Entertainment
Jada Pinkett Smith & Spike Lee To Boycott 2016 Oscars
Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee to boycott 2016 Oscars
Jada Pinkett Smith said in a Facebook video that she will be boycotting the 2016 Oscars due to a reoccurring lack of diversity in the prestigious awards ceremony.
Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith to boycott oscars
The 44-year-old actress said “stand in your power and create your own”, proclaiming for people of color in the entertainment and film industry to take responsibility and make the change. “Maybe it’s time to pull back our resources and put them back into the community”.
Not soon after, legendary filmmaker and director Spike Lee, who actually won an honorary award from the Academy in November, said he too will be boycotting.
“As I Said In My Honorary Oscar Acceptance Speech, It’s Easier For An African-American To Be President Of The United States Than Be President Of A Hollywood Studio. ” said Lee.
“We cannot support it and [I] mean no disrespect … But, how is it possible for the second consecutive year all 20 contenders under the acting category are white? And let’s not even get into the other branches,” Lee wrote on Instagram. “Forty white actors in two years and no flava at all. We can’t act?! WTF! Lee said.
Oscars So White
The announcement comes on the day the country nationally celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a man who fought for equal rights for all people. The Oscars have drawn criticism for having over mostly all-white nominees in major categories. The criticism sparked the rising of the #OscarsSowhite hashtag.
#OscarsSoWhite trended on social media last week after a number of black Oscar hopefuls, including “Beasts of No Nation’s” Idris Elba; “Creed” star Michael B. Jordan; that movie’s writer-director, Ryan Coogler; and the cast of N.W.A biopic “Straight Outta Compton” were overlooked by academy voters.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has faced years of criticism that its 7,000-plus members who vote on the Oscars are mostly older, male, white and out of touch with today’s moviegoers.
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is black, said over the weekend that she was “disappointed” by the Oscar nominations.
“But this is not to take away the greatness” of the nominated films, she told Deadline. “This has been a great year in film, it really has, across the board. You are never going to know what is going to appear on the sheet of paper until you see it.”
Next month’s 88th Academy Awards will be hosted by black actor-comedian Chris Rock, who has largely remained quiet about the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Friday on Twitter, however, Rock referred to the show as “the white BET Awards.”
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Culture
New Wu-Tang Clan concert film returns to Wilmington before PBS release
Screening as part of Wu-Tang Wednesday series by 3 Chambers and DJ RizzyBeats
On November 6th, 3 Chambers and DJ RizzyBeats will bring the highly anticipated concert film documentary A WU-TANG EXPERIENCE: LIVE AT RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE back to Wilmington, North Carolina for a free community screening at Waterline Brewing Company as part of their Wu-Tang Wednesday series. The North Carolina Black Film Festival had the Southern premiere of the film in Wilmington back in May.
Wu-Tang Clan concert film
Combining performances and revealing interviews with group members and associates, classical musicians, and concertgoers, the Wu-Tang Clan concert film documents the extraordinary concert at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre where the Wu-Tang Clan, backed by the 60-piece Colorado Symphony Orchestra, weaved together songs from their vast discography of group and solo albums. Their setlist created a live score to a real-time screening of the seminal martial arts film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin—the movie that largely inspired the Clan’s aesthetic and the title of their groundbreaking debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).
The documentary deconstructs stereotypes that limit classical music and Hip-Hop as mutually exclusive musical genres, dismantles these imposed limitations, and collapses boundaries and artistic mediums to amplify the ways classical music, Hip-Hop, and film can coalesce in a beautiful, innovative union.
The film is co-directed by Wu-Tang Clan’s The RZA and Gerald K. Barclay.
How to watch
Wu-Tang Wednesday will start at 5pm at Waterline Brewing Company with a Wu-Tang set by DJ RizzyBeats. A WU-TANG EXPERIENCE: LIVE AT RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE will screen at 7pm.
Rude Bwoys Food Truck will be on-site and Gravity Records will have vinyl records for sale.
Attendees will also be able to learn more about the upcoming 3 Chambers Fest, which happens on December 4th – 7th in Wilmington, North Carolina. Festival passes and tickets are currently on sale at www.3chambers.com.
This event is free and open to the public. This will be the only public screening in the South before the streaming premiere on PBS on November 11th.
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Entertainment
Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) is accepting entries for 2025 Baltimore Screenwriters Competition
This is an opportunity to craft winning screenplay that highlights Baltimore. The competition awards prizes in both the feature and shorts categories for scripts that are set or able to be filmed in Baltimore.
The Baltimore Film Office at the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) is accepting entries for the 20th annual Baltimore Screenwriters Competition.
About Baltimore Screenwriters Competition
This is an opportunity to craft winning screenplay that highlights Baltimore. The competition awards prizes in both the feature and shorts categories for scripts that are set or able to be filmed in Baltimore.
The Baltimore Screenwriters Competition is a project of the Baltimore Film Office in conjunction with film programs at Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University.
Baltimore Screenwriters Competition Application Info
The deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. The application and full
guidelines are available online at promotionnandarts.org.
Submitted scripts receive coverage from students in the Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University
screenwriting programs and by local screenwriters and producers. The final screenplays are judged by
industry professionals in film and television, including producers and writers working on projects for HBO
and other studios.
All screenwriters are encouraged to apply.
“The Baltimore Screenwriters Competition nurtures writers of all levels by providing opportunities for screenwriters to have their scripts read, receive valuable feedback, and gain confidence in their storytelling,” says Debbie Donaldson Dorsey, Director of the Baltimore Film Office.
The top entries in each category will win cash prizes and are scheduled to be announced during the 2025 Maryland Film Festival in May 2025.
Previous Winners
In 2024, the 19th annual Baltimore Screenwriter Competition judges — Nina Noble, Ken LaZebink, Dale
Beran, and Annette Porter — awarded “A Better Chance” by L.T. Woody, “Car BNB” by Lee Connah, and
“Champion” by Peter Kimball in the features category, and “Shipping and Handling” by Harrison Demchick,
“Orchestra” by Felix Abeson, and “An Incredibly Stupid Idea (That Just Might Work)” by Evan Balkan in the
shorts category.
Previous Baltimore Screenwriters Competition winners have also received Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund
Fellowships, including 2020 Baltimore Screenwriter Competition winners Stephen Schuyler for “Like You
Think You Know Me” and “Stealing Cars,” and Chung-Wei Huang for “Squeegee Boys,” who both shot their
films in Baltimore.
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Entertainment
DISNEY+ shares brand-new trailer & poster for Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew”
“Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” follows the journey of four kids who make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet, then get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy. Finding their way home—and meeting unlikely allies and enemies—will be a greater adventure than they ever imagined.
Disney+ released a brand-new trailer and poster for Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew,” a fun and exciting, original, live-action series starring Jude Law as a mysterious character (“Jod”) whose true motives are shrouded in mystery.
About Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
The Disney+ series follows the journey of four kids who make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet, then get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy. Finding their way home—and meeting unlikely allies and enemies—will be a greater adventure than they ever imagined.
Actors
The series stars Jude Law, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Kyriana Kratter, Robert Timothy Smith, Tunde Adebimpe, Kerry Condon and Nick Frost. Episodes are directed by Jon Watts, David Lowery, the Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Jake Schreier, Bryce Dallas Howard and Lee Isaac Chung.
Writers
Jon Watts and Christopher Ford are the head writers and also serve as executive producers along with Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson. Chris Buongiorno, Karen Gilchrist and Carrie Beck are the co-executive producers, and Susan McNamara and John Bartnicki are the producers.
How to watch Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
The series launches on December 3 with the first two episodes, exclusively on Disney+.
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Unheard Voices Magazine is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
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