[New post] Black Filmmakers who have changed Hollywood Vol 2
Star Moon posted: " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UshOv-W4QWM Who was the first African-American filmmaker? Oscar Micheaux Oscar Micheaux is considered the first major African-American feature filmmaker. He made his first film in 1919 and (44 films later) h"
Oscar Micheaux is considered the first major African-American feature filmmaker. He made his first film in 1919 and (44 films later) his last in 1948.
How many black directors have won Oscars?
No Black directors have won. Six have been nominated (including Lee, for "BlackKklansman"). Five Asian directors have been nominated.
Who was the first black female director in Hollywood?
As if this would not be considered a life full of accomplishments, Maya Angelou was the first black woman director in Hollywood, Angelou wrote, produced, directed, and starred in productions for stage, film, and television.
Has a black person ever won Best Director Oscar?
In 2019, Spike Lee became only the sixth Black director to receive an Oscar nomination in the Academy's history for his work on "BlackKklansman." But so far, no Black filmmaker has won in that category. ... In another Oscar first, Kathryn Bigelow became the first female director to win the Oscar, for "The Hurt Locker
William D. Foster
William D. Foster, sometimes referred to as Bill Foster (1884 – 15 April 1940), was a pioneering African-American film producer who was an influential figure in the Black film industry in the early 20th century, along with others such as Oscar Micheaux laying the groundwork for the modern black film industry. He was the first African American to found a film production company, establishing the Foster Photoplay Company in Chicago in 1910. Foster had a vision for the African-American community to portray themselves as they wanted to be seen, not as someone else depicted them. He was influenced by the black theater community and wanted to break the racial stereotyping of blacks in film. He was an actor and writer under the stage name Juli Jones, as well as an agent for numerous vaudeville stars. His film The Railroad Porter, released in 1912, is credited as being the world's first film with an entirely black cast and director. The film is also credited with being the first black newsreel, featuring images of a YMCA parade. Foster's company produced four films that were silent shorts.In the late 19th century, blacks were portrayed in white films, even sometimes as soldiers, as in Edison's films The Colored Troops Disembarking and shortly after The Ninth Negro Cavalry Watering Horses. Films such as these were stopped being produced abruptly and the comedic and degrading depiction of African Americans became dominant in the white film industry. In 1898, the film A Trip to Coontown was made by Bob Cole. It was the first musical in New York written, performed and directed by blacks, and it played on the stereotypes of minstrel theatre. This film was one of the first that showed that African Americans too could produce entertaining films about blacks, but ones that did not degrade them altogether. These films, along with those of Foster years later, showed that African Americans were starting to fight back against harmful racial stereotypes. The NAACP began to get involved in the 1910s by criticizing films such as The Nigger (1914) and The Birth of a Nation (1915) for depicting blacks in a degrading manner.
Foster influenced many African Americans to break into the realm of film, and after his company diminished many others followed in his direction. Within a few years George Johnson opened the Lincoln Motion Picture Company; shortly afterwards, other companies such as the Ebony Film Corp. started producing race films. By the 1920s, more than thirty film production companies had been set up to produce films about blacks and their lives. The Lincoln Motion Picture Company was known for making melodramatic films that always portrayed a black hero who prevailed and raised the image of his culture and people. Films of this nature would decades later come to be known as Blaxplotation films. Nonetheless, a few decades after Foster's heyday, major motion picture corporations started to feature blacks on film. While these films were nothing like those of the independently run film corporations such as Foster's, whose focus was primarily on uplifting the black image, they represented the expansion of African-American influence in the industry that "race films" such as those produced by Foster pioneered.
Marie P William
Maria Priscilla Thurston Williams (1866–1932) is credited as the first Black woman film producer for the silent crime drama The Flames of Wrath in 1923. A one-time school teacher, Williams had a history of activism, independence and interest in the liberal arts, which led her first to newspapers, then to film production, script-writing and acting and finally to memoir with her 1916 book My Work and Public Sentiment, in which she identified herself as a national organizer and speaker with the Good Citizens League, and stated that ten percent of the proceeds would go to suppressing crime among African Americans.Maria P. Williams was a Kansas City schoolteacher who entered the political arena in the 1890s as a lecturer who traveled through the state of Kansas giving speeches for political candidates and delivering lectures on the "topics of the day." From 1891 to 1894, she was editor-in-chief of a weekly newspaper in Kansas City, Kansas called, the "New Era." From 1896 to 1900 or so, she edited and published a newspaper, the "Women's Voice," sponsored by the "colored women's auxiliary" of the Republican party; the paper was described as having "many pleasant things to say on a choice of timely topics." After permanently settling in Kansas City, Missouri, she involved herself in a number of civic activities. In 1916, she published a short pamphlet describing her life and discussing her political and social views entitled "My Work and Public Sentiment." In 1923, Williams wrote, produced, and acted in the five reel crime drama, "The Flames of Wrath," and to distribute the picture, she formed the Western Film Producing Company and Booking Exchange owned by her and husband, Jesse L. Williams, who owned a number of businesses in and around Kansas City. Mr. Williams died later that year and Maria soon remarried. She appears to have involved herself in other endeavors, which may have led to her untimely end. In January of 1932, she was called away from her home by a stranger who requested help for his sick brother. She was found shot to death on the side of a road several miles from her home. The murder remains unsolved.
Debbie Allen
Deborah Kaye Allen is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer-songwriter, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
Deborah Kaye Allen (born January 16, 1950) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer-songwriter, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.She has been nominated 20 times for an Emmy Award (winning five), two Tony Awards,and has also won a Golden Globe Awardand received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991.
Allen is best known for her work in the musical-drama television series Fame (1982-1987), where she portrayed dance teacher Lydia Grant, and served as the series' principal choreographer. For this role in 1983 she received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy and two Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography and was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Allen later began working as director and producer, most notably producing and directing 83 of 144 episodes of NBC comedy seriesA Different World (1988-1993). She returned to acting playing the leading role in the NBC sitcom In the House from 1995 to 1996, and in 2011 began playing Dr. Catherine Avery in the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy also serving as an executive producer/director. She has directed more than 50 television and film productions.
In 2001, Allen opened the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Los Angeles, where she currently teaches young dancers. She also taught choreography to former Los Angeles Lakers dancer-turned-singer, Paula Abdul. She is the younger sister of actress/director/singer Phylicia Rashad.
Allen was first introduced as Lydia Grant in the filmFame (1980). Although her role in the film was relatively small, Lydia became a central figure in the television adaptation, which ran from 1982 to 1987. During the opening montage of each episode, Grant told her students: "You've got big dreams? You want fame? Well, fame costs. And right here is where you start paying ... in sweat." Allen was nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Actress four times during the show's run] She is the only actress to have appeared in all three screen incarnations of Fame, playing Lydia Grant in both the 1980 film and 1982 television series and playing the school principal in the 2009 remake. Allen was also lead choreographer for the film and television series, winning two Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography and one Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.She became the first Black woman to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series—Musical or Comedy.
In 1986, Allen received a second Tony Award nomination, at that time for Best Actress in a Musical, for her performance in the title role of Bob Fosse's Sweet Charity. Also that year, she had a supporting role in the comedy-drama film Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling directed, produced by and starring Richard Pryor.
After Fame, Allen began focus on working as a choreographer and off-camera. She choreographed the 1988 Broadways adaptation of Stephen King's "Carrie." "Carrie" was a collaboration with her fellow "Fame" alumni Michael Gore, Dean Pitchford, and Gene Anthony Ray. The show opened to mixed reviews and closed after only 12 previews and 5 performances. But Allen's choreography was as energetic and vibrant as it could possibly be.
In an article from the Museum of Broadcast Communications, The Hollywood Reporter commented on Allen's impact as the producer-director of the television series, A Different World. The show dealt with the life of students at the fictional historically black college, Hillman, and ran for six seasons on NBC.
In 2001, Allen founded the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, a 501(c)3 non profit organization.Since 2007, Allen was participated as a judge and mentor for the U.S. version ofSo You Think You Can Dance. She had to step aside at the end of Vegas week in Season 4 to avoid perception of bias, as one of her former dancers, Will, made it to the top 20.
In 2008, Allen directed the all-African-American Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, starring stage veterans James Earl Jones (Big Daddy), her sister Phylicia Rashad (Big Mama) and Anika Noni Rose (Maggie the Cat), as well as film actor Terrence Howard, who made his Broadway debut as Brick. The production, with some roles recast, had a limited run (2009 – April 2010) in London. She also directed and starred in the 2001 play and its television adaptation The Old Settler.
In 2000s and 2010s, Allen directed television shows, including 44 episodes of All of Us, as well as Girlfriends, Everybody Hates Chris, How to Get Away with Murder, Empire, Scandal and Jane the Virgin. In 2011, she joined the cast of ABC medical dramaGrey's Anatomy playing the role of Dr. Catherine Fox. As of 12th season, she served as an executive producer. In 2020, she directed the musical filmChristmas on the Square starring Dolly Parton for Netflix.
Allen was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001 as a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
For her contributions to the television industry, Debbie Allen was honored in 1991 with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6904 Hollywood Boulevard in the center of Hollywood directly opposite the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center.
Allen was presented with the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, at the 1992 UCLA Spring Sing.
Three-time Emmy Award winner for Choreography for the series Fame and The Motown 25th Anniversary Special.
10 Image Awards as a director, actress, choreographer, and producer for Fame, A Different World, Motown 25, The Academy Awards, The Debbie Allen Special and Amistad.
On February 4, 2009, Debbie Allen was honored for her contributions to dance and was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Nia Peeples at The Carnival: Choreographer's Ball 10th anniversary show.
Allen was awarded an honorary doctorate from the North Carolina School of the Arts, as well as from her alma mater, Howard University.
2020 Kennedy Center Honoree
On September 19, 2021, Allen received the Television Academy's 2021 Governors Award at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards.
Roger Ross William
Roger Ross Williams is an American director, producer and writer and the first African American director to win an Oscar, with his short film Music by Prudence.
Roger Ross Williams (born September 16, 1962) is an American director, producer and writer and the first African American director to win an Oscar, with his short film Music by Prudence.
Williams has directed a number of acclaimed films including Life, Animated, which won the Sundance Film Festival Directing Award, was nominated for an Academy Award and won three Emmys in 2018, including the award for Best Documentary. He also directed God Loves Uganda, which was shortlisted for an Academy Award and American Jail, which examined the U.S. prison system and premiered on CNN. Williams' directed Traveling While Black, a VR documentary made for Facebook's Oculus, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. His most recent film, The Apollo, a documentary about Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater, was the opening night film of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and he is currently in pre-production on his first narrative feature film for Amazon Studios.
His production company, One Story Up, is producing a variety of projects including two limited documentary series for Netflix.
Since 2016, Williams has been on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, serving as chair of the Documentary Branch and the documentary Diversity Committee. Williams serves on the Alumni Advisory Board of the Sundance Institute, the Advisory Board of Full Frame Festival, and the boards of the Tribeca Film Institute, Docubox Kenya, None On Record and the Zeitz Museum Of Contemporary Art Africa. He resides in New York and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Director
1997: Discovered At Sundance (TV)
2000: Reagan: A Life In Pictures (TV)
2001: Time (TV)
2001: Challenge America With Erin Brockovich (TV)
2002: Secret Son (TV)
2003: Power, Privilege & Justice (TV)
2003: Boys Will Be Girls (TV)
2003: First Off The Tee (TV)
2003: New York Underground (TV)
2004: The Lives They Lived (TV)
2004: Moroccan Style (TV)
2005: Sheila Bridges Designer Living: Morocco Special (TV) and Sheila Bridges Designer Living
2006: Amazing Families (TV)
2010: Undercover Boss (TV, 1 episode: 7-Eleven)
2010: Music by Prudence
2013: God Loves Uganda
2014: Tutu: The Essence of Being Human
2015: Gospel of Intolerance
2015: Blackface
2016: Life, Animated
2018: American Jail
2019: The Apollo
Producer
1995: People Yearbook '95 (TV) (segment producer)
1996: Sex, Drugs and Consequences (TV) (producer)
1997: TV Nation: Volume One (segment producer)
2000: Reagan: A Life In Pictures (TV) (producer)
2001: Time (TV) (producer)
2002: Secret Son (TV) (producer)
2002: Life 360 (segment producer) (1 episode:Telling the Children) (segment producer)
2003: Power, Privilege & Justice (TV) (producer)
2003: First Off The Tee (TV) (producer)
2003: New York Underground (TV) (producer)
2004: The Lives They Lived (TV) (producer)
2004: Moroccan Style (TV) (producer)
2004 - 2005: Sheila Bridges Designer Living (series supervising producer)
2006: Amazing Families (TV) (producer)
2007: Alone No Love (co-producer)
2007: Yearbook (TV) (series producer)
2010: Music by Prudence (producer)
2013: God Loves Uganda (producer)
2014: Tutu: The Essence of Being Human (producer)
2016: Life, Animated
Screenwriter
2000: Reagan: A Life In Pictures (TV)
2003: Power, Privilege & Justice (TV)
2003: First Off The Tee (TV)
2003: New York Underground (TV)
2004: The Lives They Lived (TV)
2004: Moroccan Style (TV)
2005: Sheila Bridges Designer Living: Morocco Special (TV)
2006: Amazing Families (TV)
Ava Du Vernay
Ava Marie DuVernay is an American filmmaker. She won the directing award in the U.S. dramatic competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere, becoming the first black woman to win the award.
For her work onSelma (2014), Duernay became the first black woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director, and also the first black female director to have her film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2017, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for her film 13th (2016).
DuVernay's 2018 Disney children's fantasy film A Wrinkle in Time made her the first black woman to direct a live-action film earning $100 million at U.S. box office but had losses of up to $131 million.The film received mixed reviews, with critics taking issue with the film's heavy use of CG.The following year, she created, co-wrote, produced and directed the Netflix drama limited series When They See Us, based on the 1989 Central Park jogger case, which has earned critical acclaim. The series was nominated for 16 Emmy Awards including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series and won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Limited Series. In 2021, she co-created an autobiographical miniseries with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick titled Colin in Black & White.
In 2017, DuVernay was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
In 2020, DuVernay was elected to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences board of governors as part of the directors branch.
DuVernay directedSelma, a $20 million budget dramatic film, which is relatively low for a film of this caliber, about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., President Lyndon B. Johnson, and the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights.The movie, produced by Plan B Entertainment, was released on December 25, 2014 to critical acclaim. DuVernay in an interview at Indiana University stated that Selmawould be "the first major feature film in theaters that has anything to do with King's essential character" making it a historical landmark in the history of biopics.The film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Song, but not Best Director, at the 2014 Academy Awards. The lack of diversity among the Oscar nominations for 2014 was the subject of much press, especially on Twitter.This film was the only one directed by a person of color that was nominated for the 87th Academy Awards. The award for Best Original Song went to "Glory" from Selma. DuVernay said that she had not expected to be nominated as director, so the omission did not really bother her, but she was disappointed that actor David Oyelowo, who portrayed King, was not nominated as Best Actor. She said that the obstacles to people of color being represented in the Academy Awards were systemic.DuVernay became the first black woman to be nominated by the academy as a director in a feature category.
On February 11, 2020, news reports speculated about Ava DuVernay possibly co-producing and directing a Nipsey Hussle documentary for Netflix.
On June 29, 2020, Netflix announced a six-episode series, created by Ava DuVernay and Colin Kaepernick, titled Colin in Black & White, centering on Kaepernick's youth and various events in his life that has led him to be the activist he is today.
In October 2020, her next film, Caste, an adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson's book, was officially announced for Netflix.
Naomi is an American superherodrama television series created by Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship which is based on the comic book series of the same name co-written by Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker and illustrated by Jamal Campbell.It premiered on The CW on January 11, 2022.
Victoria Mahonoy
Victoria Mahoney is an American actress and filmmaker. Her debut feature was 2011's Yelling to the Sky.
Victoria Mahoney was handpicked by J.J. Abrams to direct second unit on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Marking her as the first woman to direct on a STAR WARS film in the franchise's forty year history. Mahoney is currently in talks to direct the feature film of Starks beloved Graphic Novel, Kill Them All for Paramount Pictures. Mahoney made her directing debut in 2011 with the semi-autobiographical film Yelling to the Sky. The film follows a young girl's struggle in high school and her difficult home life. The film, starred Zoe Kravitz as a troubled teen and Jason Clarke as her father, debuted in competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival. She developed the script through the help of the Directors and Screenwriters Sundance Institute Labs and was awarded the title of Auerbach Screenwriting Fellow, Annerberg Film Fellow, Cinereach Fellow, Maryland Fellow, IFP Narrative Lab fellow and a Tribeca Film Fellow. The film was written and directed by Victoria Mahoney. The film received credit from the 61st Berlin International Film Festival and the Golden Bear. Victoria was the first woman director/writer, American invited in over sixty years to the Golden Bear competition. Variety praised the film saying it had a strong directional voice and stated that Mahoney had a clear driven and genuine creative gift. Victoria entered the film into multiple film festivals across the world before releasing theatrically in late 2012.
In an interview with the Tribeca Film Institute, Mahoney reveals what she wants people to take away from her films saying, "The level of 'take away' exists on such a case by case basis. It all depends on what an audience member is experiencing and investigating in their own life. My overriding intentions as a filmmaker, is to tap into individual inquiries and reflect-whatever is hidden. Inspiring an audience's need for further inquiry into whatever stories, wishes, wants, hungers, desires, questions or aches-presently propel them. From my filmmaking, I'd love audiences to receive some measure of inspiration; to investigate the human condition."
In 2013, she was nominated for the inaugural Tribeca Film Institute's Heineken Affinity Award's $20,000 prize, but lost to her friend and colleague Ava DuVernay. In the same year, she directed a short film starring Selena Gomez and Shiloh Fernandez forFlaunt.
In 2021, Netflix has announced that Mahoney will take over directing duties from Gina Prince-Bythewood as director for The Old Guard sequel.It was reported on January 27, 2021 that Netflix had greenlit a sequel.On August 26, it was announced that with Victoria Mahoney will replace Prince-Bythewood as director for the sequel. Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngo and Chiwetel Ejiofor will reprise their respective roles from the original movie.
Eugene Ashe
Eugene Ashe is a film maker and director from Harlem, New York. Ashe grew up in Harlem, New York. His background includes working as a musician as part of the R & B band Funky Poets.Eugene Ashe is a Writer-director and former Sony Music recording artist from Harlem, New York. Sylvie's Love, his second feature, will premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival where it is in US Dramatic Competition. The love story, set in the early 1960's marries his love of music and film. As a musician, he has appeared on numerous film soundtracks and is a fellow of the WGAE Diversity Lab at Columbia University School of the Arts. His debut feature film, "Homecoming," based on his off-Broadway play, was produced through his Seven Letter Words Films production banner and released by RLJ entertainment in 2012.
Nia DaCosta
Nia DaCosta (born November 8, 1989) is an American director and screenwriter. She is credited as the first African-American woman to have a film debut at number one upon opening weekend. She wrote and directed the crime thriller film Little Woods (2019), winning the Nora Ephron Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival. She also directed the horror film Candyman (2021). In August 2020, DaCosta was hired to direct The Marvels, becoming the youngest filmmaker to direct a Marvel film, beating the record set by Ryan Coogler.Nia DaCosta is an American director and screenwriter. She is credited as the first African-American woman to have a film debut at number one upon opening weekend. She wrote and directed the crime thriller film Little Woods, winning the Nora Ephron Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival.DaCosta was born in 1989, in Brooklyn, New York City and raised in Harlem. She is of Jamaican descent .Her original obsession and professional aspirations started with her desire to be a writer, a poet to be exact. It was not till an AP class where she was exposed to the work of Joseph Conrad, and after reading his book Heart of Darkness, she and her class then watched the film adaptation, Coppola's "Apocalypse Now". This was a turning point in DaCosta's life, from there on out she was obsessed with film which, led DaCosta to research 1970s film, where she found inspiration in directors such as Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola. Citing Scorsese as a top inspiration, DaCosta as well as having her masters in writing from the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama enrolled at his alma mater, New York University Tisch School of the Arts. There, she met Scorsese while working as a TV production assistant.
Little Woodsis a realistic genre bending take on a modern western that tells the story of Ollie (Tessa Thompson), a reformed drug runner in rural North Dakota, and her estranged sister Deb (Lily James). When their mother dies, Deb shows up on Ollie's doorstep with her young son, and reveals she is pregnant. This pushes Ollie to seek out a way to quickly raise money to pay back the bank and keep their mother's home, and pushes Deb to decide whether or not she wants to go through with getting an abortion. This film is a commentary about the issues with poverty and how it affects women in rural areas, places where women do not have as much opportunity for work, and more importantly are far from major hospitals as well as not having the legal or financial ability to get the procedures done where they see fit.
DaCosta was chosen to helm what was described as a spiritual sequel to the original Candyman (1992) in 2018. The film returned to the Chicago neighborhood where the legend began, now gentrified. The film was produced by Jordan Peele through Monkeypaw Productions, with Peele citing the original as "a landmark film for Black representation in the horror genre".Yahya Abdul-Mateen II starred in the film, with Tony Todd returning, in an appearance as the film's titular villain, and Teyonah Parris and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett co-starring. The film also won the Sunset Film Circle Awards for "Best Horror Film" The film was received at the top of the box office opening weekend and beat its projected earnings by almost 50% at $22,370,000
In August 2020, DaCosta was hired to direct the upcoming Marvel Studios film The Marvels, the sequel to Captain Marvel (2019), after having initially approached them with a Fantastic Four / X-Men crossover movie. It is currently scheduled to be released on February 17, 2023. This is set to be the first Marvel film directed by an African-American Woman, as well as the first Marvel film to feature a female Pakistani lead superhero, Kamala Khan (played by Iman Vellani).
Henry Hampton
Henry Eugene Hampton Jr. was an African-American filmmaker. His production company, Blackside, Inc., produced over 80 programs—the most recognizable being the documentary Eyes on the Prize, which won Emmy Awards, Peabody Awards, and was nominated for an Oscar.Blackside became one of the largest minority-owned non-theatrical film production companies in the U.S. during the mid-1970s and until his death in the late 1990s.
Hampton was the son of surgeon Henry Hampton Sr. and Julia Veva Hampton, raised in Richmond Heights, Missouri, a suburb adjacent to the western edge of St. Louis. Henry lived on the eastern edge of an all-black working class community. His family converted to Catholicism after St Louis Archbishop Joseph Ritter led desegregation efforts in the region.
Hampton attended Little Flower School and later the Jesuits' St. Louis University High School and College of the Holy Cross before studying literature at Washington University in St. Louis. He graduated from Wash U in 1961. Hampton attended medical school for a term at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, before dropping out.
Hampton made a commitment to social justice with later productions, including his 1987 magnum opus Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years (1954–1965). He followed this with a series of pieces, including Eyes on the Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads 1965–mid 1980s; The Great Depression (1993); Malcolm X: Make It Plain (1994); America's War on Poverty (1995); Breakthrough: The Changing Face of Science in America (1997); I'll Make Me a World: A Century of African-American Arts (1999); Hopes on the Horizon: Africa in the 1990s (2001); This Far by Faith: African American Spiritual Journeys (2003).
He returned to Wash U in 1989 to deliver the commencement speech.
Hampton had contracted polio as a child. In his later years, he had lung cancer, the treatment for which led to myelodysplastic syndrome.
He died at Brigham and Women's Hospital on November 22, 1998.
Hampton's film archive is held by the Washington University Film & Media Archive in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to Hampton's films, the collection contains all of the elements that went into the production process such as interviews, stock footage, photographs, research, producer notes, scripts, and Hampton's personal papers.
Camille Billops
Camille Josephine Billops was an African-American sculptor, filmmaker, archivist, printmaker, and educator.
Billops was born in Los Angeles, California, to parents, Alma Gilmore, originally from South Carolina, and Luscious Billops, originally from Texas. Her mother worked as a seamstress and her father worked as a cook. Her parents worked "in service" for a Beverly Hills family, enabling them to provide her with a private secondary education at a Catholic school. As a young girl, she painted her bow and arrow set and dolls.She traced the beginnings of her art to her parents' creativity in cooking and dressmaking.
Billops graduated in 1960 from Los Angeles State College, where she majored in Education for physically handicapped children. She obtained her B.A. degree from California State University and her M.F.A. degree from City College of New York in 1975.
lthough she began her career as a sculptor, ceramist, and painter, Billops is best known as a filmmaker of the black diaspora.In 1982, Billops began her filmmaking career with Suzanne, Suzanne,a film about her niece and her recovery from a heroin addiction.She followed this by directing five more films, including Finding Christa in 1991, a highly autobiographical work that garnered the Grand Jury Prize for documentaries at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival.
Her other film credits include Older Women and Love in 1987, The KKK Boutique Ain't Just Rednecks in 1994, Take Your Bags in 1998, and A String of Pearls in 2002. Billops produced all of her films with her husband and their film company, Mom and Pop Productions.
Billops's film projects have been collaborations with, and stories about, members of her family. For instance, they were co-produced with her husband James Hatch and credit Hatch's son as director of photography. Suzanne, Suzanne studies the relationship between Billop's sister Billie and Billie's daughter Suzanne. Finding Christa deals with Billops's daughter whom she gave up for adoption.Older Women and Love is based on a love affair of Billops's aunt
Quest Love
Ahmir Khalib Thompson, known professionally as Questlove, is an American musician, songwriter, disc jockey, author, music journalist, and film director. He is the drummer and joint frontman for the hip hop band the Roots.
Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ?uestlove), is an American musician, songwriter, disc jockey, author, music journalist, and film director. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thought) for the hip hop band the Roots. The Roots have been serving as the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since February 17, 2014, having the same role in Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Questlove is also one of the producers of the cast album of the Broadway musical Hamilton. He is the co-founder of the websites Okayplayer and OkayAfrica. Additionally, he is an adjunct professor at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University.
Questlove has produced recordings for artists including Elvis Costello, Common, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Jay-Z, Nikka Costa, and more recently, Booker T. Jones, Al Green, Amy Winehouse, and John Legend. He is a member of the production teams the Soulquarians, the Randy Watson Experience, the Soultronics, the Grand Negaz and the Grand Wizzards. As an author, he has written four books.
Questlove was planning to collaborate with Amy Winehouse before her death in July 2011. He said "We're Skype buddies, and she wants to do a project with Mos and me. Soon as she gets her visa thing together, that's gonna happen." Rolling Stone named Questlove #2 in the 50 Top Tweeters in Music. In June 2011, Questlove played drums alongside the Roots bassist Owen Biddle for Karmin's cover of Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass."Questlove placed 8th in the Rolling Stone Readers Pick for Best Drummers of all Time.
In September 2016, Questlove launched a weekly radio show on Pandora, Questlove Supreme. Notable guests have included Solange, Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph, and Pete Rock, among others.
Shanda Rhimes
Shonda Lynn Rhimes is an American television producer, screenwriter, and author. She is best known as the showrunner—creator, head writer, and executive producer—of the television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, its spin-off Private Practice, and the political thriller series Scandal.
Shonda Lynn Rhimes (born January 13, 1970) is an American television producer, screenwriter, and author. She is best known as the showrunner—creator, head writer, and executive producer—of the television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, its spin-off Private Practice, and the political thriller series Scandal. Rhimes has also served as the executive producer of the ABC television series Off the Map, How to Get Away with Murder, The Catch, and Grey's spin-off Station 19.
In 2007 and 2021, Rhimes was named by Time on the Time 100, their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2015, she published her first book, a memoir, Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun, and Be Your Own Person. In 2017, Netflix said that it had entered into a multi-year development deal with Rhimes, by which all of her future productions will be Netflix Original series. Netflix had already purchased the streaming rights to past episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal.
Shondaland is the name of Rhimes's production company. Shondaland and its logo also refer to the shows Rhimes has produced and to Rhimes herself. Shows included in Shondaland are:
Grey's Anatomy (2005–present)
Private Practice (2007–2013)
Off the Map (2011)
Scandal (2012–2018)
How to Get Away with Murder (2014–2020)
The Catch (2016–2017)
Still Star-Crossed (2017)
For the People (2018–2019)
Station 19 (2018–present)
Bridgerton (2020–present)
Inventing Anna (2022)
Lee Daniels
Lee Daniels (born December 24, 1959) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His first producer credit was Monster's Ball (2001), with which he became the first African-American film producer to solely produce an Oscar-winning film, when Halle Berry won Best Actress. After his directorial debut Shadowboxer (2005) premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, Daniels directedPrecious (2009), based on the novel Push. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including two nominations for Daniels (Best Director and Best Picture).
In 2013, he directed Lee Daniels' The Butler, a drama that tells the story of an African-American butler who served at the White House during seven presidential administrations. In 2015, Daniels co-created and directed Fox's Empireand served as executive producer for all six seasons.
Monster's Ball, the debut production of Lee Daniels Entertainment, was a critical and box office success. Halle Berry won the Oscar for Best Actress; the film was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Daniels said he did not attend the Oscars when the film won, citing his challenges with addiction and his struggle over whether he "deserved" to attend, according to an emotional interview on MSNBC in 2019.
His 2004 production The Woodsman, starring Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, and Mos Def, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It went on to garner three nominations at the 2005 Independent Spirit Awards, the CICAE Arthouse Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the Jury Prize at the Deauville International Film Festival, and a "Special Mention for Excellence in Filmmaking" award from the National Board of Review.Former president Bill Clinton persuaded Daniels to produce public service announcements to encourage young people of color to vote. The campaign was launched in March 2004 and featured Grammy winners LL Cool J and Alicia Keys.
His first directorial effort, 2006's Shadowboxer, debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. It starred Helen Mirren, Cuba Gooding Jr., Stephen Dorff, Vanessa Ferlito, Mo'Nique, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Macy Gray. It was nominated for Best New Director at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
His 2008 production Tennessee was written by Russell Schaumberg and directed by Aaron Woodley (Rhinoceros Eyes); the film is about two brothers, played by Adam Rothenberg and Ethan Peck, who travel from New Mexico to Tennessee to search for their estranged father. Along the way they meet Krystal (Mariah Carey), an aspiring singer who flees her controlling husband (Lance Reddick) to join them on their journey.
His 2009 filmPrecious told the story of an obese, illiterate, 16-year-old girl (Gabourey Sidibe) who lives in a Section 8 tenement in Harlem. She has been impregnated twice by her father, Carl, and suffers long-term physical, sexual, and emotional abuse from her unemployed mother, Mary (Mo'Nique). Carey appeared as a social worker. The film screened at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and went on to garner widespread acclaim. Mo'Nique won the academy award for best supporting actress, Daniels was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and the film received a Best Picture nomination. It was a financial success grossing $63 million worldwide against a budget of $10 million.
In 2010, Grace Hightower De Niro, who appeared in Precious, presented Daniels with the Pratt Institute's Creative Spirit Award.
Daniels directed The Paperboy (2012), based on the 1995 novel by Pete Dexter who penned the original script which was further developed by Daniels; it starred Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, John Cusack, and Nicole Kidman. The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
He directed the historical fiction drama film The Butler (2013), starring Forest Whitaker, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Mariah Carey, Terrence Howard, Alan Rickman, and Oprah Winfrey. The Butler received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $100 million in the United States against a budget of $30 million.
Empire, a television series created by Daniels, premiered on January 7, 2015. Daniels directed the first episode and co-wrote it withThe Butler screenwriter Danny Strong. The series stars Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, and is about a family's music empire.
In 2015, Daniels was listed as one of the nine runners-up for The Advocate's Person of the Year.
Regina King
Regina Rene King is an American actress and director. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and four Primetime Emmy Awards, the most for an African-American performer. In 2019, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Regina Rene King (born January 15, 1971) is an American actress and director. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and four Primetime Emmy Awards, the most for an African-American performer. In 2019, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
King first gained attention for playing Brenda Jenkins in the television series 227 (1985–1990). Her subsequent roles included the film Friday (1995), the animated series The Boondocks (2005–2014), and the crime television series Southland (2009–2013). From 2015 to 2017, King starred in the ABC anthology series American Crime, for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards, and in 2018, she starred in the Netflix miniseries Seven Seconds, for which she won her third Primetime Emmy Award. She starred in Barry Jenkins' film adaptation of the James Baldwin novel If Beale Street Could Talk(2018). For her performance, she won the Golden Globe Award and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. King won her fourth Primetime Emmy Award for starring in the dystopian superhero limited series Watchmen (2019).From 2015 to 2017, King began to pursue work as a director and writer,initially directing six episodes of the drama series Being Mary Jane.In 2016, she directed two episodes ofScandal, and single episodes of The Catch, Animal Kingdom, This Is Us and Shameless.
King has also played supporting roles in the filmsBoyz n the Hood (1991), Poetic Justice (1993), Ray (2004), A Cinderella Story (2004), as well as in the comedies Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003), and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous (2005). Her other television roles include the drama series The Leftovers (2015–2017) and the sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2013–2019).
King has directed episodes for several television shows, including Scandal in 2015 and 2016 and This Is Us in 2017. She has also directed the music video for the 2010 song "Finding My Way Back" by Jaheim. Her feature film directorial debut came with the drama One Night in Miami... (2020), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director and a Directors Guild of America Award for First Time Feature Film. She became the second black woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director.
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