“The American Society of Magical Negroes” Writer/Director Kobi Libii Puts a Spell on Old Tropes

The American Society of Magical Negroes has a provocative premise: What if Black people could join an underground league that gave them the power to erase any white person’s distress? Racism, the movie argues, stems from white anxieties. If that discomfort can be vanished, Black bodies won’t face as much risk. 

Kobi Libii’s satirical take on racial dynamics is a bold swing, especially for a first-time director. Justice Smith plays Aren,

The Sartorial Feast of Feudal Japan with “Shōgun” Costume Designer Carlos Rosario: Part One

“I wanted to create from a white canvas without any mental references going into the project,” costume designer Carlos Rosario (The Girl in the Spider’s Web, Jolt) explains why he chose not to read the James Clavell bestselling novel before working on FX Networks’ cinematic historical saga, Shōgun (将軍), and only used the 1980 miniseries adaptation as a broad reference. “As a costume designer, you build a strong psychological,

“Iwájú” Visual Effects Supervisor Marlon West on Bringing Afrofuturism to Animation

Disney+ just released an exciting new 6-part animated series called Iwájú, representing the first collaboration with an outside studio in its partnership with Pan-African storytelling company Kugali Media. Kugali’s co-founders created a uniquely African story, which takes place in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria. In fact, every single character that appears in Iwájú is Nigerian. 

The series is a coming-of-age tale centered on an idealistic 10-year-old girl named Tola. She lives in the rarified and protected environment her tech mogul father Tunde has created on the island,

Andes to Oscars: How Makeup Masters Turned “Society of the Snow” Actors Into Survivors

Director J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow, which recounts the experience of a Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes in 1972, is Spain’s Oscar entry for best international feature. But the film, which depicts the crash and subsequent survival of 16 out of 45 passengers in exquisitely painful detail, is also nominated in another category. The passengers break bones. They sustain face injuries. They starve. For their incredible work creating the visual reality of this suffering,

Oscar-Nominated Editor Laurent Sénéchal’s High Wire Act in “Anatomy of a Fall”

After sweeping this awards season with trophies at the BAFTAs, France’s César Awards, Critics Choice, and the recent Spirit Awards, writer-director Justine Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari’s cerebral courtroom drama is headed for the home stretch, with five Academy Award nominations on the line. Anatomy of a Fall is a masterclass of filmmaking across the board, and that surely includes the surgical work done by editor Laurent Sénéchal (C’est ça l’amour,

“Drive-Away Dolls” Production Designer Yong Ok Lee on Transforming Pittsburgh Into the Whole East Coast

Ethan Coen’s solo directorial debut, Drive-Away Dolls, stars Margaret Qualley as Jamie, an unhindered Texan attached at the hip to her best friend and human hand-brake, Marian, played by Geraldine Viswanathan. The only trait these two twenty-somethings seemingly share is that they are both lesbians, but when an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee turns into a game of cat and mouse involving a couple of hired goons, Arliss (Joey Slotnick) and Flint (C.J.

Director Alex Stapleton Gets Personal in HBO’s “God Save Texas”

Throughout her career, Emmy-winning documentarian Alex Stapleton has spotlighted such colorful characters as baseball legend Reggie Jackson and movie maverick Roger Corman. She’s examined the role athletes play in the cultural and political conversation in Shut up and Dribble and investigated the struggle for LGBTQ rights in Pride. But the HBO series God Save Texas presented Stapleton an opportunity to document a subject unlike any she had captured before — herself.

“To Kill a Tiger” Director Nisha Pahuja on her Eight-Year Journey to Make her Oscar-Nominated Doc

One of the year’s Oscar Cinderella stories is the best documentary nomination for director Nisha Pahuja’s To Kill a Tiger. It took Pahuja and her small crew eight years to complete their independent film about a father’s fight for justice after three men abducted his 13-year-old daughter and sexually assaulted her in a poor rural village in India. 

“It has not quite hit me yet,” says Pahuja of what will be her first-ever trip to the Oscar ceremony on March 10.

Co-Director Moses Bwayo on the Harrowing Journey to Capture the Oscar-Nominated Doc “Bobi Wine: The People’s President”

Imagine for a moment if a music icon like Beyoncé or Dolly Parton ran for United States President. Cool, right? But imagine, during their campaign, they were arrested, brutally beaten, and thrown in jail by the incumbent government while their supporters were detained, shot at, and killed. As Americans, would we simply look the other way? In Uganda, similar events actually took place leading up to the 2021 presidential election as Bobi Wine, a superstar musician,

How Pixar Director Peter Sohn Got Personal in His Oscar-nominated “Elemental”

How do you make fire feel endearing rather than scary? And how do you turn water into a gusher of emotions? Those were key questions faced by director Peter Sohn when he set forth to make Elemental. The Bronx-born animator previously helped anthropomorphize rats, robots, dolphins, and dinosaurs in Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, WALL•E, and The Little Dinosaur. But never before had he tried to put a human face on earth,

“Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin” Namesake & Co-Writer Robb Armstrong on His Peanuts Immortality

Robb Armstrong’s JumpStart is the most widely syndicated daily comic strip by an African American in the world. He was inspired to his career as a cartoonist, in part, by reading the Peanuts comics by Charles Schulz and started drawing images from the famed strip as a child. Of course, one major influence was Franklin, the first Black character in Peanuts, who was introduced in 1968. Early in his career,

“Bob Marley: One Love” Co-writer/Director Reinaldo Marcus Green on Capturing a Legend’s Spirit

Bob Marley’s family has been trying to create and release a narrative that celebrates the beloved Jamaican performer’s life and music for decades. Only recently did the producers, including Rita, Bob’s wife, and her children Ziggy and Cedella Marley, feel like all the pieces had come together to create a story worthy of Bob’s legacy. The perfect blend of talent to bring Bob’s story to the big screen included casting Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch as Bob and Rita Marley and hiring Reinaldo Marcus Green,

“Say It Loud” Director Deborah Riley Draper on Telling the Complex James Brown Story

It doesn’t take much to get filmmaker Deborah Riley Draper going when it comes to the topic of James Brown. Her new documentary James Brown: Say It Loud (airing Feb. 19 and Feb. 20 on A&E) chronicles the music titan’s remarkable journey from his 1933 birth in a South Carolina shack through his early days as a “buck dancer,” his imprisonment at age 16, the 1956 breakthrough hit Please Please Please,

“The Last Repair Shop” Co-Composer & Co-Director Kris Bowers on his Perfectly Tuned Oscar-Nominated Doc

Composer Kris Bowers has emerged as one of Hollywood’s most versatile film scorers with a stunning list of credits, including Ava DuVernay’s Origin, The Color Purple, and the upcoming Bob Marley: One Love. But Bowers is also the Oscar-nominated co-director of this year’s documentary short The Last Repair Shop, which spotlighted a story right in Bowers’s backyard.

“True Detective: Night Country” Writer/Director Issa López Delivers a Chilling New Season

Issa López loves to challenge herself. The writer/director, best known for the mystical 2017 feature Tigers Are Not Afraid, believes your comfort zone is the last place to find stories worth telling.

“If you’re not terrified, you’re not doing it right,” López says during a recent Zoom interview. “There are massive fears that you face as a filmmaker. You need to just do it. With the right team, you can go out and do anything.”

Perhaps nothing proves this better than True Detective: Night Country,

“Lift” Costume Designer Antoinette Messam on Finding Fresh Looks for Kevin Hart’s Heist Film

In director F. Gary Gray’s new heist movie, Lift, now streaming on Netflix, Kevin Hart plays Cyrus, a blue chip art thief backed by an international crew with a penchant for “freeing” work, from Van Gogh paintings to trendy NFTs. After a showy sleight of hand in Venice, Interpol agent Abby (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) almost has Cyrus pinned, but a bigger threat than missing artwork offers him a shot at redemption. Cyrus and his crew are tasked with heisting a pallet of gold before it reaches Leviathan,

“The Book of Clarence” Director Jeymes Samuel Brings Humanity to the Biblical Epic

Hollywood has long recognized the cinematic appeal of Bible stories as both ancient and eternal. Battles between good and evil play out on an epic scale, but The Book of Clarence looks beyond the page to spotlight everyday citizens whose lives were upended by Jesus’ journey. The film’s writer and director, Jeymes Samuel, aimed to widen the lens of the gospels and give some perspective to those just outside Christ’s circle. 

“The Color Purple” Composer Kris Bowers on Creating a Melodic Symphony Fit for Celie’s Journey

Composer Kris Bowers didn’t have to read the script before saying yes to Blitz Bazawule’s emotionally captivating version of The Color Purple. He was already a fan of his work, particularly the director’s debut, The Burial of Kojo, and Beyoncé’s visual album Black is King.

For this collaboration, early discussions focused on “being innovative musically” and connecting themes to one of the two dozen plus songs featured in the heartfelt musical that sees actor Fantasia Barrino playing the role of Celie,

“The Color Purple” Makeup Department Head Carol Rasheed Finds Music in Many Shades

Like its heroine, Celie (Fantasia Barrino), The Color Purple is a story that continually grows in boldness and beauty over time. Director Blitz Bazawule’s musical version of Alice Walker’s classic tale of hope and sisterhood is a vivid interpretation for a new generation.

Makeup department head Carol Rasheed approached the film with a clear intention and steadfast goals. She exchanged vision boards, music, and more with Bazawule for nearly six months to prepare for the shoot.

Best of 2023: Gina Prince-Bythewood, MPA Creator Award Recipient, Tells Her Story

*It’s our annual “Best of the Year” look back at some of our favorite interviews from the year. 

An elite force of female soldiers, the Agojie, is all that stands between the African Kingdom of Dahomey and the combined forces of the Oyo Empire and Mahi people. The Oyo and Mahi plan to raid Dahomey villages and sell their captives to European slavers. We open on a Mahi village where raiders heat their machetes over a fire at night.