Upon the untimely death of his father, Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo) was crowned the King of Bechuanaland at the tender age of 4. But his Uncle Tshekedi (Vusi Kunene) assumed the reins of power until the heir apparent could complete his education. While studying law in Great Britain, Seretse fell in love at first sight with Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike), a lowly clerk at Lloyd’s of London. Their whirlwind romance ignited an international firestorm of controversy because of their color, not their class, differences. For, he was black and she was white, and this was 1946, a time of strict…
Author: Kam Williams
The Academy Awards ended on a sour note when Faye Dunaway announced that favorite La La Land had won the Oscar for Best Picture. Trouble is, she and co-presenter Warren Beatty had been handed the wrong envelope. So, while La La’s producers were taking turns delivering heartfelt acceptance speeches, they were abruptly interrupted so that the audience could be informed that Moonlight was the real winner. Immediately, that film’s cast and crew descended upon the stage while the suddenly-deflated La La entourage quietly exited via the wings. Emcee Jimmy Kimmel confronted Warren Beatty with “What did you do?” But the…
Will La La Land make history by eclipsing the record of 11 Academy Awards? Damien Chazelle’s magical homage to the Hollywood musical definitely has a decent shot. After all, it’s a lock to win in 5 categories: Best Picture, Director, Score, Original Song, and Sound Mixing. And it ‘s the heavy favorite in another 5: Lead Actress, Cinematography, Costume Design, Production Design and Film Editing. That leaves Sound Editing, Original Screenplay and Lead Actor. La La’s best shot at tying the record will be by beating the World War II epic, Hacksaw Ridge in Sound Editing. If successful there, it…
Mildred Jeter (Ruth Negga) and Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton) committed a crime just by falling in love when they were in the bloom of youth back in 1958. That’s because she was black and he was white, and they were living in Virginia, one of the many Southern states with anti-miscegnation laws still on the books forbidding cohabitation, marriage, procreation or even sexual relations across racial lines. Nevertheless, Richard was so smitten he proposed and, after Mildred accepted, he purchased a vacant plot of land where he promised to build their dream home. However, when it came to time to…
Raoul Peck’s complex body of work includes feature narrative films like The Man by the Shore, Lumumba, Sometimes in April, Moloch Tropical and Murder in Pacot. His documentaries include Lumumba: Death of a Prophet, Desounen and Fatal Assistance. Raoul has served as jury member at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and at the Berlinale. Here, he talks about his latest offering, I Am Not Your Negro, an Oscar-nominated documentary about writer/social critic James Baldwin. KW: What interested you in James Baldwin? RP: I started to read James Baldwin very early on in my life. At a time, as a young adult in the Sixties, when there were not that many authors in whom I could recognize myself, he…
“Michelle Obama is unlike any other First Lady in American History. From her first moment on the public stage, she has challenged traditional American notions about what it means to be beautiful, to be strong, to be fashion conscious, to be healthy, to be First Mom, to be a caretaker and hostess, and to be partner to the most powerful man in the world. What is remarkable is that, at 52, she is just getting started. A rollicking, lively, dinner-party conversation about race, class, marriage, creativity, womanhood, and what it means to be American today, The Meaning of Michelle offers…
After winning a record number of Golden Globes, it’s no surprise that La La Land might garner a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations. Damien Chazelle’s enchanting homage to the Hollywood musical is up for Academy Awards in the Best Picture, Director, Lead Actor (Ryan Gosling), Lead Actress (Emma Stone), Song, Original Screenplay, Original Score and other categories. The Academy also embraced diversity this year, nominating 7 actors of color: Denzel Washington and Viola Davis for Fences, Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris for Moonlight, Octavia Spencer for Hidden Figures, Ruth Negga for Loving and Dev Patel for Lion. Moonlight, the Golden Globe-winning…
La La Land took home 7 Golden Globes Sunday, eclipsing the record shared by Midnight Express and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The magical musical chronicling the stormy relationship of a couple struggling to make it in L.A., prevailed in every category in which it was nominated, including Damien Chazelle for Best Director, Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Ryan Gosling for Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) and (Emma Stone) for Best Actress (Musical or Comedy). The historic wins establish La La Land as the prohibitive favorite in the Oscars Sweepstakes, despite the not so subtle pressure on members of…
All of the astronauts picked by NASA to participate in its maiden manned space programs, Mercury and Gemini, were white males. However, behind the scenes, there was a dedicated team of African-American, female mathematicians who played a pivotal role in ensuring that they launched and returned safely, whether from orbiting the Earth or a mission to the moon. Equipped only with pencils and slide rules, these so-called “human computers” were among the best and the brightest minds recruited by NASA to do the critical calculations needed to win the space race with Russia. Author Margot Lee Shetterly gave these unsung…
If you only see one movie this year, you need to get out more. That being said, La La Land is the picture to catch. This nostalgic homage to the Golden Age of Hollywood is a panoramic masterpiece which makes very effective use of every inch of the big screen. Written and directed by Oscar-nominee Damien Chazelle (for Whiplash), the picture was shot in CinemaScope, a supposedly-obsolete technology that fell out of favor with filmmakers in the late Sixties. Here, Chazelle resurrects the wide-angled lens for a last hurrah in service of an old-fashioned musical unfolding against a breathtaking array…