production Designer <b>Wynn Thomas</b>, film editor <b>Barry Alexander Brown</b> and Line Producer <b>Jon Kilik</b> discuss the making of <i>Do the Right Thing</i>. <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NEd9gcvsasw" width="400"></iframe>
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This clip is an edit of the entire Q&A <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PqibtOIXAkQ" width="400"></iframe>
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<span style="background-color: lime;"><b>ADDITIONAL</b></span>
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Read more of my posts about <b>Spike Lee</b> <a href="http://notherbrother.blogspot.com/search/label/Spike%20Lee" target="_blank">here</a></div>
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Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549451998810354133.post-33680525328635887992015-05-27T07:50:00.001-04:002020-04-29T19:41:43.812-04:00ARRAY TODAY - Twitter takeover<div>
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Today THIS event is happening<br />
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See all of our posts about ARRAY @ <a href="http://bit.ly/AFFRM_NBE">http://bit.ly/AFFRM_NBE</a> </div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">ARTICLE</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Ava DuVernay offers a free education on how to buck Hollywood</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: times, times new roman, serif;">Stacia L. Brown | <i>The Washington Post</i></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Ava DuVernay</b>, director of the film “Selma,” in November. (Chris Pizzello/Invision via Associated Press)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ava DuVernay, director of the Academy Award-nominated film “Selma,” spent all of this Wednesday amplifying the voices of black film directors — 42 of them, in fact. Through her company, the <a href="http://www.affrm.com/" style="max-width: 100%; text-decoration: none;">African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement</a>, DuVernay and her staff organized a “Rebel-A-Thon” conversation on Twitter that served as both a fundraiser (AFFRM donors are referred to as Rebels) and a marathon question-and-answer session between directors and fans. All of the funds raised through AFFRM Rebel membership contributions help make independent black films available to wider audiences:</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span> <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Wednesday’s Rebel-A-Thon was star-studded: Everyone from mainstream, veteran moguls such as Oprah, Tyler Perry and Debbie Allen to younger indie directors such as Nailah Jefferson (“Vanishing Pearls”), Shaka King (“Newlyweeds”) and Tanya E. Hamilton (“Night Catches Us”) participated. A common theme among participating directors was the idea that upstart filmmakers should “just do it,” rather than waiting to be asked to make their art. When asked about resource texts for studying the filmmaking craft, “Medicine for Melancholy” director Barry Jenkins responded that he’d recommend actual shooting experience over textbooks:</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Neema Barnette (“Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day”) seconded that, encouraging aspiring directors to take the low-budget route and to use social media to their advantage:</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Most fan and film student queries centered on getting one’s foot in the filmmaking door, financing film ideas and distributing their work once complete. Many came into the conversation seeking solutions to greenlighting challenges and strategies for navigating a relatively white Hollywood community. Their concerns were well-founded: The <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/sitecore/shell/Applications/~/media/PDFs/RaceEthnicity.ashx" style="max-width: 100%; text-decoration: none;">University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism’s widely circulated 2013 study on Hollywood diversity</a> found that “Across 565 directors of the top-grossing films from 2007-2012, only 33 (5.8%) are Black. This translates into a ratio of over 16 non Black directors working to every 1 Black director. There are only 2 Black females who directed a film across the 500 movies in the sample.”</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">These numbers were a backdrop to Wednesday’s conversation, as participating directors didn’t waste much time reiterating them before offering suggestions on how to change those ratios. Debbie Allen suggested the Web as a viable alternative for new filmmakers:</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Many new black directors have already gotten the memo on the viability of the black Web series, as our own Soraya McDonald <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/03/poised-for-a-takeover-the-rise-of-black-sexy-tv/" style="max-width: 100%; text-decoration: none;">reported</a> in her profile of Web production company Black & Sexy TV, whose YouTube channel has attracted mainstream attention:</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now in its third year of existence on YouTube, Black & Sexy has grown from one or two shows that could maybe be something to a slate of programming that’s not only caught the eye of development executives at HBO, but an agent at United Talent Agency. . . . The partnership opens an entirely new set of possibilities for Black & Sexy, because they now have UTA’s knowledge and resources at their disposal, something that could help grow the network’s subscriber base from its current viewership of 79,000 to several times that, and eventually, to several million.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Aspiring directors weren’t the only ones receiving advice on how to get around a Hollywood system that frequently keeps them sidelined. Matthew A. Cherry (“The Last Fall”) told actors it’s become imperative for them to create their own talent showcases:</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Using Twitter to remove the velvet rope that separates professionals and amateurs and dispensing craft, financing and marketing advice to aspiring black artists is the kind of tactic DuVernay is becoming known for. Once, events offering this sort of insight used to be exclusive, expensive and held primarily in Los Angeles and New York, the hubs of most American cinema activity. It’s clear that DuVernay and AFFRM believe film education should be available to everyone who wants it. It’s the Rebel way.</span><br />
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See all of our posts about ARRAY @ <a href="http://bit.ly/AFFRM_NBE">http://bit.ly/AFFRM_NBE</a></div>
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Dankwa Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272078872689933851noreply@blogger.com0