News

Exclusive: David Del Rio (The Baker and the Beauty), Chris Elliott (Schitt’s Creek), Ray Ford (Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23) and Leonardo Nam (Westworld) are set as series regulars opposite Rebecca Rittenhouse in ABC comedy pilot Maggie, based on Tim Curcio’s short film. The project hails from Family Guy and Life in Pieces writer Maggie Mull, daughter of Clue actor Martin Mull, and Life in Pieces creator Justin Adler. 20th Television produces.

Written by Mull and Adler, the single-camera comedy follows a young woman (Rittenhouse) who tries to cope with life while coming to terms with her abilities as a psychic. She can see everyone’s future, but her present is a mess.

Del Rio will play Ben. A gregarious guy, Ben has a heightened energy and is enlivened by new experiences and people. In this way, he’s Maggie’s opposite, but like Maggie, he...

The Criterion Channel has unveiled their March 2021 lineup, which includes no shortage of remarkable programming. Highlights from the slate include eight gems from Preston Sturges, Elaine May’s brilliant A New Leaf, a series featuring Black Westerns, Ann Hui’s Boat People, the new restoration of Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi.

They will also add films from their Essential Fellini boxset, series on Dirk Bogarde and Nelly Kaplan, and Luchino Visconti’s The Damned and Death in Venice, and more. In terms of recent releases, there’s also Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century and Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In.

Check out the lineup below, along with the teaser for the Black Westerns series. For weekly streaming updates across all services, bookmark this page.

The Adventurer, Charles Chaplin, 1917

Bandini, Bimal Roy, 1963

Behind the Screen, Charles Chaplin, 1916

Black Jack, Ken Loach, 1979

Black Rodeo, Jeff Kanew, 1972

Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan Coen,...

There’s a difference between sight and vision, and that line is investigated with illuminating intimacy by “Vision Portraits,” Rodney Evans’ documentary about his struggles — and those of three other artists — to continue working in the face of mounting blindness. Bolstered by the writer-director’s own journey, recounted via a collage-like aesthetic that eloquently conveys his circumscribed condition, it’s a nonfiction study of artistic creation and, also, of individual courage and perseverance. As its ongoing theatrical expansion suggests,

The recipient of the Sundance Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize for his 2004 feature “Brother to Brother,” Evans was a filmmaker on the rise even though his sight had begun to deteriorate in 1996 on account of a rare genetic (and degenerative) disease called retinitis pigmentosa that left him with something akin to tunnel vision. As he states in narration (and via transitional textual poems), that loss was terrifying for its impact...

“I think I always make films about things that are the scariest for me to deal with,” says filmmaker Rodney Evans in the trailer for his latest work, an evocative exploration of sight and creativity titled “Vision Portraits.” The deeply personal documentary chronicles the filmmaker’s loss of vision due to a rare genetic eye disorder, as well as the practices of three other artists who have lost or are in the process of losing their sight.

“Vision Portraits” premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in documentary competition and went on to screen BAMcinemaFest. It will also play queer film festivals Frameline and Outfest before premiering theatrically in August.

Evans is best known as the writer/director/producer of the feature film “Brother to Brother,” which won the Special Jury Prize in Drama at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and featured the screen debut of Anthony Mackie. The film explores the...

Roger Robinson, the veteran character actor who won a Tony Award, starred in such films as Brother to Brother and had recurring roles on Kojak and How to Get Away With Murder, has died. He was 78.

Robinson died Wednesday in Escondido, California, of complications from a heart condition, Ebony Repertory Theatre producing artistic director Wren T. Brown announced.

In last year's HBO telefilm The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Robinson portrayed Day Lacks, the first cousin and father of Henrietta's (Renee Elise Goldsberry) children. And on ABC's How to Get Away With Murder, he played Mac Harkness, the father of Viola ...

Roger Robinson, the veteran character actor who won a Tony Award, starred in such films as Brother to Brother and had recurring roles on Kojak and How to Get Away With Murder, has died. He was 78.

Robinson died Wednesday in Escondido, California, of complications from a heart condition, Ebony Repertory Theatre producing artistic director Wren T. Brown announced.

In last year's HBO telefilm The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Robinson portrayed Day Lacks, the first cousin and father of Henrietta's (Renee Elise Goldsberry) children. And on ABC's How to Get Away With Murder, he played Mac Harkness, the father of Viola ...

The recent resurfacing of a 1999 rape trial involving “The Birth of a Nation” writer/director/star Nate Parker has inspired any number of essays and thinkpieces. Some are more worthwhile than of others, of course, and the following four are a good place to start.

Read More: ‘Birth of a Nation’ Backlash: AFI Postpones Screening and Nate Parker Q&A

“Brother to Brother: An Open Letter to Nate Parker” by Ibram Kendi, African American Intellectual History Society (Aaihs)

“On your recent Facebook post, you admitted that you ‘still have more learning and growth to do.’ That is why I feel hopeful in the midst of my fury. This is an open letter expressing my hopes for you—my hope of what is to come from you—and of you.

“In your Facebook post, you finally expressed in public ’empathy for the young woman and empathy for the seriousness of...

"For the longest time I couldn't put a name to who I was. I didn't have an image to who was like me. It was torturous," Jane Lynch notes in Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema, the savvy documentary from 2006 by Lesli Klainberg and Lisa Ades.

A few minutes after Jane lets loose, Todd Haynes, the director of Carol and Poison, adds, "I think films do make a difference. They get under people's skin, and they reflect our lives and our experiences back to us."

But if you're gay and don't check off Caucasian on various surveys, you have had a harder time finding yourself on the big screen. There's been Pariah (2011), The Watermelon Woman (1996), Brother to Brother (2004), and a handful of others of varying delight. But if you are a gay, black, Muslim teenager residing in Brooklyn and are in love with another gay, black, Muslim teen, where will you get media support?...

Our hosts for tonight are Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, Actual Goddesses Whom We Do Not Deserve. If you find yourself in a Rip Van Winkle situation in which you fell asleep in 1999 and just woke up, I’ll catch you up on who these two ladies are (also, yes, that Donald Trump is running for President, and we’re all just as confused about it as you are). Tina Fey joined the writing staff of SNL in 1997 and went on to become its head writer, Weekend Update anchor, and beloved star. Amy Poehler joined her in 2001, later co-hosting Weekend Update with Fey and also being all around great. The two went on to write/produce/star in two of the best sitcoms in television history (you can check them out on this thing called Netflix, which is on computers that look very different than you remember). They can currently...

Our host for tonight is Chris Hemsworth-- Australian beefcake, star of Marvel’s Thor, and man who proved to have a good enough knack for comedy in his first round as host last April that the crew at SNL decided to have him back less than a year later. An unlikely choice for a potential five timers club member, but if it means we get to keep looking at that beautiful face then who are we to complain, America? (That, by the way, is very similar to the argument that will lead to the making of 2046’s Thor: Norse Gods Never Die). Cold Open: President George W. Bush announces his run in the 2016 election, figuring that with the chaos currently reigning in the Republican primaries, he’s got to be looking pretty good right about now. Years from now, during President Kanye West’s historic third term, when...

Brother to Brother: O’Connor’s Rudimentary Look at Familial Ravages in WWII

His first film since that ill-advised 2001 remake of Sweet November, which sought to rekindle interest in possible on-screen chemistry between Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves, Irish director Pat O’Connor revisits darker, historical themes with Private Peaceful, a WWII tale as told through the eyes of two brothers from Devon. It’s perhaps the most serious subject O’Connor has tackled since some of his more celebrated 80s titles, like the Ira romance thriller Cal (1984) which nabbed Helen Mirren one of her two Best Actress wins at Cannes. And yet, while it’s great to find O’Connor avoiding the type of soapy schmaltz he careened into during his last several features, his dip into the over explored WWII era never manages to register as emotionally, thematically, or narratively resonant.

Private Tommo (George MacKay) sits in a British army cell,...

Fyi for those of you in the Los Angeles area... screenings of a pair of films that I've championed on this blog a number of times in the past (as well as the filmmakers). Well-worth seeing in a theatrical setting, so take advantage.Outfest-ucla Legacy Project Screening SERIESOn Sunday, June 22, UCLA Film & Television Archive presents a special screening of Brother to Brother (2004) and Tongues Untied (1989), two landmark films by African American directors that boldly expanded the boundaries of queer filmmaking.Director Rodney Evans (Brother to Brother) will be present in person to discuss the ongoing influence of these works on the...

With the 2014 edition of the Sundance Film Festival launching on Thursday, it's the perfect time to highlight some past Sundance hits which are available to stream for free right now at SnagFilms (Indiewire's parent company). Sad you can't be there to brave the cold? Despair no longer. Click the film's title to watch the movie at SnagFilms and browse SnagFilms' Sundance Film Festival Channel for more Sundance classics. 10 Past Sundance Hits (in order of the year they premiered): Advise and Dissent (2012) Prom Night in Mississippi (2009) Nanking (2007) In Between Days (2006) The Puffy Chair (2005) Brother to Brother (2004) Primer (2004) Super Size Me (2004) L.I.E. (2001) Blessing (1994)Watch A Selection of Sundance Shorts at SnagFilms...

In one of the first scenes in Rodney Evan’s film The Happy Sad, lovers Aaron and Marcus wake up the morning after their first threesome, refreshed. After six years together, they are considering an open relationship, a subject that the film explores deeply. A follow-up to his critically-acclaimed film, Brother to Brother (2004), The Happy Sad is based on Ken Urban’s play of the same name, and centers on the lives two interconnected couples in Brooklyn- one black and gay and one white and straight- as they redefine sexual identity and norms of monogamy. Marcus and Aaron, played by LeRoy McClain and Charlie Barnett provide complex portrayals free of tortured identity politics or...

New York, Nov 10: Actor Anthony Mackie, known for his role in "Brother to Brother", has been arrested on suspicion for drunk driving after he refused to take a blood-alcohol test here.

Mackie was arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The 35-year-old was initially stopped by police at around 1.30 a.m. for driving his car with tinted windows, which is illegal in the state.

However, the cops soon began to suspect he might be under the influence of alcohol as he exhibited "bloodshot, watery eyes" and they smelt alcohol on his breath, reports tmz.com.

Mackie failed several sobriety tests on the.

Anthony Mackie, who plays a supporting role in this weekend's "Runner Runner," isn't about to tell you whether he appears in "The Avengers: Age of Ultron," but he will recommend lunch digs in Harlem. He's just that kind of guy.

Mackie plays Agent Shavers, a government operative in Costa Rica determined to take down the crooked online gambling site Ivan Block (Ben Affleck) runs out of the country. Unfortunately for Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake), the young climber who latches on as Block's protege, this means his ride may have a violent end.

Mackie took a break from filming "Shelter" in New York City to talk with NextMovie about his deep desire to punch Justin Timberlake, why Jay Z is second-best to him and his deep (overwhelmingly positive) feelings about Red Lobster's cheddar bay biscuits.

Hey there, how are you?

I'm a little disturbed, I just found out there's a Red Lobster on 125th St.

"The Happy Sad," the new film from director Rodney Evans, is being billed as a timely narrative that "explores issues of sexuality, fidelity and race in contemporary America."

But for Evans, a veteran director whose work includes 2004's acclaimed "Brother to Brother," the movie presented a more personal opportunity.

"A lot of my early motivation as a filmmaker came from a lack of any kind of film and TV representation that reflected any aspect of my experience as a gay person of color in a realistic or truthful way," Evans told The Huffington Post in an email. "It was important to me that the film had a multicultural cast and that there were characters from the entire spectrum of sexual identity -- straight, gay, bisexual and questioning."

"The Happy Sad," which is set to make its New York debut Aug. 16, follows the lives of four characters -- a black, gay...

Moody indie dramas about pretty twentysomethings consulting their pretty navels about whether or not they should be happy are a dime a dozen. And you can’t swing a hipster by his mustache these days without hitting a film or show about the daily grinds of life, love, and career in New York City. But Rodney Evans‘s The Happy Sad manages to stand apart from the herd for a number of reasons, the most obvious of which is that the romance at its core is between two gay men of color.

Aaron (Chicago Fire‘s criminally adorable Charlie Barnett) and Marcus (Leroy McClain) are happy and in love. But after six years together they recently experimented with a threesome to rekindle the home fires and are considering trying an open relationship. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, straight – but as we will soon learn, far from narrow – couple Stan and Annie...

2004 Sundance award-winning "Brother to Brother" director Rodney Evans is back with his follow-up "The Happy Sad," a film that examines modern relationships in all their complexity and contradiction. Evans's second film follows two New York couples--one black and gay, one white and straight--as they navigate the intersections (or maybe collisions) of race, sexuality and most of all monogamy.  Things get messy and get patched up, but all four lovers are left changed and in some way more enlightened than they were before. After playing as part of San Francisco's Frameline37 and La's Outfest this year, "The Happy Sad" opens in New York and Los Angeles on August 16.  In the following clip, provided exclusively to Toh!, Stan (Cameron Scoggins) and Annie (Sorel Carradine) discuss the possibility of opening up their relationship in more ways than one, free from the expectations of gender and orientation.  As "The Happy Sad" points out, our...

A Many Splendored Thing: Evans’ Sophomore Feature Candidly Explores the Nebulous Nature of Desire

It’s been nearly a decade since director Rodney Evans debuted his tenderly recuperative Brother to Brother (2004), though his resulting sophomore effort, an adaptation of Ken Urban’s stage play The Happy Sad, has been well worth the wait. A realistic exploration of the pressures and expectations of modern day relationships depicted through the main intermingling of two couples, one black and gay, the other white and heterosexual, there are perhaps one too many coincidental encounters upon which the furthering of the narrative depends (especially considering this is NYC). Nevertheless, you’ll be hard pressed to find a film that takes such care to explore the difficult issues of love, desire, and sexual fulfillment (as hurdles that every relationship must address) as equally well as it delivers engaging characters. In a world obsessed with labels and the idolatry of tradition,...

Thrilled to announce that The Happy Sad will be screening at Frameline 37-The San Francisco Int'l Lgbt Film Festival on Tuesday, June 25th, 9:30pm at the Castro Theater!!! That was a Facebook post by director Rodney Evans, who's sophomore effort, The Happy Sad, which we've been following since it went into production in 2011. The beat goes on for Evans, the acclaimed writer/producer/director of Brother To Brother, his 2004 debut feature - a drama that looks back on the creative energy of cultural revolution during the Harlem Renaissance from the perspective of an elderly black writer who meets a gay teenager in a New York homeless shelter. The moody film - an...

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to shill for someone else's. I am thrilled to point you in the direction of "The Desiring Image," a new book on contemporary queer cinema which is available to pre-order now. The author is my great friend / podcast mate Nick Davis and he's been working on this book for nearly as long as I've known him. In addition to covergirl Maxwell Demon (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) from Todd Haynes' hallucinatory eye candy abundance (better known as Velvet Goldmine), Nick discusses Beau Travail, The Watermelon Woman, Shortbus, and Brother to Brother. I'm dying to imbibe the queer readings of David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers and Naked Lunch. I haven't yet read the book but Nick writes beautifully and his sense of humor is rare in academic writing. I am ordering my copy right now.

[Moments Later...] Done! 

 ...

Brother To Brother director Rodney Evans' 2000 7-minute short film, Two Encounters, is now online, courtesy of Frameline.  Armed with hidden tiny cameras, two gay men, one black and one white, go to two gay bars in New York City - one predominantly black, and the other predominantly white - to uncover the "racialized geographies of New York's gay bar scene." ...

If you still haven't seen Rodney Evans' critically-acclaimed 2004 drama Brother To Brother, which features some early outstanding work by Anthony Mackie, you're in luck, because, as of yesterday, it was 1 of 10 indies that are now available on Hulu, Netflix and SnagFilms via the Sundance Institute's recently-launched Artist Services program (a program we highlighted in a past post), which "provides Institute artists with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing solutions for their work." I initially saw Brother To Brother about 5 years ago; I reviewed it on my podcast (then called The Obenson Report) some time...

The Sundance Institute announced Thursday that 11 independent films supported by its Artist Services Program are now available on Hulu, Netflix and SnagFilms (Indiewire's parent company).  The Artist Services Program gives Sundance alumni exclusive opportunities to self-distribute, market and find finance solutions to their work. "Brother to Brother," "Children Underground," "Enemies of the People" and "Dirty Work" are now available for immediate streaming, and Artist Services films can also be found on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Microsoft Xbox, Sony Entertainment Network, SundanceNOW, Vudu and YouTube. To see bonus video content for select titles, visit this link. Read More: 'Indie Game: The Movie,' 'The Woods,' 'Enemies of the People' & More Sundance Titles Now Available on iTunes Official information about the films, their availability and their newly added platforms (in bold)...

Now available on SnagFilms, Hulu and Netflix are eleven new films supported by the Sundance Institute's Artist Services Program, which launched in February. Artist Services gives filmmakers exclusive opportunities to self-finance, market and distribute their films. Films from the program are also available on iTunes, Amazon, Microsoft Xbox, Sony, Vudu, YouTube and SundanceNOW. Here's details on what's currently playing. Among the eleven new titles are "Brother to Brother," "Children Underground" and "Dirty Work." The films are listed in detail below: "Blessing" (Director and screenwriter: Paul Zeher) — Randi’s life on her family's farm is brightened by an oversized satellite dish, rock 'n' rail and her passion to go to the ocean. Standing in the way are her jealous mother, her overworked father and her quirky and lovable 10-year-old brother. Randi is caught between her own desires and her...

If you haven't seen Rodney Evans' critically-acclaimed 2004 drama Brother To Brother, which features some early outstanding work by Anthony Mackie, now you have a variety of viewing options to choose from, as the film is one of 10 indies that are now available via Sundance Institute's Artist Services program (a program we highlighted in a past post), Look for it today on various digital/VOD channels like iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Microsoft Xbox, Sony Entertainment Network, SundanceNOW, Vudu and YouTube. It'll be on Hulu, Netflix and SnagFilms in coming weeks. The rest of the 9 titles now available follow in the press release below: ...

Denise Burse Peace Love and Understanding, Brother to Brother, House of Payne, Harriett D. Foy Mamma Mia, The American Plan, Once On This Island, Lynda Gravatt Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Doubt, Nikiya Mathis Milk Like Sugar, Dennis Parlato Salome, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Chess, Saycon Sengbloh Fela, Hair, and Tracie Thoms Rent, Stick Fly join Vassar amp New York Stage and Films 28th Powerhouse Theater season in the workshop of award-winning playwright Marcus Gardleys The House That Will Not Stand, directed by Marion McClinton July 20-22. Check out photos of the cast in rehearsal below...

Ray Ford has been promoted to series regular on ABC's comedy series Don't Trust the B---- in Apt 23. Ford, who I most remember for his role in Rodney Evans' Brother To Brother, plays James Van Der Beek's "snarky, scene-stealing" personal assistant on the ABC series that stars Krysten Ritter and Dreama Walker. In his limited screen time during the show's initial seven-episode run, Ford's character is said to have "frequently clashed with Ritter's Chloe and denied the titular "B" in the title money for rent after she refused to read his screenplay," says THR. You can tell that I'm not familiar...

Ray Ford photographed by Clinton Gaughran for AfterElton

Springtime brings with it a slew of new television shows. Shows that, if they're lucky enough to strike a chord with viewers, will land a spot on the network fall schedules. One sitcom that has started out of the gate strong is ABC's Don't Trust The B**** In Apartment 23. Set in New York, City, the series, created by Nahnatchka Khan (Family Guy), puts together a naive Indiana transplant named June (Dreama Walker), who ends up being roommates with wild child Chloe (Krysten Ritter, aka 'the B****"). The colorful Chloe also happens to be BFFs with actor James Van Der Beek.

Van Der Beek is best known for his title role in the teen drama Dawson's Creek, and on this show he plays an exaggerated, egocentric version of himself. This fictional Van Der Beek also has a devoted gay assistant. Enter Luther, played by Ray Ford,...

Broadway Wonderful Town, Kiss Me Kate, Youre A Good Man Charlie Brown, The Lion King, Jellys Last Jam, Oh Kay Off-Broadway ResurGents The Reappearance of Hope, Real Black Men Dont Sit Crosslegged On The Floor, City Centers St. Louise Woman. Regionals Ruined, Radio Golf, Gem of the Ocean, Fences, Master Harold and the Boys, Blues for an Alabama Sky and Cinderella . TV 2-2, Criminal Intent, Late Night With Conan OBrien. Film Brother To Brother, Family On Board, Steve McQueens Shame.

Exclusive: Before the big Oscar show takes place on Sunday, as the tradition goes, the Film Independent Spirit Awards will honor their nominees and winners the night before, with festivities set to get underway on Saturday evening. It is shaping up to another memorable night, with the stars lining up to celebrate the best in independent film over the past year. Seth Rogen will host what is sure to an enjoyable evening, and to help hand out the awards, a lineup of starry names are confirmed to appear.

Past nominees Ethan Hawke (screenplay for "Before Sunset"), Ben Kingsley ("House Of Sand And Fog"), Terrence Howard ("Hustle & Flow," "The Best Man"), Anthony Mackie ("The Hurt Locker," "Brother To Brother"), Giovanni Ribisi ("The Gift"), Patricia Clarkson ("Pieces Of April," "High Art") and Laura Dern ("Blue Velvet," "Smooth Talk" and in 2007 honored with an award for her collaborative work with David Lynch) will...

Exclusive: Before the big Oscar show takes place on Sunday, as the tradition goes, the Film Independent Spirit Awards will honor their nominees and winners the night before, with festivities set to get underway on Saturday evening. It is shaping up to another memorable night, with the stars lining up to celebrate the best in independent film over the past year. Seth Rogen will host what is sure to an enjoyable evening, and to help hand out the awards, a lineup of starry names are confirmed to appear. Past nominees Ethan Hawke (screenplay for "Before Sunset"), Ben Kingsley ("House Of Sand And Fog"), Terrence Howard ("Hustle & Flow," "The Best Man"), Anthony Mackie ("The Hurt Locker," "Brother To Brother"), Giovanni Ribisi ("The Gift"), Patricia Clarkson ("Pieces Of April," "High Art") and Laura Dern ("Blue Velvet," "Smooth Talk" and in 2007 honored with an award for...

The Sundance Film Festival is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, the festival is a showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers. The Festival has changed over the decades from a low-profile venue for small-budget, independent creators from outside the Hollywood system to a media extravaganza for Hollywood celebrity actors, paparazzi, and luxury lounges set up by companies that are not affiliated with Sundance.

Now the festival is getting ready for the 2012 edition and today they announced the jury members for this year’s Festival. They include Shari Berman, Scott Burns, Charles Ferguson, Nick Fraser, Mike Judge, Justin Lin, Anthony Mackie, Cliff Martinez, Julia Ormond, Dee Rees and Lynn Shelton.

Here is the official press release:

Park City, Ut — Sundance Institute announced today the 22 members of the six juries awarding prizes at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival,...

Tim Appelo

Kate Beckinsale plays a vampire warrior in the Underworld franchise and Anthony Mackie is apparently on the opposing team as Abe's valet in the forthcoming Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, but they will put their differences aside to announce the nominees at the Nov. 29 Film Independent Spirit Awards at the London West Hollywood Hotel. Photos: 2011 Spirit Awards Style Mackie got two Spirit noms himself (for 2009's The Hurt Locker and 2004's Brother to Brother). Beckinsale slips back into her warrior suit in Underworld Awakening, slated to open in January 2012, the week after her thriller with Mark Wahlberg, Contraband,

read more...

By Sean O’Connell

hollywoodnews.com: Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale will announce the nominees for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 8 a.m. at The London West Hollywood Hotel, it was revealed today by Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival.

As previously announced, the 27th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards will be held at the beach in Santa Monica on Saturday, Feb. 25.

The premiere broadcast of the ceremony will air later that evening at 10 p.m. Et/Pt on IFC.

Bios on each actor, from a release:

Anthony Mackie was classically trained at the Julliard School of Drama and was discovered playing Tupac Shakur in the off-Broadway play “Up Against the Wind.” He made his film debut in Curtis Hanson’s 8 Mile and proceeded to garner roles in Spike Lee’s Sucker Free City and She Hate Me,...

Hey, guys, did you hear Forest Whitaker and Anthony Mackie have teamed up alongside Sanaa Lathan to star in what is being called a voodoo-themed psychological thriller titled Vipaka, which Whitaker will be also running from a production standpoint.

Yep, and the voodoo project will be directed by French/Lebanese helmer Phillipe Caland, who previously collaborated with Whitaker on The Ripple Effect.

The plotline, penned by Shintaro Shimosawa, follows two foes that eventually go head-to-head in a match that will ‘test each man’s belief in what they’re certain is the truth.’

I have no information about production or release dates yet.

Academy Award winner for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, Whitaker will soon be seen in the indies Catch .44 with Bruce Willis, Freelancers with Robert De Niro, Mississippi Wild with Robert Duvall and A Single Shot with Juno Temple.

On the other hand, Mackie who earned two Isa nominations,...

In this week's in-production column, indieWIRE puts the spotlight on a nearly complete film by Jay Duplass. From Kickstarter: The new project from "Small Town Gay Bar" director Malcolm Ingram, which tells the story of the bathhouse-club that gave Bette Middler and Barry Manilow their start; an original epic fantasy; the new project from Sundance alum Rodney Evans ("Brother to Brother"); and a photo project from the filmmakers of "Battle ...

Amidst all the online talk about Diy and arguments over who is “indie” and who isn’t, sometimes real directors quietly and steadfastly pursuing an independent agenda don’t get the attention they deserve. One such director is Rodney Evans, whose 2004 Brother to Brother ambitiously fused an exploration of the Harlem Renaissance with a contemporary tale dealing with gay African-American identity. Now he’s got a new movie, and he’s using Kickstarter to raise funds for actors’ salaries and equipment rental. Here’s how he describes the picture, titled The Happy Sad.

Armed with roses and art, Stan brunches with his girlfriend Annie, a schoolteacher, only to discover that she wants to take a break. Aaron confronts his boyfriend Marcus about their open relationship. The lives of these two couples become intertwined when Stan and Marcus meet online and hook up. Apparently, Stan has a bi-side, and Aaron walks...

A filmmaker mentioned on the Shadow And Act 2010 list of filmmakers to watch (read that post Here), acclaimed director Rodney Evans (Brother To Brother) is currently seeking funding for his 2nd feature film titled The Happy Sad, which follows two couples, one black and one white, whose lives collide as they navigate open relationships and sexual identity.

The plan is to raise a minimum of $15,000 to cover the casting director’s fee, actor salaries and a stipend for the Director of Photography, with a planned 18-day shoot scheduled for this July, in New York City.

First watch the video below which features Rodney giving the 411 on the project, and then click on the widget underneath and head over to its Kickstarter page, where you can learn a lot more about the film, and make your contribution:...

Edoardo Ballerini (Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos) will star in sci-fi thriller Omphalos, written and directed by Gabriel Judet-Weinshel.

Omphalos is set to begin in the summer in New York and New Mexico with Judet-Weinshel’s feature directorial debut from his own script; co-starring feature newcomers Greg Bennick and Sean Gaffney.

The flick will be photographed by George Nicholas and Aidan Fraser’s (Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars) FX visual effects will presumably play prominently in the film’s ambitious imagery.

Storyline follows Darius Lefaux, a private detective since murder comes in and Darius decides to take the case. There’s something curious about this one. In the blurry photograph of the body, the victim’s face looks oddly familiar. Darius heads to the scene of the crime and is astonished to see that the dead man on the ground is … him.

Darius Lefaux is played by Ballerini, who Variety...

It happened last month, and was later uploaded to YouTube for those of us who couldn’t be present. The entire 1 hour & 40 minute Tribeca Film Institute panel at The New School here in NYC, titled, How to Make a Living as a Filmmaker or How to Make a Living and Still Be a Filmmaker. Panelists of note include Moon Molson, a name we’ve mentioned a few times on this site… an up-and-coming filmmaker, whose short film, Crazy Beats Strong Every Time, was a Sundance 2011 selection. Also, Rodney Evans, another name you should be familiar with. His feature film debut, Brother To Brother, starring Anthony Mackie, was released to critical acclaim in 2004, and he’s currently working on his second feature, called Daydream, about jazz musician Billy Strayhorn.

[Filmmaker]...

Reposting this from Friday. I got lots of helpful responses, and even learned of a couple of titles that I didn’t know existed. So, here’s the post again, to continue the flow, in case you missed the original post, and have some titles to add that haven’t already.

Alright folks, I need some help from you guys here. As the title suggests, I’m working on a future post, and one part of my research requires that I compile a complete list of independent black feature films that have been released theatrically in the USA since the beginning of this century. And that’s where you come in.

First, I should define some terms here; “black feature film” means fictional narrative films that tell stories primarily about people of African descent (no documentaries). The cultural/racial heritage of the filmmaker is irrelevant. And “independent” means that the...

Most notably known for his role on the FX series Rescue Me, Daniel Sunjata will join Grey’s Anatomy.

Apparently, he will be the new love interest for Dr. Bailey (played by Chandra Wilson) which most certainly will spice things up. According to TVGuide.com his character will be a nurse on the show.

In 2003, Sunjata was nominated for a Tony award for his portrayal as a gay, Major League baseball player in Take Me Out. S&A readers may recall his poignant portrayal of Langston Hughes in the highly touted film Brother to Brother which he co-starred alongside Anthony Mackie.

The Chicago native’s first appearance will be on Dec. 2.

With the new tv show Undercovers premiering next month, starring the already oft-mentioned Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who I know best at Freema Agyeman’s (#1 on my ‘Wifey List’) sister on Dr. Who, and pretty-boy extraordinaire Boris Kodjoe, I thought I’d focus on what seems to be, in a good way, a proliferation of Black men on tv shows lately. Although these guys are supporting characters, they’re playing some pretty intense roles and putting forth some great comedic and dramatic performances. Though none of these are network shows like Undercovers, they are often better (and sometimes better performing) than those.

Coby Bell on Burn Notice

Coby Bell has been working non-stop for the past decade. First as a rookie cop on Third Watch, then as team captain & starting running back Jason Pitts on The Game and now as the first cast addition since the show started three years ago – and...

A filmmaker mentioned on the Shadow And Act 2010 list of filmmakers to watch (read that post Here), Rodney Evans (Brother To Brother) was recently spotlighted on indieWIRE‘s “In The Works” feature.

Within the profile was information on Evans’ second feature film, Day Dream, which, as the feature title suggests, is in the works, and is also an Ifp Labs project. The film already has its cast attached in Anthony Mackie (who also starred in Brother To Brother), Idris Elba and Aunjanue Ellis.

MsWOO initially profiled the film on this blog last year, June 2009, when it was 1 of 10 projects selected by Today Film Independent for its seventh annual Fast Track program, sponsored by Eastman Kodak – a three-day film-financing market.

Looks like he was able to get the funding he needed to go into production!

Day Dream, like Brother To Brother, is another somewhat nostalgic trip through black history, and centers...

HollywoodNews.com: Anthony Mackie’s latest film, “Night Catches Us,” has just released the official poster for the film.

Marcus (Anthony Mackie, “The Hurt Locker,” “Brother to Brother”) returns to the Philadelphia neighborhood where he came of age during the Black Power movement, protecting a dangerous secret in a struggle against the revolution he once embraced and rediscovering a forbidden love (Kerry Washington, “Ray,” “Lift”).

Award News, Breaking News, Entertainment News, Movie News, Music News, Hollywood News...

I’ve been wanting to do this for some time – a periodically (maybe annually) updated list of up-and-coming black filmmakers, especially those working mostly outside the mainstream; something we could call “black filmmakers to watch,” preceded by a year, not-so unlike Filmmaker magazine’s annual “25 New Faces of Independent Film” list.

As I’ve already made known on this blog, I’m not necessarily a fan of lists, especially ranked lists where the arts are concerned.

However, I do see Some value in providing black cinema enthusiasts like yourselves (or cinema enthusiasts regardless of race) with the names of noteworthy black filmmakers who may otherwise go unnoticed by the the mainstream press, and even indie film publications like Filmmaker magazine. We’re celebrating those black filmmakers… propping them up, you could say. If a site like ours doesn’t do that, we certainly can’t complain when more prominent media outlets don’t.

More from my inbox… I really should hire someone to help me go through it daily, because it’s becoming a job on its own, sifting through the worthwhile to the worth-not

Anyway… here’s an upcoming screening taking place in Los Angeles for the L.A. S&A readers… the Committee of Black Writers will host a screening of the award winning independent film, Brother to Brother, on July 7, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. at the WGA, followed by a Q&A with writer/director, Rodney Evans.

The notice promises the event to be “enlightening as well as entertaining,” with an exploration of “issues faced by artists of the Harlem Renaissance that continue to be relevant today.”

I initially saw Brother To Brother the year it was released, some 5 years ago; I reviewed it on my podcast (then called The Obenson Report) some time later, which you can listen to...

The Tribeca Film Festival starts today, in my backyard, in NYC, and, if you’re a member of the proletariat like me, unable or unwilling to pay the lofty ticket package prices, apparently preferred by the festival’s American Express sponsorship, you can go for an alternative – the festival’s Virtual Pass, a brand new idea that will allow fans to participate in the festival virtually.

At the much more affordable cost of $45, from April 23-30, virtual pass-holders will be able to watch, right on their computers, a selection of full-length feature and short films premiering simultaneously at the festival in New York, as well as enjoy exclusive original content, an enhanced High-Definition video player, real-time discussions with filmmakers in NYC, and the chance to vote for festival awards.

Of course, none of the films available are any of the more higher profile selections at the festival – so, sorry, Thomas Ikimi’s Legacy,...