Black in Period Films

The Wonder Years season 2 will premiere June 14 on ABC! I really enjoyed season 1 of the series and can't wait to see what Dean, his family, and friends gets up to in the next season.  The series can also be streamed on HULU.

Jada Pinkett Smith has developed a new documentary series that explores the lives of important and iconic African Queens.  Netflix Season Synopsis: The first season will cover the life of Njinga, the complex, captivating, and fearless 17th century warrior queen of Ndongo and Matamba, in modern day Angola. The nation’s first female ruler, Njinga earned a reputation for her blend of political and diplomatic skill with military prowess and became an icon of resistance. I know about Njinga of (modern day) Angola because of the amazing book, Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba, Angola, Africa, 1595 by Patricia McKissack . The book was a part of the "The Royal Diaries" series; a children's book series that shaped my love for history. The Royal Diaries series consisted of 20 books published by Scholastic Press from 1999 to 2005. Each book was an epistolary fiction novel written in the form of a childhood diary from a real royal female figure. If you got to experience these am...

Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming A Space is a detailed biography of author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. Although she is best remembered by many for her novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God.", Hurston is also behind groundbreaking anthropological work that challenged preconceived notions about race, gender and culture that had long defined the field in the 19th century. Directed by Tracy Heather Strain, produced by Randall MacLowry and executive produced by Cameo George, Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming A Space premieres Tuesday, January 17 at 9/8 central on PBS. 

     Most of us know who Emmett Till is. But far less know who his mother Mamie Till-Mobley is. Till takes us behind the powerful story of Mamie Till-Mobley’s quest for justice for her son, Emmett.      The cast includes Danielle Deadwyler (The Harder They Fall), Whoopi Goldberg, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison, Jayme Lawson, Tosin Cole, Kevin Carroll, Sean Patrick Thomas, John Douglas Thompson, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Haley Bennett.      Director Chinonye Chukwu has previously wrote and directed Clemency. Till was written by Michael Reilly (producer/director The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till), Keith Beauchamp, and Chinonye Chukwu.       There was some online discourse around the film. Some believe that at this point in time, this particular story has been covered enough. There have been two major projects featuring the Till story in recent times: the Women of the Movement series that premiered in January of this yea...

Set in the 1930s, it follows three friends who witness a murder, become suspects themselves, and uncover one of the most outrageous plots in American history.  This exciting trailer is chalk full of one star appearance after another. The cast includes John David Washington, Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, as the leads along side Chris Rock, Zoe Saldaña, Anya Taylor-Joy, Taylor Swift, Robert De Niro, Rami Malek, and so many more.  It hits theaters November 2022. 

  The Woman King is the remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen. Inspired by true events, The Woman King follows the emotionally epic journey of General Nanisca (Viola Davis) as she trains the next generation of recruits and readies them for battle against an enemy determined to destroy their way of life. Some things are worth fighting for. The film features a star-studded cast including Viola Davis,Lashana Lynch,Sheila Atim,Thuso Mbedu,John Boyega,Jayme Lawson,Jordan Bolger and is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood.  See The Woman King rise exclusively in cinemas September 16.

At long last! We finally have a trailer for the long awaited feature length film, Mr. Malcolm's List.   Summary: When she fails to meet an item on his list of requirements for a bride, Julia Thistlewaite (Zawe Ashton) is jilted by London’s most eligible bachelor, Mr. Malcolm (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù). Feeling humiliated and determined to exact revenge, she convinces her friend Selina Dalton (Freida Pinto) to play the role of his ideal match. Soon, Mr. Malcolm wonders whether he’s found the perfect woman...or the perfect hoax. This film is based on Suzanne Allain's 2009 novel of the same name. What makes this trailer so exciting is this film and its history with period film lovers. Starting with The Black List podcast script reading of Allain's highly rated script. After filmmaker Emma Holly Jones heard this reading she pursued the rights and brought on producers Laura Rister and Laura Lewis to begin the film adaptation. A short film was made as a teaser for the feature length film and...

  Here is the trailer for musical Cyrano. Summary: Cyrano de Bergerac dazzles everyone with his ferocious wordplay and brilliant swordplay. However, he's convinced his appearance renders him unworthy of the affections of the luminous Roxanne, a devoted friend who's in love with someone else (Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Christian de Neuvillette). Cyrano is a classic that has been adapted numerous times and in many different ways. I look forward to this adaption because Joe Wright is directing the film. Joe Wright directed Atonement (2007), Pride and Prejudice (2005), and Anna Karenina (2012) which are all period films that I've seen and enjoyed; specifically Atonement and Pride and Prejudice. I am also interested in this adaption of the Cyrano story because the casting of Peter Dinklage and Kelvin Harrison Jr. adds additional layers to the story.  The cast includes Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Bashir Salahuddin, and Ben Mendelsohn. In theaters this December...

       Adapted from the celebrated 1929 novel of the same name by Nella Larsen, PASSING tells the story of two Black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Kendry (Academy Award nominee Ruth Negga), who can “pass” as white but choose to live on opposite sides of the color line during the height of the Harlem Renaissance in late 1920s New York. After a chance encounter reunites the former childhood friends one summer afternoon, Irene reluctantly allows Clare into her home, where she ingratiates herself to Irene’s husband (André Holland) and family, and soon her larger social circle as well.      As their lives become more deeply intertwined, Irene finds her once-steady existence upended by Clare, and PASSING becomes a riveting examination of obsession, repression and the lies people tell themselves and others to protect their carefully constructed realities. Written and Directed by: Rebecca Hall Watch Passing, only on Netflix.

  “Nothing was given, all was earned. Hold on to what belongs to you.” From Academy Award® winner Barry Jenkins and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead comes the Amazon Original limited series “The Underground Railroad”. The Underground Railroad is a historical fiction novel by American author Colson Whitehead published by Doubleday in 2016. The alternate history novel tells the story of Cora and Caesar, two slaves in the southeastern United States during the 19th century, who make a bid for freedom from their Georgia plantation by following the Underground Railroad, which the novel depicts as primarily a rail transport system in addition to a series of safe houses and secret routes. I am really looking forward to this series. I read the book and enjoyed the unique concept and I plan on doing a podcast recap of the series. I want to breakdown the similarities and  differences  between the novel and series. I had so many thoughts about the novel s...

The Social Season is upon us.  The Netflix series is an adaption of the Bridgerton novels by best-selling historical romance author Julia Quinn. The popular series has tons of material to work with. Quinn originally meant for the series to be a trilogy, but it eventually ended up being 8 novels! Due to reader questions she wrote a collection of epilogues for the characters and a separate novella about the character Violet.  We posted about the cast here .  If you had the privilege of reading the series what do you think of the trailer?  Bridgerton, from Shondaland, premieres December 25, only on Netflix. 

Based on true events,  Radium Girls  follows teen sisters, Bessie and Jo Cavallo, who dream of Hollywood and Egyptian pyramids as they paint luminous watch dials at the American Radium factory in New Jersey. When Jo loses a tooth, Bessie’s world is turned upside down as a mystery slowly unravels.  She discovers a corporate cover-up and, in a radical coming of age story, Bessie and the Radium Girls decide to take on American Radium. Based on historical events, the national sensation following the notorious case of the Radium Girls in 1928 ultimately led to significant and lasting impact in the area of workplace health and safety and the study of radioactivity.   Susan Heyward plays a photographer named Etta. 

Watch Jennifer Hudson capture The Queen of Soul's essence in this short trailer for the upcoming 2020 Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect.

Academy Award nominee Eddie Murphy portrays real-life legend Rudy Ray Moore, a comedy and rap pioneer who proved naysayers wrong when his hilarious, obscene, kung-fu fighting alter ego, Dolemite, became a 1970s Blaxploitation phenomenon. Look at these awesome character posters! Dolemite Is My Name in Theaters October 4th! Dolemite Is My Name Netflix Release Date is October 25th: https://www.netflix.com/title/80182014

At the 35 second mark we get a quick glance of the incredible Sterling K. Brown. His character can be heard wishing Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) and Susie (Alex Bornstein) a happy flight. Brown's role in the Amazon series is under wraps and as of today his IMDb page hasn't even be updated to include the credit. We have known about Sterling K. Brown's involvement in the series since April of this year when we were teased with a twitter video. I’m beyond excited to share some pretty marvelous news... #MrsMaisel , I’m coming for you!🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿 @MaiselTV @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/0QCVhJSgSJ — Sterling K Brown (@SterlingKBrown) April 15, 2019 Along with Brown, actor Leroy McClain will be joining 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' cast as soul singer Shy Baldwin. According to the official series description: " Midge and Susie discover that life on tour with Shy is glamorous but humbling, and they learn a lesson about show business they’ll never forget. ...

Focus Features has released the poster and trailer for the upcoming Harriet Tubman biopic, titled Harriet. Tony award winning actress Cynthia Erivo leads the film as Harriet Tubman. The legendary Kasi Lemmons (Eve's Bayou) is the director. Alongside Erivo, Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom Jr., Vanessa Bell Calloway, Zackary Momoh, Vondie Curtis-Hall and Deborah Ayorinde round out the cast. Check out the thrilling trailer below!!

Here is the first teaser trailer for the upcoming Epix series, Godfather of Harlem.  Set in the early 1960s, we follow crime boss Bumpy Johnson as he takes Harlem back from the Italian mob.  I know Forest Whitaker will do an amazing bringing Bumpy Johnson's story to life.     The Real Bumpy Johnson:

Jesse Collins Entertainment television project company has released footage of the upcoming 'American Soul' 10 episode series! American Soul is based on the life of Don Cornelius, the creator of Soul Train the music-dance television series which ran for 35 years from 1971 to 2006. View this post on Instagram #AmericanSoul New Series. 10 Episodes. Coming February 2019. @BET #jcefilms A post shared by Jesse Collins Ent. (@jessecollinsent) on Nov 25, 2018 at 6:41pm PST We previously discussed this project when the amazing Kelly Rowland was casted as the legendary Gladys Knight . Rowland's rendition of 'Midnight Train to Georgia' can be heard towards the end of the video. So far I am impressed by the visual accuracy of the project. All of the costumes, hair, makeup, and set decorations seem to be pulled right from the series. This project has the privileged of  well shot footage to use as a reference....

We now have the trailer for The Best of Enemies .  We discussed the project and some of the previous adaptions previously .  The Best of Enemies. The film stars Taraji P Henson as civil rights activist Ann Atwater. Atwater faces off against C.P. Ellis (played by Sam Rockwell), a Ku Klux Klan leader over the issue of school integration, in 1971 Durham, North Carolina.  What do you think of the trailer?

This is the full length trailer for Barry Jenkins' stunning film 'If Beale Street Could Talk'; based on the 1974 novel by American writer James Baldwin. The film follows a pregnant Clementine “Tish” Rivers (Kiki Layne) as she sets out to clear the name of her falselt imprisoned fiance Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt (Stephan James).  The film currently has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and was named first runner-up for the People's Choice Award at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.  Cast:  Kiki Layne as Clementine “Tish” Rivers  Stephan James as Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt  Regina King as Sharon Rivers  Teyonah Parris as Ernestine Rivers  Colman Domingo as Mr. Rivers  Brian Tyree Henry as Daniel Carty  Aunjanue Ellis as Mrs. Hunt