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Black Reel Awards: ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’, ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’, ‘One Night In Miami’ – The Complete Winners List

Here are the shows, actors and production teams who won at the 21st Annual Black Reel Awards

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written by Betti Halsell

Judas and the Black Messiah has made a phenomenal stamp at the 21st Annual Black Reel Awards on April 11. The film was awarded for Outstanding film and featured stars Daniel Kaluuya and Dominique Fishback, receiving the title of Outstanding Supporting Actor and Outstanding Supporting Actress. The production team was celebrated as well – Charles King, Ryan Coogler, and Shaka King have become the first all-African American team to win Outstanding Picture, according to the report from Deadline

Other projects included Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom for the iconic performance from Chadwick Boseman. He is the first posthumous winner in Black Reel Award history. The late actor received the Outstanding Actor award. Additionally, for the same film, Viola Davis took home the Outstanding Actress award for her performance. 

One Night in Miami attracted a lot of attention on Sunday as they picked up five awards: for Outstanding Director, Outstanding Emerging Director, Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Breakthrough Actor, and Outstanding Song.  

Included in the wins was the animated film Soul – the first animated film to win an Outstanding Score. Black Reel Awards founder was quoted by Deadline, “What an unprecedented year it was for Black filmmakers and creatives, and I’m delighted that this year’s winners reflected the historic nature of Black Cinema. We are honored to have this year’s class of winners join the rich history of those acknowledged in the past as they stand on the shoulders of Black Cinematic giants who paved the way.”

The Black Reel Awards (BRAs) was hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF), recognizing the talent in the Black community and highlighting the cinematic achievements of the African diaspora on an international level. 

Awards are given by the total vote of the Foundation’s membership. Category winners earn a copy of a statuette, the Black Reel Award. This tradition started in 2000, in Washington D.C, with the FAAAF organization. 

See the full list of the 2020 winners shown below: 

Outstanding Film Judas and the Black Messiah | Charles D. King, Ryan Cooler, and Shaka King

Outstanding Actor Chadwick Boseman | Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Outstanding Actress Viola Davis | Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Outstanding Supporting Actor Daniel Kaluuya | Judas and the Black Messiah

Outstanding Supporting Actress Dominique Fishback | Judas and the Black Messiah

Outstanding Director Regina King | One Night in Miami

Outstanding Screenplay Radha Blank | The 40-Year-Old Version

Outstanding Documentary Time | Garrett Bradley

Outstanding Ensemble One Night in Miami | Kimberly Hardin

Outstanding Foreign-Language Film Night of the Kings | Philippe Lacote (Senegal)

Outstanding Score Soul | Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross & Jon Batiste

Outstanding Original Song Speak Now (One Night in Miami) | Leslie Odom, Jr.

Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Male Kingsley Ben-Adir | One Night in Miami

Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Female Andra Day | The U.S. vs. Billie Holiday

Outstanding Voice Performance Jamie Foxx | Soul

Outstanding Independent Film The 40-Year-Old Version | Radha Blank

Outstanding Independent Documentary Mr. Soul! | Melissa Haizlip

Outstanding Independent Short Canvas | Frank E. Abney III

Outstanding Emerging Director One Night in Miami | Regina King

Outstanding First Screenplay The 40-Year-Old Version | Radha Blank

Outstanding Cinematography Malcolm & Marie | Marcell Rev

Outstanding Costume Design Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey | Michael Wilkinson

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Rihanna’s New Wax Figure Unveiled at Madame Tussauds in Amsterdam

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Rihanna wax figure

The global icon and entrepreneur Rihanna was honored with a new wax figure at Madame Tussauds in Amsterdam, Netherlands, this week.

Her outfit this time around is inspired by one of her looks from the 2020 Savage x Fenty show, which streamed exclusively on Prime Video.

Rihanna wax figure Amsterdam

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Starz Releases Official Trailer for ‘Run The World’ Season 2

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Run The World

The squad is back! Starz dropped the new trailer for ‘Run The World’ season 2, and it looks like our favorite NYC girls are in for more fun and drama. Bresha Webb, Amber Stevens West, and Corbin Reid are reprising their roles as Renee, Whitney, and Sondi, respectively. Andrea Bordeaux (who played Ella in Season 1) departed the show over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The new season will follow the “euphoric highs and heartbreaking lows that Whitney, Renee, and Sondi must endure in their pursuit of world domination,” says the official synopsis. “Whitney must follow the road of self-discovery to thrive in her life with or without Ola, while Renee and Sondi must decide what they truly want out of life — both in love and their careers. Whether they reunite with a past love, taste the life of a millionaire, or see their career take off in a radical new direction, these powerful Black women, fortified by their impenetrable friendship, won’t let anything get in their way.”

The new episodes of ‘Run the World’ will premiere on Friday, May 26.

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Disney Casts Actors of Color to Play Fictional White Characters – Impactful or Opportunistic?

The studio has faced criticism for hiring non-white actors to portray roles depicted in Disney cartoons as white for its live-action remakes.

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This year, Disney is gearing up to release live-action remakes of ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Peter Pan.’ Each will feature a Black actor playing a fictional character originally portrayed by a white actor. Halle Bailey, a Black actress and singer, is set to portray the beloved red-haired, fish-tailed under-the-sea princess Ariel. Yara Shahidi, a daughter of an Iranian father and an African-American mother, will star as Peter Pan’s most trusted fairy friend Tinkerbell. Both movies are scheduled to be released in the next two months.
 
The casting decisions came with backlash from a vast number of Twitter and Redditt users, who claim – “blackwashing” childhood characters (i.e., taking an originally white character and making them a person of color) will not solve the lack of inclusivity in Hollywood. But is that really why they so passionately stand against it? The negative attention on Little Mermaid and Tinker Bell has also fueled great support from other fans who view such anger as racist behavior. “Those opposed to diversity on screen are the ones fighting it in real life,” one Twitter user wrote. Rob Marshall, who directs the upcoming Little Mermaid remake, admitted he was caught off guard by some of the negative responses that came with casting Bailey. “I wasn’t anticipating that because, in a way, I felt like we’ve moved so far past that kind of thing.” He also insisted there was no agenda in Disney’s decision to hire the 22-year-old, “We just were looking for the best
actor for the role, period. The end,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “We saw everybody and every ethnicity. The goal was to find someone who can be incredibly strong, passionate, beautiful, smart, clever, and with a great deal of fire and joy,” Marshall explained.
 
For a few years now, Disney, among other media companies, has made an effort to
redeem itself from a century-long history of producing controversial movies and
animated films (‘Song of the South,’ ‘Dumbo, ‘The Aristocrats”), some of which have been deemed racist or ‘culturally outdated’ as Disney conveniently describes it. Most recently, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company announced a diversity and inclusion program ‘Reimagine Tomorrow,’ that is committed to “amplifying underrepresented voices and untold stories as well as championing the importance of accurate representation in media and entertainment.” Casting more people of color could count as a way to honor their commitment, but is changing the ethnicity of established characters the best solution? Some argue that it could be. Several previously released remakes that followed this model have done well, despite surrounding controversy.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella cast/ Disney

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella cast/ Disney

In 1997, Disney released Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, a reimagining of the famed tale. It did not just have a non-white main cast but also received a budget of $12 million, which ranked it among the most expensive television films ever made. The remake featured Brandy, an African-American actor/singer, as Cinderella, the late Whitney Houston as Fairy Godmother, Paulo Montalban, an Asian actor as Prince Christopher, and Victor Garber and Whoopi Goldberg as the king and queen. Although the non-traditional reiteration of the Disney story received mixed reviews from critics, it was met with a lot of praise, specifically from the Black community. “This Cinderella remake is such a beautiful, magical gem of a movie filled with a multiracial cast, and I can’t believe it came out in 1997! Talk about progressive!” a review on IMDb reads. “I think this live-action Cinderella movie is my most favorite. I love the songs and the comedy. Most of the actors are familiar. This movie also teaches us that no matter what we look like, black, white, Asian, we are all the same,” another fan wrote in his five-star review.

Most recently, Disney doubled down on casting non-white actors to star in their remakes. Aside from the aforementioned ‘Little Mermaid’ and ‘Peter Pan’ films, Rachel Zegler, a Latina actress, was cast to play Snow White in a movie scheduled to be released in 2024. Disney’s ‘Wonder Years’ reboot features an all-Black main cast. Zendaya plays MJ in the new Spider-Man movies. And that’s not just with Disney. Amazon Prime Video recently cast Afro-Latino actor Ismael Cruz Córdova to play Arondir, a Silvan elf, in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.’ The reimagining of ‘The West Side Story’ featured Latino actors in leading roles. Almost every casting announcement caused a social media stir.

Rachel Zegler spotted on the set of ‘Snow White’

But why remake in the first place? According to Dr. Matthew Jones, Film Studies lecturer at De Montfort University in Leicester, “Remake and reboot culture is not new. It’s often framed as something novel and unique to our postmodern times, but there is actually a rich tradition of remakes in Western film culture,” he told Cosmopolitan. So why are they still being made? The answer is fairly simple – remakes are a safe financial bet. Studios capitalize on people’s nostalgia and the connections they already have with their favorite characters. “The most secure option for studios is always going to be something we call a ‘pre-sold property,’ Dr. Jones continued, “meaning films with pre-existing fan audiences. And what types of films have fan audiences before they are even released? Remakes, reboots, and sequels do, precisely because they are already properties familiar to audiences and which some people will feel an emotional attachment to already.”

Those opposed to Disney’s casting decisions to ‘race swap’ insist the company should focus on creating original characters and storylines instead of reimagining the ones they have become so accustomed to. “Another remake! Did Hollywood run out of ideas?” One Reddit user asked. “Disney is only changing the race/ethnicity of characters in live-action remakes to spark controversy and get more people talking about the movie rather than trying to bring minorities to light as protagonists,” another speculated. However, it’s no secret that the United States has a long and dark history of racial discrimination and injustice. So, when minority groups are shown outside of the tired, stereotypical roles or, furthermore, play roles that are considered “traditionally” white – it implies a change that some simply don’t want to accept.

Indeed, Disney had succeeded in the past in introducing original non-white animated characters such as Mulan (the live-action version was released in 2020), Tiana in ‘Princess and the Frog’ (the remake is currently in the works), Moana, and most recently, the family of ‘Encanto.’ But original content inevitably means more resources spent, and with remakes that deliver guaranteed financial gains and casting decisions that bring attention (positive or negative), studios seem to achieve desirable results still. Additionally, the cultural and racial diversification of Disney’s fan base and the pressure to acknowledge and show more of those faces on the screen pushes the company to do just that. So the main question remains – does Hollywood genuinely cares about inclusivity, or is it just adjusting for the sake of profits? No matter the answer, one thing is clear – Disney is not going anywhere any time soon, and neither are the Black, Asian, Latino, and other non-white people across the globe. Those who have a problem will just have to learn to live with it.

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