Cast: Trai Byers (Boston), Bashir Salahuddin (Big Joe), Aja Naomi King (Marie), Mo McRae (Walker), Tosin Morohunfola (Franklin), Mykelti Williamson (Sgt. Hayes), Thomas Haden Church (Col. Norton), Lorenzo Yearby (Lucky).
Story: The 24th tells the true story of the all-black Twenty-Fourth United States Infantry Regiment, and the Houston Riot of 1917. The Houston Riot was a mutiny by 156 African American soldiers in response to the brutal violence and abuse at the hands of Houston police officers. The riot lasted two hours and led to the death of nine civilians, four policemen and two soldiers. It resulted in the largest murder trial in history, which sentenced a total of 19 men to execution, and 41 to life sentences.
America has just entered the Great War, but is refusing to send black troops into combat. Instead of heading to the front lines, the Twenty-Fourth Infantry is sent to Houston, Texas to oversee the construction of Camp Logan for the Illinois National Guard. William Boston is forced to choose between his love for a young woman and leading an attack by 156 African American soldiers on a brutal and racist police force. This incident lead to what is now called the Houston Riot of 1917. Source(s): Deadline; sxsw.com.
Cast: Tessa Thompson, Nnamdi Asomugha, Eva Longoria, Aja Naomi King, Wendi Mclendon-Covey, Jemima Kirke
Story: The jazz is smooth and the air sultry in the New York summer of 1957. Sylvie helps around her father’s record store as she waits for her fiancé to return from war—until sweet saxophonist Robert walks in looking for a day job to subsidize his residency at the Blue Morocco lounge. This chance meeting kindles a deep passion in each of them unlike anything they’ve felt before. Sylvie’s mother immediately disapproves and reminds Sylvie of her engagement, while Robert’s band books their first big gig overseas. As time passes, the sexual revolution begins, and Motown becomes king, the two fall in and out of each other’s arms, but never out of love. Sundance.org.
Release Date: 10/7/16 (In Theaters) Genre: Biography/Historical/Drama Rating: R Studio(s): Bron Studios, Mandalay Pictures, Phantom Four, Tiny Giant Entertainment Running Time: 110 mins. Director: Nate Parker
Cast: Nate Parker (Nat Turner), Aunjanue Ellis (Nancy Turner), Armie Hammer (Samuel Turner), Colman Domingo (Hark), Aja Naomi King, Gabrielle Union, Jackie Earle Haley, Mark Boone Junior, Penelope Ann Miller (Elizabeth Turner), Roger Guenveur Smith (Isaiah), Dwight Henry (Isaac Turner), Chiké Okonkwo.
Story: According to Shadow and Act, the official synopsis reads: Set against the antebellum South, this story follows Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher, whose financially strained owner, Samuel Turner, accepts an offer to use Nat’s preaching to subdue unruly slaves. After witnessing countless atrocities against fellow slaves, Nat devises a plan to lead his people to freedom. Photo Source: Shadow and Act.
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Update: According to Deadline, on 1/26/16, in a record-breaking deal for the Sundance Film Festival, Fox Searchlight is wrapping up a deal to pay around $17.5 million to acquire world rights for The Birth Of A Nation. Sony Pictures and The Weinstein Company bid in the mid-eight figures for Birth Of A Nation, and Netflix went all out and bid $20 million, sources said. Aside from the high bid among traditional theatrical distributors, Fox Searchlight is the company that guided 12 Years A Slave to an Academy Award for Best Picture in 2014. Many who saw the film feel that is a realistic goal for The Birth Of A Nation. Buyers were buzzing immediately after the premiere screening Monday (1/25/16) afternoon where Parker and his cast received a thunderous, sustained standing ovation for a movie that left attendees shaken, and some sobbing.
The Birth of a Nation won both the US dramatic audience award and the grand jury prize at the 32nd Sundance film festival awards. Source(s): Deadline, The Guardian.
Details: On 5/27/15, Variety reported that Jackie Earle Haley and Mark Boone Junior (Sons of Anarchy) will star in Nate Parker’s historical drama The Birth of a Nation, based on the story of the 1831 slave rebellion led by Nat Turner. The film was first announced in November with Armie Hammer and Parker starring, with Parker also producing and directing from his own script.
Prompted by religious visions, Turner and a band of about 70 rebel slaves killed between 55 and 65 people in Virginia — the most ever killed in a slave uprising. The rebellion was stopped after two days, but Turner survived in hiding for more than two months.
Haley will portray a slave patrol captain who takes pride in controlling the movements of the county’s slaves. Boone Jr. will play a crafty preacher. Aja Naomi King, Aunjanue Ellis, Colman Domingo, Dwight Henry, Roger Guenveur Smith and Gabrielle Union are also starring.
Variety also previously reported that the producers have opted to use the same title as the 1915 American silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith, which covered the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. The film was controversial due to its portrayal of black men as unintelligent and the Ku Klux Klan as heroes. Source: Variety.
Release Date: 10/9/15 (Limited) Genre: Thriller/Sci-Fi Rating:NR Studio(s): Angel Valley Productions, Serena Films, Sophie Productions. Running Time: 84 mins. Director: Jose Nestor Marquez Cast: Aja Naomi King (Sophie Clé), Colm Feore (Jack Clé), Amanda Plummer (Elizabeth), Lela Rochon (Maya), Gary Dourdan (Ayden), Jeanette Samano (Isa Reyes).
Story: Sophie Clé is a delighted user of the Oubli, a wisp of high-tech jewelry that wraps behind the ear and uses neuroscience to help its users experience their most joyful memories as if they were happening for the first time. In addition to being the head of marketing for the company that makes this revolutionary memory-enhancing wearable device, she is also the daughter of its inventor, Jack Clé.
Sophie’s most joyful memory is the last day she saw her mother alive, fifteen years earlier. But on the eve of the Oubli’s worldwide launch, a stranger named Isa kidnaps Sophie, setting off a chain of events that remind us all, you can’t escape what you can’t forget. Source: Big Screen; Official Facebook Page.
Release Date: 8/21/20
Black Cinema Connection 