Tag: Based on a book

Our Kind of People

Release Date:  9/21/21 – Series Premiere; Fox
Genre:  Drama
Rating:  NR
Directors:  Tasha Smith, Keesha Sharp

Studio(s):  20th Century Fox Television, Fox Entertainment, Lee Daniels Entertainment, Propagate, TheGistofIt Productions, Fox Network.

Cast:  Yaya DaCosta, Morris Chestnut, Alana Bright, Joe Morton, Nadine Ellis, Lance Gross, Rhyon Nicole Brown, Kyle Bary, Debbi Morgan, L. Scott Caldwell.

Story:  Inspired by Lawrence Otis Graham’s provocative, critically acclaimed book, “Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class,” the series takes place in the aspirational world of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, a historical stronghold where the rich and powerful black elite have come to play for over 50 years. Our Kind Of People follows a strong-willed, single mom as she sets out to reclaim her family’s name and make an impact with her revolutionary haircare line that highlights the innate, natural beauty of black women. But she soon discovers a dark secret about her own mother’s past that will turn her world upside-down and shake up this community forever. The show is a soapy, thrilling exploration of race and class in America and an unapologetic celebration of black resilience and achievement.  Sources:  hypeabout.com; fox.com (official site).

Trailer:

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Horror Noire

Release Date:   10/14/21; Shudder
Genre:  Horror
Rating:  Unknown
Writer(s):  Steven Barnes, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Shernold Edwards, Victor LaVelle, Al Letson.
Studio(s):  ID8 Multimedia, Swirl Films, Shudder
Running Time:  120 mins.

Cast:  Tony Todd, Brandon Mychal Smith, Peter Stormare, Sean Patrick Thomas, Malcolm Barrett, Lavell Crawford, Rachel True, Tone Bell, Nathaniel Logan McIntyre, Lenora Crichlow.

Details:  The series is a follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2019 documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. It will feature six stories from both emerging and acclaimed creators, showcasing stories of Black horror from Black directors and screenwriters.  The anthology will feature six stories – “Daddy,” “Bride Before You,” “Brand of Evil,” “The Lake,” “Sundown” and “Fugue State” — presented together as a two-hour film.  Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman, author of Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present, is consulting on the anthology.  Sources:  slashfilm.com; horrorfuel.com.

Teaser:

Trailer:  Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (Documentary)

 

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Flyy Girl

Flyy Girl book coverStatus:  Development Unknown (as of 1/6/17)
Release Date:  TBA
Genre:  Drama
Rating:  Unknown
Studio: Codeblack Films, Duly Noted, Lionsgate
Director:  Felicia D. Henderson
Cast:  Sanaa Lathan (rumored)

Update:  On 6/10/15, The Tracking Board wrote that Sanaa Lathan is set to star in the Flyy Girl adaptation for Lionsgate.  In February it was announced that Effie Brown, producer of the Sundance hit Dear White People, had signed on to produce via her company Duly Noted.  She joins Paul Hall, Quincy Newell and Jeff Clanagan in bringing the Nicole Jefferson-Asher scripted project to life.

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Details:  On 7/17/13, The Hollywood Reporter stated that Lionsgate’s Codeblack Films has picked up the rights to Flyy Girl, a popular book trilogy by Omar Tyree. The trilogy, which has grossed more than $30 million worldwide through Simon & Schuster, follows a young African-American woman coming of age during the 1980s. Obsessed with the material world, Tracy Ellison falls into a cycle of gratuitous sex and heartbreak. Source: The Hollywood Reporter.

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The Book of Negroes

The Book of Negroes Movie StillRelease Date: 2/16/15 (Made-for-TV)
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Available
Director: Clement Virgo
Studios: Conquering Lion Pictures, Out of Africa Entertainment

Cast:  Aunjanue Ellis (Aminata Diallo), Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Sam Fraunces), Ben Chaplin (Captain John Clarkson), Louis Gossett, Jr. (Daddy Moses), Greg Bryk (Robertson Appleby), Jane Alexander (Maria Witherspoon), Allan Hawco (Solomon Lindo), Rick Roberts (General Washington), Lyriq Bent (Chekura Tiano), Stephan James (Cummings Shackspear).

Details:  According to Shadow and Act, the novel’s synopsis reads: abducted as an 11-year-old child from her village in West Africa and forced to walk for months to the sea in a coffle—a string of slaves— Aminata Diallo is sent to live as a slave in South Carolina. But years later, she forges her way to freedom, serving the British in the Revolutionary War and registering her name in the historic “Book of Negroes.” This book, an actual document, provides a short but immensely revealing record of freed Loyalist slaves who requested permission to leave the US for resettlement in Nova Scotia, only to find that the haven they sought was steeped in an oppression all of its own.

Aunjanue Ellis stars as Aminata Diallo, while Cuba Gooding Jr. and Lou Gossett, Jr. play Sam Fraunces and Daddy Moses respectively.  Gooding’s Fraunces is a freed slave from Jamaica who runs his namesake tavern (Fraunces Tavern), participates in several historical events, and later moves to Mount Vernon to run George Washington’s household.  Daddy Moses is Moses ‘Daddy’ Wilkinson or Old Moses, an African American slave, and Methodist preacher in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone. Though blind and crippled, Wilkinson led a band of runaway slaves to freedom in 1776.  Also Lyriq Bent is playing Chekura, who, as a young boy, made the crossing with Aminata when she was sold into slavery, is separated from her, and later reunites with her when they are adults, and have a child together.

The adaptation of the novel will be a 6-hour TV mini-series which will air on BET Networks in the U.S. in February 2015 and CBC in Canada on January 7, 2015.

Source(s): Shadow and Act; IMDB.

Trailer:

 

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