Black Panther Documentary
Black Panther Documentary Merely Skims The Surface Of A Complex Movement
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of Revolution opens in New York at the Film Forum this week, before showing at the AMC Magic Johnson Theaters and beginning a limited national release. The film is the first feature-length documentary on the Black Panther Party, developed over the past seven years by celebrated filmmaker Stan Nelson, whose previous works include Freedom Summer and The Murder of Emmett Till.
With adept objectivity, Nelson’s telling of the Black Panthers reaches beyond the mystique of founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale to weave together the many voices that allowed “Black Power” an indelible mark in American history. Presenting the stories of Eldridge Cleaver, Fred Hampton, Elaine Brown, Kathleen Cleaver, Jamal Joseph, Flores Forbes and Elbert “Big Man” Howard, among others, this film is a beginner’s guide to the Black Panthers. You will not know it all, but you walk away with a million paths of stories to further explore.
The film starts in 1967 at the birth of the party, between the deaths of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., and wraps somewhere in the late 1970s. We begin in Oakland, where the organization was founded, and then leap from perspective to perspective, engaging the complexity of what may have been the last radical movement in America.
At one point, we consider the sexism within the Party; at another, we explore how the justice system went on the attack to silence the leadership to the point of literally binding and gagging Bobby Seale as he sat on trial in Chicago. You will be shook by the assassination of Fred Hampton, but if you are a Panther nerd, you will be disappointed that George Jackson and Assata Shakur do not come up in the conversation. The film offers value in presenting moments that many people are unaware of, or often do not make the general discussion of the Black Panthers.
KEEP READING: Black Panther Documentary Merely Skims The Surface Of A Complex Movement
Black Panther Documentary Merely Skims The Surface Of A Complex Movement was originally published on ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc
In two hours, Nelson delivers many snapshots from across America first hand from people who lived, and often died terribly, for the cause of the Party’s Ten-Point Program. And as the film personalizes the experiences of those who made up an organization known for its style, bravado and iconographic fists, as well as incessant message, it is easy to see how their values were very much aligned with those of today.
For the sake of ending police brutality, mass incarceration, and other institutionalized forms of oppression, masses of youth (because it seems almost all Party members were between childhood and age 30) took up their right to bear arms, evoking such a movement that is was mainly at the hands of the FBI the Party saw its decline. It is also why it is gut-wrenching to see those who were murdered for their affiliation.
Where other films like this year’s Netflix’s documentary on Nina Simone, or the 1995 biopic Panther, will leave you with poignant emotional reaction, Nelson’s work is stark in that it is purely textbook. You will not be spooked with rage, (although there are stories that will leave you volleying between bafflement, heartbreak, and meditation) but rather intellectually challenged by all the personal recounts of a time that is parallel to, yet so so far away from, today. You will experience the variety of voices who were involved, and you will not be directed on what to think. It is disorienting to experience the Black Panther Party with such objectivity, but that is what makes this a solid and distinct telling of what has become lore for revolutionary hearts. (Although, Elaine Brown has expressly noted her dissent with the film. )
In tracing through other films on the subject of the Black Panther Party, there are standouts A Huey P. Newton Story (2001) and the Black Power Mixtape Night 1967-1975 (2011), both documentaries, as well as the recent narrative film starring Kerry Washington, Anthony Mackie, and Jamie Hector, Night Catches Us (2010). For as much as the Black Power fist means to culture, the cinematic exploration has been rare, and the field is wide for exploring the internal and personal costs of rebellion, as well as its national impact.
When Nelson set out to make this film, police brutality and mass incarceration were not on the national agenda. Trayvon Martin was just another kid, and Sandra Bland was just a recent college graduate. While the film studies a past national boiling point from the vantage of retrospect, we are now watching it with a particular perspective. This is the film you see with at least one friend and debate whether or not we are still capable of revolution and if social media campaigns make a difference.
This is certainly an important film to support in the theater, as it serves as statement art in an era that remains well-worn from America’s last violent revolution, which may have been that of the Black Panther Party. In the midst of such anger and frustration, Stanley Nelson’s The Black Panthers: Vanguard of Revolution offers space for reflection and strategy. Having attended a screening with a friend, it was hard not to carry on for an hour contemplating all that we saw and how it holds up to today’s form of dissent that often is waged via social media. This is something that the filmmaker also acknowledges, as there is a #PanthersTaughtMe campaign to offer a ground for the thoughts that will be sparked by this wide-reaching examination of the last heroes of resistance in America. And given that the film was partially funded by a substantial Kickstarter campaign that supported the theatrical release, hopefully, there will be many voices engaged in modernizing an impact first socialized with a fist.
For information on show times, visit theblackpanthers.com, and take part in the conversation on being revolutionary by visiting pantherstaught.me
#SayHerName: Black Female Victims Of Police Brutality And Neglect
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1. Raynette Turner
Turner was found dead in a Westchester, NY jail cell on July 27 after she was detained for allegedly shoplifting from a local wholesale food supplier. Her family claims that Turner’s health needs were neglected while she was in custody.
Source:Instagram
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2. Ralkina Jones
Jones was found dead in a Cleveland jail cell on the morning of July 26. Jones was arrested after a domestic violence dispute with her husband.
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3. Rosann Miller
Miller of Brooklyn, NY was put into a chokehold by the NYPD while seven months pregnant in July 2014, only weeks after Eric Garner’s death. Miller was confronted by police who told her she wasn’t allowed to grill food in her front yard; the officers that attacked Miller were never charged.
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4. Kindra Darnell Chapman
Chapman, an 18-year-old girl from Alabama, allegedly committed suicide by lynching in her jail cell. Chapman was arrested for a first-degree robbery charge after reportedly stealing a cellphone.
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5. Yuvette Henderson
Henderson was shot to death on Feb. 3 by two Emeryville, CA police officers after being accused of shoplifting and carjacking motorists near a Home Depot. Neither of the cops involved were wearing body cameras during the incident and the Home Depot location refused to release surveillance footage of the shooting.
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6. Latandra Ellington
Ellington, a 36-year-old Florida woman was found dead in October 2014 at the Lowell Correctional Institution. Her family believes she was murdered, as Ellington revealed through letters that guards had been threatening her while she was in custody.
Source:Instagram
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7. Shereese Francis
Francis, a Queens schizophrenic woman, was tackled to the ground by four police officers in March 2012 after her family called officials for help during one of Francis’ manic episodes. Francis stopped breathing during the altercation and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the local hospital. The local police still have not released records on Francis’ case in response to her family’s request.
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8. Shantel Davis
Davis was shot and killed by a plainclothes detective in June 2014 after being followed in her car in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. The detective claimed that he accidently shot Davis in the chest, but witnesses had contradicting statements.
Source:Instagram
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9. Constance Graham
Graham, the mother of police brutality victim, Ramarley Graham, was harshly subdued to the ground when she arrived at a Bronx police station to inquire about her son’s death. Constance’s mother, Patricia Hartley was brutalized as well. Not only had she witnessed her grandson wrongfully being killed by the police in her own home, but they then threatened to shoot her when she confronted them about the murder.
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10. Denise Stewart
Stewart, a 47-year-old grandmother, was humiliated and attacked by the NYPD in August 2014 after they yanked her from her apartment half-naked and arrested her for child endangerment—only to find that they had raided the wrong apartment. Neighbors looking on protested the raid and videotaped the incident but the police proceeded to handcuff her in the hallway of her apartment building as well as her four kids.
Source:Instagram
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11. Alexia Christian
Christian was shot and killed in the back of a patrol car in Atlanta on April 30. Officers claim that they found Christian inside of a stolen vehicle and that she escaped from her handcuffs, allowing her to shoot at one of the officers with a stolen gun. Details are still forthcoming on this case.
Source:Instagram
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12. Kathryn Johnston
Johnston, a 92-year-old Atlanta woman, was shot and killed by an undercover police officer in a failed drug raid in November 2006. Officers went to Johnston’s home unannounced and under false pretenses that there was drug activity at her home; they later admitted to planting marijuana and cocaine as evidence during the investigation.
Source:Instagram
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13. Mya Hall
Hall, a transgender woman from Baltimore, MD, was killed by the National Security agency after she mistakenly crashed an allegedly stolen vehicle onto NSA property. No one in the car was armed; Hall was killed shortly before Freddie Gray was died in the back of a police van, making way for a national media spotlight on police brutality in Baltimore.
Source:Instagram
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14. Alesia Thomas
Thomas, a young mother from Los Angeles, died of cardiac arrest in the back of a police car after an officer violently kicked and arrested her for child abandonment in July 2012. Thomas had been sought after the police because she dropped off her three and 12-year-old children at a local precinct when she felt unable to provide for her children.
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15. Gabriella Nevarez
Nevarez was shot and killed after a police chase in March 2014 by Sacramento, CA. Nevarez was being followed after her grandmother complained to authorities that she had stolen her car; police say they fired at Nevarez in self-defense but passengers contradicted their account by saying Nevarez crashed the car once she was shot.
Source:Instagram
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16. Tasha Thomas
Thomas, the girlfriend of police brutality victim, John Crawford III, was insensitively interrogated by police the day that Crawford was shot and killed in an Ohio Walmart. Thomas was calling Crawford at the time officers murdered him; Thomas was told that her boyfriend died 90 minutes into her interrogation. During her questioning, Thomas was threatened by the cops and was accused of being under the influence.
Source:Instagram
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17. Malissa Williams
Williams was sitting next to Timothy Russell in his car when they were shot to death by Cleveland police. Neither of them were armed at the time, but police decided to follow them when they mistakenly thought Williams and Russell were shooting at them. The officer that shot at the couple from the hood of Russell’s car was eventually acquitted of manslaughter, as the judge ruled that he acted on a perceived threat.
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18. Miriam Carey
Carey was shot and killed after a wild car chase in Washington, DC in October 2013. Carey’s infant was in the car with her at the time of the shooting. Secret Service officers stated that Carey refused to stop at a checkpoint, leading them to follow her. However, Carey’s family and attorney point out that an undercover agent blocked Carey’s car which incited the chase, and that she likely started driving out of fear.
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19. Sandra Bland
Bland’s story took over the nation after she mysteriously was found dead on July 13 in a Texas jail cell following a traffic stop. Family members have strongly refuted authorities’ claims that Bland commit suicide. Bland, originally from Chicago, drove to Texas for a job at her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University.
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20. Kendra James
James was shot and killed by a police officer in May 2003 in Portland, OR. James did not have any charges herself, but happened to be riding in a car with someone who had an outstanding warrant.
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21. Nizah Morris
Morris mysteriously died of a head injury in Philadelphia, December 2002. She was found by police officers who had given her a ride home and later saw her bleeding and unconscious inside. It took them 40 minutes to bring Morris to the hospital and they failed to report that a crime had taken place when they discovered her. The officers claim they don’t know how she died but they’ve been suspected of the crime.
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22. Eleanor Bumpers
Bumpers was one of the first Black women whose death prompted outrage at police misconduct after she was shot and killed by the NYPD in October 1984. Bumpers was tackled to the ground and shot in her Bronx home after officers approached her for being four months behind on her rent.
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23. Shelly Frey
Frey was shot and killed in Houston, TX in December 2012 after a police officer tried to arrest her friend for allegedly stealing from a Walmart. The officer said he shot Frey in self-defense after she allegedly tied to hit him with her car. Frey was deprived of medical attention and was left dead in her car for eight hours.
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24. Alberta Spruill
Spruill, a highly religious city worker died of a heart attack in May 2003 once officers broke into her Harlem home and planted a concussion grenade. They mistakenly attacked Spruill on a lead that there was criminal activity in her apartment.
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25. Tanisha Anderson
In November 2014, Anderson, a Cleveland woman suffering from bipolar disorder, was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital after officers answered a house call to her relatives during a manic episode. Instead of helping calm Anderson calm down, they slammed her facedown into the concrete sidewalk and handcuffed her with a knee in her back.
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26. Michelle Cusseaux
Cusseaux was shot and killed in her Phoenix home in August 2013 after officers came to take her to a mental health facility. Cusseaux refused to let the cops into her home and was holding a hammer when she was approached. Cusseaux’s mother countered that she was changing the locks at the time and that officers were ill-equipped to respond to her mental health problems.
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27. Pearlie Golden
Golden was fatally shot in her Texas home in May 2014 by police who arrived to her calm down after a dispute with her nephew. Golden was brandishing a pistol because she was angry that her car keys were taken from her once she failed a driving exam. The cop who killed her was fired from his department but was not indicted for the shooting.
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28. Pearlie Golden
Golden was fatally shot in her Texas home by police who arrived to her calm down after a dispute with her nephew. Golden was brandishing a pistol because she was angry that her car keys were taken from her once she failed a driving exam. The cop who killed her was fired from his department but was not indicted for the shooting.
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29. Kayla Moore
Moore was suffocated to death in her bedroom by police officers who came to escort her to a medical facility. Officers instead tried to arrest Moore, a transgender woman, using a warrant for a man that shared her birth name. Moore was also referred to by the cops with transgender slurs and her body was exposed after she was attacked.
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30. Tajai Rice
Tajai Rice is the older sister of Tamir Rice, the young Cleveland boy shot and killed by the police in November 2014 after they falsely believed that he was brandishing a gun. Tajai, only 14-years-old, ran to her brother’s side once he was shot. She was then tackled, handcuffed and pushed into the back of a police car by the officers who killed Tamir.
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31. Kayla Moore
Moore was suffocated to death in her bedroom by police officers who came to escort her to a medical facility. Officers instead tried to arrest Moore, a transgender woman, using a warrant for a man that shared her birth name. Moore was also referred to by the cops with transgender slurs and her body was exposed after she was attacked.
Source:Instagram
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32. Aiyana Jones
Jones, a 7-year-old girl from Detroit, MI was fatally shot in her sleep in May 2010 on her grandmother’s couch during a botched raid of their apartment. The officer who killed Jones was never convicted and returned to the police force earlier this year.
Source:Instagram
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33. Rekia Boyd
Boyd, a 22-year-old woman from Chicago was shot in the back of her head in March 2012 after one of her friends had an exchange with a nearby police officer. Boyd was left to bleed without the comfort of her friends in the street, and was removed from life support two days later. The officer who shot the gun was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter.
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34. Tyisha Miller
Miller was shot dead in her car by police officers in December 1998, Riverside, CA. Officers decided to shoot once they roused her from her sleep and discovered a gun in her lap. Friends claimed she likely had the gun because she was protecting herself from a man who was harassing her.
Source:Instagram
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35. Natasha McKenna
McKenna, 37, died in a hospital after being restrained by shackles and being tased four times by a sheriff’s deputy in Fairfax Count, VA on Feb 8. The police argued that they needed to tase McKenna to restrain her, but experts criticized them for using a Taser on a person with a mental health crisis. McKenna was discovered by her mother at the hospital severely bruised and missing a finger after the scuffle.
Source:Instagram
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36. Sheneque Proctor
Proctor, the 18-year-old mother of a baby boy, was found dead in her jail cell one morning in Bessemer, AL, November 2014. Police officers monitoring her ignored her requests for medical attention. Procter struggled with asthma and told her mother that the officers had roughed her up while she was in custody. The police department would not offer Proctor’s family the video tape showing her final waking hours.
Source:Instagram
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37. Tarika Wilson
Wilson and her infant son were shot by police in January 2008 during a SWAT Team raid of her Ohio home to find Wilson’s boyfriend, a suspected drug dealer. Wilson was not a part of any illegal drug sales. Wilson was killed from the attack, but the officer who shot her was acquitted of his misdemeanor charges: negligent homicide and negligent assault.
Source:Instagram
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38. Meagan Hockaday
On March 28 in Oxnard, CA, Hockaday, 26, was shot and killed within seconds by a policeman who had come to her home to respond to a domestic dispute. The officer argued that Hockaday was coming towards him with a knife. All of Hockaday’s three children were in the house when their mother was murdered.
Source:Instagram
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39. Janisha Fonville
Fonville was murdered by Charlotte, NC police on Feb. 18 following a domestic dispute between Fonville and her girlfriend. The officer who fatally shot Fonville had a history of wrongfully drawing out his gun in other cases and argued that Fonville approached him with a night. Fonville’s girlfriend, however, argued that Fonville was too far away and too small to pose a threat to anyone.
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40. Kimberlee Randle-King
Randle-King, a 21-year-old mother, was found dead after allegedly hanging herself in a jail cell. Randle-King was brought to prison after she was attacked in a melee with another woman that had been threatening her on social media. Police say Randle-King became upset when she was told she had to stay in custody for a string of outstanding warrants, but family members have denied Randle-King was suicidal.
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41. Yvette Smith
Smith, 47, was fatally shot in the head and the stomach in February 2014 after police officers came to settle a domestic dispute between two men at her Texas home. The officers accused Smith of having a gun but took back their statement the following day. Smith, a single mother, left behind two children.
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42. Duanna Johnson
Johnson, a transgendered woman from Memphis, was brutally beaten and handcuffed by local police officers whom wrongfully arrested her for prostitution in February 2008. Cops yelled at Johnson with misogynist, homophobic slurs. After being subdued to the ground, being slapped with handcuffs and attacked with pepper-spray on security camera, Johnson was found fatally shot execution style.
UP NEXT: The 2015 Fall Movies You Can’t Miss
Black Panther Documentary Merely Skims The Surface Of A Complex Movement was originally published on ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc
This Fall’s Can’t Miss Films
As we sadly kiss the Summer of 2015 goodbye, we have a plethora of brand new blockbuster flicks to keep us company as the weather turns cool.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL GUIDE
Red Carpet Rundown: The 2015 Video Music Awards
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1. Nicki Minaj
Pretty on fleek! Nicki Minaj glowed on the red carpet in a Labourjoisie gold gown and her signature long, dark hair. Slayed!
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2. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West
The man of the hour, Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award winner Kanye West hit the red carpet with his glowing pregnant wife in tow. Kimmy K. dressed her baby bump in a Balmain lace-up ruched gown to match Kanye’s relaxed separates.
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3. Ciara
Ciara turned heads in a peek-a-boo fringe number and embellished stilettos. Though we love her outfit, we have to admit we’re missing Russell Wilson’s coordinating look.
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4. Amber Rose and Blac Chyna
Amber Rose and Blac Chyna are making sure they have the last laugh. They promoted Amber’s upcoming Slut Walk in outfits with degrading phrases strewn across the front. That’s one way to clap back at critics.
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5. John Legend and Chrissy Teigen
John Legend and Chrissy Teigen bet on black: her in a daring Marchesa sheer gown and him in leather pants and a tuxedo jacket. And the award for best-looking couple of the night goes to…
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6. Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus showed as much skin as possible in an Atelier Versace get-up with matching silver boots. Raise your hand if you’re NOT at all surprised by her head-turning look.
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7. Kylie Jenner
Fresh off her 18th birthday, the youngest Jenner sister showed off her legs in a Balmain nude embroidered mini dress and lace-up sandals by the brand.
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8. Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift tapped into her sexier side in an Ashish metallic crop top and matching pants plus a killer cat-eye.
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9. Tyga
Tyga went sporty on the red carpet in a backwards baseball cap, graphic tee, vest, shorts and plenty of piled-on chains.
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10. Serayah
Empire’s Serayah showed off her toned figure in a Herve Leger cut-out white dress and strappy booties. Werque.
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11. Rita Ora
Rita Ora is wearing that dress! She chose a dramatic ball gown that left little to the imagination. Come through plunging neckline and thigh-high slit!
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12. Pharrell and Helen Lasichanh
No shade to Britney and Justin but THIS is how you do matching denim. Pharrell rocked a denim jacket and jeans while wife Helen Lasichanh wore overalls, a chambray shirt and a hat that we’d like to believe is a tribute to her beau.
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13. Justin Bieber
From the blowout to the killer cheekbones, Justin Bieber gave us Zoolander realness on the red carpet in a leather jacket, distressed jeans and a printed shirt.
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14. Vanessa Hudgens
Vanessa was all about boho vibes in a pink gown with floral embroidery. Beach waves, layered necklaces and hair accessories finished her ’70s-inspired look.
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15. Kelly Osbourne
The VMAs pre-show host twirled in a pinstripe sheer jumpsuit, a purple mohawk and bold red lips. Nailed it.
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16. Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez kept it simple and elegant in a Calvin Klein dark, long sleeve gown, a smoky eye and romantic loose waves. Gorgeous!
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17. Miguel
Miguel skewed trendy in a Saint Laurent printed blazer and distressed jeans. Love the beard!
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18. Kat Graham
Kat Graham always keeps it feminine and fun on the red carpet. We love her printed mini dress, personality clutch and wavy bob.
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19. Rocsi Diaz
Rosci sizzled on the red carpet in a cut-out House of CB dress and Sophia Webster stilettos.
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20. Tori Kelly
Hello, legs! Tori flaunted her stems in high-waisted shorts, a lace long-sleeve top and pointy pumps.
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21. FKA Twigs
FKA Twigs went the sultry route in a see-through lace gown with a web design in the bodice. We aren’t loving the lingerie vibes but her curly bob and red lip slay!
Up Next: ICYMI: The Nina Simone Documentary You Need To Watch
Black Panther Documentary Merely Skims The Surface Of A Complex Movement was originally published on ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc
By now, you’ve heard all about the amazing Nina Simone documentary soundtrack with superstars like Lauryn Hill and Jazmine Sullivan. But the film was everything and more.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REVIEW
Lights, Cameras, Action: 19 Talented Black Female Directors You Need To Know
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1. 19 Talented Black Female Directors You Need To Know
Watching a Black woman’s story on the big screen is always a beautiful moment. It’s even better when the artist behind the scenes are Black women. Directors like Jessie Maple and Zeinabu Irene Davis paved the way for Ava DuVernay, who became the first Black woman to be nominated for Best Director (“Selma”) at this year’s Golden Globes. Here are 19 Black female directors you should know.
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2. Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou made her directorial debut with “Down In The Delta,” starring Alfre Woodard, Wesley Snipes (here together at the ’98 premiere) and Loretta Devine. In 1972, Angelou became the first Black woman to sell a movie script, “Georgia, Georgia” — directed by Swedish filmmaker Stig Björkman. Her second film script was 1982’s “Sister, Sister.”
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3. “Down In The Delta”
Watch the trailer for the soulful coming of age story here.
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4. Leslie Harris
Harris debuted her first film, “Just Another Girl On the I.R.T.” in 1992 which she wrote and directed (that’s her with the clipboard). Newcomer Ariyan A. Johnson played Chantel Mitchell. A smart, Brooklyn rude gal that for all her know-it-all behavior, gets pregnant at the age of 17. Despite the cult love for the Sundance-winning “I.R.T,” Harris wouldn’t release another film until 2013’s “I Love Cinema.”
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5. “Just Another Girl On The I.R.T.”
Watch a clip from the Miramax film here.
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6. Kasi Lemmons
In 1997, Lemmons released “Eve’s Bayou” about a wealthy Louisiana family, through the eyes of its Eve, played by a Jurnee Smollett. It was a critics’ favorite and Lemmons’ most lauded work as a filmmaker. Some of her other directorial credits include the acclaimed “Talk To Me,” and “The Caveman’s Valentine” and “Black Nativity.”
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7. “Eve’s Bayou”
See Jurnee Smollett as Eve here!
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8. Dee Rees
“Pariah”, the 2011 Sundance winner for Cinematography, was Rees’ first film. It was an autobiographical take on a young, African-American lesbian who comes to terms with her orientation, but also experiences being disowned by her mother because of it. Prior to, Rees was a graduate student of NYU film school, and was mentored by Spike Lee. Lee hired her as the script supervisor intern for his 2006 film “Inside Man.”
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9. “Pariah”
Watch the trailer here, featuring its lead actress Adepero Oduye.
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10. Amma Asante
The British-Ghanian filmmaker brought the unknown, real-life story of biracial aristocrat Dido Elizabeth Belle to the big screen in “Belle” starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw. The unique film that found distribution in America was Asante’s second, succeeding her acclaimed “A Way of Life” which earned her a prestigious BAFTA honor.
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11. “Belle”
Watch the trailer for “Belle” here.
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12. Julie Dash
Treated as the doyenne of Black female filmmakers, Dash’s 1991 debut “Daughters of the Dust” was praised for his history-laced storyline, gaining wide distribution. Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and preserved in the National Film Registry, the Queens-born, of Gullah descent talent mainly stayed with indies until 2002’s “The Rosa Parks Story.” She also directed “Love Song” starring Monica in 2000.
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13. “Daughters Of The Dust”
Watch this powerful scene from the film here!
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14. Victoria Mahoney
Mahoney was an aspiring director whose dream came true through her feature debut (that she also also wrote) “Yelling to the Sky.” The impressive film starred Zoe Kravitz as its lead and a cast that included Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe and The Roots’ Blackthought. The film was nominated for the Berlin International Film Festival’s top Golden Bear.
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15. “Yelling To The Sky”
Watch the trailer here!
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16. Sanaa Hamri
Hamri’s entertainment career began in music videos, her first being (no big deal) Mariah Carey’s “Thank God I Found You.” Her directorial debut was the interracial romantic comedy “Something New” with Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker. Hamri’s credits include Nicki Minaj’s videos for “Super Bass” and “Fly” and films “The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants 2” and “Just Wright.”
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17. “Something New”
Here’s the trailer for the film here!
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18. Euzhan Palcy
Hailing from Martinique, France, this Louis Lumière College grad is a force! She’s the first Black recipient of the Cesar Award, has earned a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was the first Black woman to have her film backed by a major studio, which was 1989’s “A Dry White Season” for MGM. That movie also marked her as the only woman to direct the iconic Marlon Brando. She also directed the TV biopic on “Ruby Bridges.”
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19. Euzhan Palcy
This video is a featurette on Palcy as she talks about her career in film!
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20. Darnell Martin
This Bronx-native’s, and graduate of Sarah Lawrence and NYU, first film was the 1992 short “Suspect” which lead to her full-length (underrated) comedy “I Like It Like That” in 1994. She’s also directed Halle Berry in the adaptation of “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and Beyonce in “Cadillac Records,” giving us Queen Bey’s best acting role yet as the late great Etta James.
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21. “Cadillac Records”
Watch Beyonce as Etta James here!
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22. Ava DuVernay
The woman who inspired this list, Duvernay’s sophomore film “Middle of Nowhere” wowed critics. She become the first Black woman to win the Sundance Directing Award for U.S. Dramatic Film in 2012, as the Californian and UCLA grad has worn many hats including working in broadcast journalism and publicity. Her directing credits includes a Prada short film and an episode of “Scandal.”
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23. “Middle Of Nowhere”
Watch the trailer here, which also starred David Oyelowo who plays MLK in DuVernay’s “Selma.”
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24. Gina Prince-Bythewood
Yes, she wrote and directed every black girl’s favorite “Love and Basketball” but don’t sleep on her other great films! She also directed adaptations of “Disappearing Acts” and “The Secret Life of Bees” and last year’s underrated love story “Beyond The Lights.” The UCLA graduate began in television working on “A Different World” and “South Central.” “Love And Basketball” was released in 2000, starring Sanaa Lathan.
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25. “Beyond the Lights”
Watch Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Nate Parker in a clip here!
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26. Tanya Hamilton
Hamilton is a Jamaican born talent that came to America at 8 years old with her mom. A Columbia University alumni, her first film was 1997’s “The Killers.” In 2010, she directed “Night Catches Us,” a biopic of Philadelphia’s Black Panthers starring Anthony Mackie and Kerry Washington. It earned her many nominations from Sundance, Black Reel, Independent Spirit, and won an Athena Film Festival honor.
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27. “Night Catches Us”
Watch a clip here!
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28. Tina Mabry
Mabry’s autobiographical “Mississippi Damned” is a tough film on family secrets and denial, but the acting was fantastic and her direction brilliant. In 2009, the UCLA grad received accolades from tons of festivals including Chicago International, American Black Film, New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film, Atlanta and Black Reel. The film also featured a young Tessa Thompson.
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29. “Mississippi Damned”
Watch a scene here!
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30. Cheryl Dunye
Dunye’s most notable work is 1996’s full-length indie “The Watermelon Woman.” Like the Black lesbian take on Kevin Smith’s “Clerks,” Dunye played the lead character who works in a video store and is obsessed with making a biopic about an obscure black actress. She also has an interracial romance with a former White female customer. The Liberian born, Temple and Rutgers grad last project was 2014’s “Black Is Blue.”
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31. “The Watermelon Woman”
Watch a funny scene from the flick here!
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32. Nzingha Stewart
Stewart has always been one to watch, as she’s directed over 100 music videos for some big names in neo-soul and hip-hop, including Common, Jadakiss, Joss Stone, and Bilal. This January, she wrote and directed the Lifetime TV movie “With This Ring” starring Regina King, Jill Scott, and Eve. The NYU Philosophy grad also executive produced Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls” movie.
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33. Nzingha Stewart
Here’s the video for Eve’s “Satisfaction” that Stewart directed! #tbt
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Source:Amanda Edwards
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34. Yvonne Welbon
This Chicagoan filmmaker has based most of her most praised projects on racism and homosexuality, as Welbon is an outspoken member of the LGBT community. Her first film 1991’s “Monique” tackled her own experiences with prejudice and won Best Documentary at the Festival of Illinois Film and Video Artists. Other notable works are “Sisters In The Life” and “Missing Relations.”
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35. Kimberly Towns
Towns’ college thesis project “Zero” was nominated for HBO’s Short Film Competition and selected for the American Black Film Festival. A graduate of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television, the new filmmaker is on a roll, as last year, she directed the short film “Hands To The Sky”, that featured an autistic protagonist.
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36. Nev Nnaji
Nnaji’s docu “Reflections Unheard: Black Women In Civil Rights” was an honest discussion of the Black women who were unsung supporters and leaders of the Civil Rights and Feminist movements of the ’60s and ’70s. These women, for too long, were overlooked for male heroes or their White counterparts, and Nnaji’s film was a passion project in their memory. The Nigerian native is a Boston University film school grad.
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Black Panther Documentary Merely Skims The Surface Of A Complex Movement was originally published on ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc
