Breaking News

Spike Lee

Spike Lee on His First Best Director Oscar Nomination for ‘BlacKkKlansman
News (Entertainment)

Spike Lee on His First Best Director Oscar Nomination for ‘BlacKkKlansman

Associated Press-JAKE COYLEJanuary 22, 2019

NEW YORK (AP) — Spike Lee watched the Oscar nominations Tuesday morning on television from his bed, with his wife, Tonya, his two grown children, Satchel and Jackson, and their dog, Ginger. Screaming ensued . Lee landed his first directing Academy Award nomination for “BlacKkKlansman,” his comic and furious send-up of white supremacism. The film, about a black detective (John David Washington) who leads an undercover investigation of the Klu Klux Klan, won six nominations altogether, including best picture and best adapted screenplay, a nod Lee shared with Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott. But the most long-in-coming nomination was

Why ‘The Hate U Give’ Is Not a Black Lives Matter Movie
EntertainmentMoviesOp-EdOpinion

Why ‘The Hate U Give’ Is Not a Black Lives Matter Movie

Melina Abdullah and Patrisse Khan-CullorsOctober 18, 2018

Some are touting ‘The Hate U Give,’ as “the first Black Lives Matter movie.” Red flags should have gone up the moment we learned that Fox, recently acquired by Disney, was behind the film with a massive public relations budget, footing the bill for hundreds of advance screenings with celebrity guests, marketing swag, and heavy media saturation – especially in Black markets.  We might also wonder about the choice to have Audrey Wells, a White screenwriter whose credits include “Under the Tuscan Sun”  and “The Truth About Cats and Dogs,” adapt an urban Black novel for the screen.

THE BLACK ASSOCIATION OF DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS (“BADWEST”) PRESENTS ITS 12th ANNUAL “DAY OF BLACK DOCS” SATURDAY, May 5, 2018 AT THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE
EntertainmentNews (Entertainment)

THE BLACK ASSOCIATION OF DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS (“BADWEST”) PRESENTS ITS 12th ANNUAL “DAY OF BLACK DOCS” SATURDAY, May 5, 2018 AT THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE

April 30, 2018

The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West (BADWEST) presents its exciting and always anticipated 12th annual “DAY OF BLACK DOCS” on Saturday, May 5, 2018, 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the American Film Institute (AFI) Mark Goodson Theater, 2021 N. Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Free parking is available in the AFI parking lot. Seating is on a first-come-first-serve basis and tickets for the all-day event are $20.00.  Advance ticket purchase is recommended at www.dayofblackdocs.org.    Two award winning feature-length documentaries and two shorts will be screened: 2018 Pan African Film Festival Jury Prize and Audience Award Winner,

Sistas Are Doin’ It For Themselves
EntertainmentTV

Sistas Are Doin’ It For Themselves

Sentinel News ServiceApril 7, 2016

SISTAS… began twenty-three years ago as a call to the entertainment industry to acknowledge that there is grand talent amongst African American women filmmakers. What began as a screening and discussion became one of the most recognized inspirational and emulated events of the Black filmmaking community.

Original Special, Multiple Programming Offerings Commemorate Black History Month Across ESPN Platforms
News (Sports)Sports

Original Special, Multiple Programming Offerings Commemorate Black History Month Across ESPN Platforms

Andy Hall, ESPNFebruary 9, 2016

Celebrating the achievements of African-Americans who have made a positive influence within their sport and in society. ESPN is once again commemorating Black History Month with multiple programming offerings on television, radio and online.   Rise Up: A SportsCenter Special, will debut on Sunday, Feb. 14, at 5 p.m. ET, and is the centerpiece of ESPN’s Black History Month programming. In the one-hour original, four segments will feature prominent African-Americans in a direct and intimate conversation sharing firsthand accounts of the events in the news cycle that impacted their lives. The four topics:   Taj Gibson on rising up against

Obamas’ love blooms in ‘Southside With You’
EntertainmentMovies

Obamas’ love blooms in ‘Southside With You’

Shelley Acoca, Associated PressJanuary 27, 2016

It’s the sweet, romantic story of a first date — albeit the fictionalized first date of the couple who currently occupy the White House.
“Southside With You,” the feature film based on Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson’s first date, debuted Sunday to a packed house at the Sundance Film Festival.

No Preview
EntertainmentNews (Entertainment)

Calls for boycott growing over lack of Oscar diversity

Associated PressJanuary 21, 2016

Spike Lee says he will not attend this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. (Charles Sykes, Invision/ AP) Calls for a boycott of the Academy Awards are growing over the Oscars’ second straight year of all-white acting nominees, as Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith each said Monday they will not attend this year’s ceremony. In a lengthy Instagram post, Lee said he “cannot support” the “lily white” Oscars. Noting that he was writing on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Lee — who in November was given an honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards — said he was fed up: “Forty white