Black in Period Films

Mercy Street is a new series debuting in 2016. The series 'follows the lives of two volunteer nurses on opposing sides of the Civil War - New England abolitionist Mary Phinney and Confederate supporter Emma Green.' I saw two beautiful pictures of Shalita Grant as Aurelia Johnson and McKinley Belcher III as Samuel Digg on IMDB .                They look very nice. I just hope their characters are given adequate screen time.

Thanks to Shadow and Act we have some Birth of a Nation pictures to feast our eyes upon. And they are great! They have the coloring and tone I'd expect out of a film based on Nat Turner. I like what I see so far. As I said in a previous post ... I have trust in Nate Parker. He has been talking about making this project for years. What do you think of these pictures?

I found this wonderful information on Nate Parker's Instagram / twitter . Parker is the lead and director of the Nat Turner drama being produced. I am very excited about this project. The soundtrack is currently being worked on. Henry Jackman has won 8 out of the 10 nominations for his work; including his work on the 2013 film Captain Phillips.  I am sure the soundtrack for this film is in good hands! 

Costume of the Week goes to .... Sanaa Lathan as Vera Stark in Broadway play By The Way, Meet Vera Stark!!! I simply adore the beautiful pinky purple color of the dress. The cute hat adds to the adorableness of it all. Costume Designer: ESosa

Zoe Kravitz is going to be the lead in a Western revenge thriller called 'Black Belle'! I am so excited because there are so many different equally interesting directions this film can be taken in. We do not get many Westerns and I am thrilled about all of the possibilities.   

Kat Graham has been casted to play Tammi Terrell. Tammi Terrell is a talented singer that lived a rather tragic life. Tammi Terrell is most known for her classic duets with friend Marvin Gaye : Ain't No Mountain High Enough and You're All I Need to Get By. From what I've seen from Kat I believe that she will be able to carry the emotion that is sure to come with a Tammi Terrell biopic. What do you think about this casting?

                                                              What do you all think?             I talked about the film previously here . It was originally called Something Whispered.

                                                            Ruth Negga as Mildred Loving My only main concern are the accents. They have very thick Virginia accents. Neither Negga nor Joel Edgerton (who is going to be playing Richard Loving) are from Virginia. I've watched a lot of footage of the Loving family and one thing that always stood out to me was the warm of their accents. I hope we can get that in the film. But other than that I am excited to see how they go about telling their historic story.

Tease videos of the upcoming Bessie Smith biopic were released by HBO. This movie is going to be electrifying. Already I can say that the costumes have given me so much joy! There is nothing I love more than seeing Black folks in period costumes.  Check out the Character Spots for Bessie.  I am excited it seems like everyone involved was dedicated and excited about the project. 

As a period film buff most of the period film fun I get (that features Black/African characters)  are biopics. The last period films that have come out that told the stories of Black people were all biopics. Belle Selma 12 Years a Slave Get on Up 42 ets. I have seen people say that they are tired of biopics however this list proves we haven't even scratched the surface. John Coltrane Destiny's Child Paul Robeson Vanessa del Rio  Lorraine Hansberry  Peggielene Bartels Sylvia Robinson Bobby Womack Oscar Micheaux  Nat Turner  Antoinette Tuff Darlene Love  Bob Marley and the Wailers Carlton Pearson Solomon Mahlangu B.M.F. (Black Mafia Family) Shirley Bassey  Pelé  Rafael Padilla  Marvin Gaye  Bessie Smith  Nina Simone  Aretha Franklin  Pam Grier  Hank Aaron  Tupac  Michael Jackson  Mahalia Jackson  ODB  Whitney Houston  Florence Ballard  Sammy Davis Jr  Jesse Owens  Miles Davis  Barbara Jordan  Marion