Notícias

Jamie Foxx was part of a press conference today while promoting his Apple TV+ documentary production, Number One on the Call Sheet, and MovieWeb had a chance to ask Foxx about the challenges of moving behind the camera to direct his first feature-length fiction film, All-Star Weekend. It's apparently a wild comedy full of vignettes, like the absolute classic Robert Townsend comedy, Hollywood Shuffle. And apparently, Robert Downey Jr. is ditching the Blackface of Tropic Thunder for a different skin complexion. As a matter of fact, so is Jamie Foxx.

Foxx discussed calling in a variety of people to take part in what seems like an outrageous comedy — not just Robert Downey Jr., but also Benicio Del Toro, Gerard Butler, Snoop Dogg, Jeremy Piven, Eva Longoria, DJ Khaled, The Game, and many others. In a hilarious Downey Jr. impersonation, Foxx imitated the actor accepting the role, and then detailed Downey Jr.

The Wayans Family were inducted into the NAACP Hall of Fame at the 56th Image Awards on Saturday night.

The Wayanses — siblings Keenen Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans Sr., Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Kim Wayans and the second generation of talent, Damon Wayans Jr., Damien Dante Wayans, Craig Wayans and Chaunté Wayans — joined previous inductees including New Edition, Eddie Murphy, Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Spike Lee and Earth Wind and Fire.

The NAACP Hall of Fame Award is presented to “individuals or groups who have been pioneers in their respective fields and whose influence continues to shape their industry for generations.” And as one of the most influential families in comedy and entertainment — collectively behind such culture-defining hits as “In Living Color” (which also launched the careers of Jennifer Lopez and Rosie Perez), “My Wife and Kids,” “Hollywood Shuffle,” the “Scary Movie” franchise, “White Chicks” and the hit CBS...

Updated: The Wayans Family will be inducted into the NAACP Hall of Fame at the 56th NAACP Image Awards ceremony on Feb. 22.

The Wayanses — namely Keenen Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans Sr., Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Kim Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. — join previous inductees including New Edition, Eddie Murphy, Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Spike Lee and Earth Wind and Fire.

The Hall of Fame Award is presented to “individuals or groups who have been pioneers in their respective fields and whose influence continues to shape their industry for generation.” And as one of the most influential families in comedy and entertainment — collectively behind such culture-defining hits as “In Living Color,” “My Wife and Kids,” “Hollywood Shuffle,” the “Scary Movie” franchise, “White Chicks” and the hit CBS sitcom “Poppa’s House” — they certainly fit the bill.

“For decades, the Wayans family has been at the forefront of comedy, breaking barriers...

Late in filmmaker Gregory Nava’s harrowing 1983 immigration drama El Norte, Guatemalan refugee Rosa (Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez) lays ailing in a Los Angeles hospital, ravaged by a fatal case of typhus acquired crawling through the rat-infested sewers underneath the Mexican-American border. Sadly resigned to her own death, she turns to her equally ill-fated brother Enrique (David Villalpando) to ask: “When will we find a home, Enrique? Maybe when we die?”–a blunt, heartbreaking moment among many.

But even setting aside the Guatemalan Civil War whose harsh realities provide El Norte its backdrop so too could Rosa’s mournful question could just as easily be asked in relation to the state of independent film in the Americas by the time of El Norte’s world premiere at the 1983 edition of the Telluride Film Festival.

After spending the bulk of the 1970s drinking and producing a series of increasingly unreleasable masterpieces, indie film pioneer John Cassavetes was,...

Kobi Libii’s debut feature The American Society of Magical Negroes starts on a promising note. Aren, a spindly and awkward artist (an endearing Justice Smith) loiters near a yarn sculpture in a gallery. He seems lost in the sea of roving patrons and bustling waiters. It takes a second for us to realize that Aren created the meditative wool work and is struggling to sell it to the mostly white collectors attending this group show. They find the abstract piece illegible; they repeatedly ask about the material (“Is it … yarn?”) while maintaining a distance. These brief encounters are a clever jab by Libii at a visual art world historically enamored of Black figurative artists.

Minor drama ensues after Aren is mistaken for a server by a patron and unceremoniously fired by his gallerist. Before he can think straight, the dejected artist finds himself touring the gothic halls of The American Society of Magical Negroes,...

If it takes doing an MCU movie, with all the corporate constrictions that entails, to plunge into the kind of exhilarating creative exorcism that Freaky Tales represents, then bring on the superhero as stepping-stone. Before they made Captain Marvel, longtime filmmaking duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck established their talents with three boldly idiosyncratic indies, Half Nelson, Sugar and Mississippi Grind. But nothing in those distinctive works can prepare you for the kinetic energy, the freewheeling imagination and the righteous battles — we’re talking rap and some serious blade slice-and-dice — of their love letter to the Bay Area and the pop-cultural imprint it left on Fleck as a kid in the ‘80s.

The tales of the title are four chapters all built around the theme of underdog victory, each of them different in texture and tone yet all ingeniously interconnected and all owing something to the big-screen aesthetics of the time.

Hello, and welcome to the Scene 2 Seen Podcast. I am Valerie Complex, an associate editor and film writer at Deadline.

Today, for the final episode of 2023 (!), we’re talking to director-writer Cord Jefferson and producer Jermaine Johnson about their latest project American Fiction, which won the TIFF Audience Award. The film stars Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, Erika Alexander and John Ortiz.

American Fiction follows Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Wright), a respected author and professor of English literature. But his impatience with his students’ cultural sensitivities is threatening his academic standing, while his latest novel is failing to attract publishers; they claim Monk’s writing “isn’t Black enough.” One night, in a fit of spite, Monk concocts a pseudonymous novel embodying every Black cliché he can imagine. His agent submits it to a major publisher who immediately offers the biggest advance Monk’s ever seen.

David McKnight, whose film resume included starring as the lead in the blaxploitation horror movie J.D.’s Revenge, as well as Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle and The Five Heartbeats, died Sunday at age 87.

McKnight passed from cancer in Las Vegas, according to reports.

The actor was a TV staple in various character roles, appearing on Kojak, Hill Street Blues, The Incredible Hulk, Dynasty and Benson, among other shows.

In J.D.’s Revenge (1976), McKnight played a deceased New Orleans hustler who takes over the body of a college student (Glynn Turman) and goes after the man who murdered him and his sister 30 years earlier.

McKnight was hired to play Uncle Ray in Townsend’s The Hollywood Shuffle, playing a singer turned barber who encourages Townsend’s Bobby Taylor to pursue his dream of becoming an actor.

McKnight went on to portray Pastor Stone in the Townsend-directed The Five Heartbeats (1991) and was the...

Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Amazon Studios MGM releases the film in theaters on Friday, December 15 with expansion to follow on Friday, December 22.

In “American Fiction,” the comic and tragic go hand in hand. Each moment is layered with meaning, socially, politically, and emotionally. The film, based on the novel “Erasure” by writer and professor Percival Everett, is part satire, part romantic comedy, all combined with thoughtful family drama. With an all-star cast and talented writer at the helm, “American Fiction” is poised to become an audience favorite.

The film tells the story of Thelonious Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), an English professor and unsuccessful author suffering from writer’s block and explosive bouts of rage that alienate him from other people. After making one of his students cry, he’s forced to take a break from teaching and return to Boston to...

I first became introduced to the work of Robert Townsend unceremoniously when his family sitcom, The Parent ‘Hood, premiered on The WB network in 1995. A professorial father figure with a wife and four children, Townsend’s character seemed, at least to my adolescent eyes, the ideal American dad. A noble role that fit him like a glove, Townsend must have enjoyed following up his caped-crusader directorial effort, The Meteor Man, with a sitcom that afforded him a more domesticated form of heroism. Those types of roles were not often offered to Townsend. Released in 1987, his directorial debut, Hollywood Shuffle, […]

The post “Seeds for the Revolution”: Robert Townsend on Hollywood Shuffle first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

I first became introduced to the work of Robert Townsend unceremoniously when his family sitcom, The Parent ‘Hood, premiered on The WB network in 1995. A professorial father figure with a wife and four children, Townsend’s character seemed, at least to my adolescent eyes, the ideal American dad. A noble role that fit him like a glove, Townsend must have enjoyed following up his caped-crusader directorial effort, The Meteor Man, with a sitcom that afforded him a more domesticated form of heroism. Those types of roles were not often offered to Townsend. Released in 1987, his directorial debut, Hollywood Shuffle, […]

The post “Seeds for the Revolution”: Robert Townsend on Hollywood Shuffle first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The girls that get it, get it. And by "it," I do mean "B.A.P.S.," the late '90s girl-power romp starring Halle Berry and Natalie Desselle-Reid. The film follows the duo as two homegirls whose efforts to swindle a millionaire inadvertently turn them into Black American Princesses (hence the title). It's a campy, caring chick flick with ridiculous gags and a few endearing friendships — but after 25 years, it's still one of the most misunderstood films of the '90s.

One hesitates to label "B.A.P.S." a cult classic. It was ruthlessly panned upon its release in 1997, and though it's cherished and championed by Black female audiences everywhere, the film is never mentioned with the same ironic awe as the other, equally campy films of the era. Think "Clueless," "Dick," or "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" — all enjoy a special place in the cult hall of fame, while "B.A.P.S." is scarcely mentioned.

After years of paying the bills with commercial gigs and extra work, by the mid ’80s, Robert Townsend was making a decent living performing in comedy clubs and appearing in small roles in big movies like “A Soldier’s Story,” “American Flyers,” and Walter Hill’s action-musical extravaganza “Streets of Fire.” Most of his auditions, however, were still for stereotypical roles as pimps, slaves, and gangbangers; his agent told him that Hollywood only made one decent Black film a year, and “A Soldier’s Story” was it for 1984.

Frustrated by the lack of opportunities, Townsend and Keenan Ivory Wayans created their own by co-writing the movie industry satire “Hollywood Shuffle,” which Townsend directed and self-financed on savings and credit cards. The 1987 comedy —now part of the Criterion Collection — stands alongside “Stranger Than Paradise,” “She’s Gotta Have It,” and “sex, lies, and videotape” as a touchstone of the ’80s independent film movement, and...

Robert Townsend looks back on his debut film, "Hollywood Shuffle," with a major sense of fondness. By all accounts, it was a struggle to get off the ground — Townsend notoriously maxed out a handful of credit cards to fund the two-and-a-half-year shoot, and the story itself was born from Townsend's frustrating beginnings as a Black actor. But he quickly decided to take that frustration and spin it into an opportunity. "We were just being bad boys and just having fun," Townsend says now of the experience. "I just felt it was funny. I felt like we wanted to say something."

The intervening years have definitely been kind to Townsend, and to the film he co-wrote with Keenen Ivory Wayans. The duo's scathing critiques take on a new form in a series of sharp, ingenious comedy sketches. From a Siskel & Ebert-style chat show to a remix of classic noirs like "The Maltese Falcon,...

The 2023 American Black Film Festival (ABFF) Honors is set to recognize Kerry Washington, Courtney B. Vance, Charles D. King and Janelle Monáe with special honors during the annual award ceremony saluting excellence in the motion picture and television industry.

Washington, an Emmy winner and SAG and Golden Globe-nominated actor, director and producer, will be presented with the Excellence in the Arts Award (Female), while two-time Emmy winner Vance will accept the award for Excellence in the Arts (Male). MacRo founder and CEO King will be presented the Industry Leadership Award, while eight-time Grammy-nominated artist, producer and actor Monáe receives the Renaissance Award. Kasi Lemmons’ 1997 drama “Eve’s Bayou” will be honored with the Classic Cinema Award.

The fifth ABFF Honors will take place on Sunday, March 5, hosted by Emmy-nominated writer, actor and comedian Deon Cole. The intimate, non-televised dinner and award ceremony is executive produced by Nicole and Jeff Friday (under...

Every generation has a Robert Townsend movie for them, whether it’s his acerbic examination of Black actors in the film industry with 1987’s “Hollywood Shuffle,” his attempt to crack the superhero genre with 1993’s “Meteor Man” or his spin on Disney Channel fare with the 2000s feature “Up, Up, and Away!” And don’t forget his 2001 adaptation of Bizet’s “Carmen” starring Beyoncé Knowles-Carter: “Carmen: A Hip Hopera.” The multihyphenate actor, director, comedian and writer has seen and done it all.

Nearly 50 years into his Hollywood career, Townshend is still working today. Most recently, he directed for the Netflix series “Kaleidoscope” and participated as a guest during TCM’s Black History Month celebration.

But it’s only in the last few years — aided by screenings of 1975’s “Cooley High,” 1984’s “A Soldier’s Story,” and “Hollywood Shuffle” on TCM — that Townsend’s legacy as a Black artist has begun getting the appreciation it deserves.

There have been many classic movie comedies over the years featuring Black stars, ranging from Eddie Murphy's Coming to America to Whoopi Goldberg's Sister Act. Those films are among the many that resonated with Black audiences even though they were directed by white filmmakers. Despite that, Hollywood has also had a long tradition of Black directors creating movies aimed specifically at Black audiences; trailblazer Oscar Micheaux, in fact, is regarded as the first major Black filmmaker, directing and producing more than 40 so-called "race films" between 1919 and 1948.

These days, as Hollywood executives increasingly come to realize the importance of Black directors telling Black stories, there's been an ever-growing number of Black directors engaging in big-screen filmmaking, a trend that has been evident not just in dramas but in comedies as well. In fact, some of the most beloved comedies with predominantly Black casts featured Black directors at the helm. For the full picture,...

There are a lot of comedy specials on Netflix these days, but Ms. Pat breaks through the noise. The title doesn’t lie: In “Ms. Pat: Ya’ll Wanna Hear Something Crazy?”, the Atlanta native returns to her hometown for a boisterous and boundary-pushing barrage of jokes that put her confrontational blend of autobiography and subversive storytelling on display. While she currently puts much of her life into the BET+ series “The Ms. Pat Show,” her latest release marks her first hourlong special, and it’s a welcome encapsulation of her take-no-prisoners approach.

The comedian has discussed her struggles for years, from the teen pregnancies that came out of an abusive relationship to the time she spent in jail. “Y’all Wanna Hear Something Crazy” attacks a broader range of subjects, from her impoverished upbringing to dog owners and her own children’s foibles. It also comes equipped with a...

The long-awaited fourth season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” isn’t the only new thing coming to Amazon Prime Video in February. Below we’ve assembled a full list of every new movie and TV show being added to the streaming service this month, including both Prime Video originals and library titles.

The new season of the Emmy-winning “Maisel” arrives on Feb. 18, the same day the first season of the new animated series “The Legend of Vox Machina” drops. But on Feb. 4, Prime Video will debut the brand new original series “Reacher,” based on author Lee Child’s beloved Jack Reacher book series. The new show stars Alan Ritchson in the titular role, putting a new spin on the character who was previously played by Tom Cruise in two feature films.

In terms of library titles, Feb. 25 sees the addition of the action thriller “The Protégé,” which was released in...

February 2022 is a big month for Prime Video. We’re talking “hands the size of dinner plates” big.

Highlighting Amazon Prime Video’s list of new releases for February 2022 is Reacher, the saga of one very large boy. Reacher premieres on Feb. 4 and is based on the Jack Reacher book series by Lee Child. The titular hero (played by Alan Ritchson) is a former major in the U.S. Army Military Police Corps who now travels the country looking for trouble to get into. His hands are very large.

How Big Are Jack Reacher’s Hands?: An Investigation pic.twitter.com/dYasLj7Bey

— Erik Tanouye (@toyns) July 28, 2018

Also coming to Prime Video this month is the return of one of Amazon’s biggest originals. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel premieres on Feb. 18. Season 4 will find Midge seeking creative freedom in the 1960s. The one big Prime Original Movie of note...

The writer/director returns to talk about his favorite Blaxploitation movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Man Bites Dog (1992)

Trick Baby (1972)

The Exorcist (1973) – Oren Pelli’s trailer commentary

The Untouchables (1987)

Predator (1987)

Purple Rain (1984) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Loved One (1965) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Live And Let Die (1973)

Enter The Dragon (1973) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

The Green Hornet (1974)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) – Darren Bousman’s trailer commentary

The Last Dragon (1985) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Dead Presidents (1995)

Hell Up In Harlem (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Black Caesar (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Shaft (1971) – Bill Duke’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971)

Coffy (1973) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary

Midnight Cowboy (1969) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Taxi Driver (1976) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary

Boxcar Bertha (1972) – Julie Corman...

The Paris Theater, a beloved arthouse cinema in New York City, is reopening its doors next month.

To celebrate its return on Aug. 6, filmmaker Radha Blank is curating a slate of repertory titles to screen alongside her directorial debut “The Forty-Year-Old Version.” Her movie, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, is playing through Aug. 12.

The Paris opened in 1948 and is the only single-screen movie theater in Manhattan. Netflix acquired the 545-seat venue in 2019 and, prior to Covid-19, held premieres, special events and screenings of its films in the storied institution, which is just south of Central Park.

“I made ‘Forty-Year-Old Version’ in 35mm Black & White in the spirit of the many great films that informed my love of cinema,” says Blank. “I’m excited to show the film in 35mm as intended and alongside potent films by fearless filmmakers who inspired my development as a storyteller and expanded my vision...

The Paris Theater, an NYC cinematic landmark rescued by Netflix in 2019, will officially reopen August 6 with the streamer’s The Forty-Year-Old Version by Radha Blank and a week of repertory films programmed by the director.

The only single-screen movie theater in Manhattan and the borough’s largest, with 545 seats, has hosted limited theatrical engagements since March that included Netflix’ 17 Oscar-nominated films, retrospectives of Charlie Kaufman and Orson Wells, zombie movie classics and a Bob Dylan film series.

The Paris closed in August of 2019 after its lease with City Cinemas expired. That November, Netflix entered an extended lease agreement, said to be for ten years with owner the Solow Family, to keep the theater open and use it for events, screenings and theatrical releases of its films. The first was Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story. The theater was shuttered by Covid-19 last spring.

(In May of 2020, Netflix acquired another storied theaters,...

Sad news to report, as Paul Mooney, the veteran comedian, writer, and actor perhaps best known for his work with Richard Pryor, has passed away. According to his family, Mooney suffered from a heart attack at his home in Oakland, California, early on Wednesday morning. Responding paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive him, and Mooney died at the age of 79 years old. He had also reportedly been suffering from dementia for some time and was staying with a family member

Mooney, whose real name was Paul Gladney, was born in Louisiana in 1941. As a child, he relocated to Oakland where he grew up. He'd end up coining the nickname "Mooney" for himself based on the actor Paul Muni from the original Scarface (1932). Destined to be an entertainer, he began his career as a ringmaster working with the Gatti-Charles Circus. Telling jokes at the circus would lead to writing comedy material for Richard Pryor,...

Paul Mooney, the comedian, actor and writer for Richard Pryor, died on Wednesday morning, his representative Cassandra Williams confirmed to Variety. He was 79.

He died at his home in Oakland, Calif., after suffering a heart attack.

Mooney’s Twitter account also shared the news on Wednesday morning, posting “Thank you all from the bottom of all of our hearts…To all in love with this great man.”

Thank you all from the bottom of all of our hearts …you’re all are the best!…… Mooney World .. The Godfather of Comedy – One Moon Many Stars! .. To all in love with this great man.. many thanks...

Oscar nominated screenwriter of One Night in Miami… and the writer/co-director of Pixar’s Soul, Kemp Powers discusses some of his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Innerspace (1987)

The Goonies (1985)

Animal House (1978)

Soul (2020)

One Night In Miami… (2020)

Munich (2005)

12 Angry Men (1957)

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)

Gremlins (1984)

About Schmidt (2002)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Little Women (2019)

Cornbread, Earl And Me (1975)

The Education Of Sonny Carson (1974)

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)

Point Break (1991)

Point Break (2015)

Ghost (1990)

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)

Road House (1989)

Dirty Dancing (1987)

The Outsiders (1983)

Die Hard (1988)

Up (2009)

Monsters Inc. (2001)

Inside Out (2015)

Wall-e (2008)

Ratatouille (2007)

Van Nuys Blvd. (1979)

Mad Max (1979)

The Road Warrior (1981)

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Happy Feet (2006)

Babe (1995)

Lorenzo’s Oil (1992)

Unforgiven (1992)

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Tombstone (1993)

Invictus (2009)

Jersey Boys (2014)

Gran Torino...

[Editor’s note: The following review contains spoilers for “Bunny Lake Is Missing,” but they don’t take the fun out of this movie.]

With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.

More from IndieWireStreaming Wars: Virtual Cinemas Offer Haven for Cinephiles and Struggling Theaters AlikeStream of the Day: 'Hollywood Shuffle' Raised Issues Facing Black Actors That Still Exist 30 Years Later

Otto Preminger’s “Bunny Lake Is Missing,” aside from introducing The Zombies to the moviegoing world, is probably most famous for its final 20 minutes, a cascade of nonsensical psychological hairpin turns that merge to become a quite stunning pile-up car-crash of “is this really happening?” moments. That’s the ghoulish fun of this unhinged movie, which provides the most toxic brother-sister codependency plot this side of Shakespeare or Hitchcock’s darkest nightmares.

While Preminger has at...

With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.

Decades before Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” squashed box-office expectations en route to a Best Original Screenplay Oscar, Robert Townsend and Keenan Ivory Wayans struck a similar chord in 1987 with “Hollywood Shuffle,” a biting satire about the dearth of roles for black actors in Hollywood. Unlike “Get Out,” the approach to racial comedy in “Shuffle” is much more flagrant. However, it remains an essential piece of black Hollywood history that still has something to say about the industry today.

More from IndieWireStream of the Day: 'God's Own Country' Deserves to Be a 'Call Me by Your Name' SensationStream of the Day: People Have Been Watching 'Bicycle Thieves' the Wrong Way for Decades

The loosely autobiographical film follows aspiring...

Exclusive: Damon Wayans, who starred for three seasons as Roger Murtaugh in the Fox series Lethal Weapon, has signed with APA.

Wayans served as writer and star of the acclaimed, Emmy-winning series, In Living Color, for three seasons where he created some of the show’s most iconic sketch characters, including Homey the Clown, Handiman and gay film critic Blaine from Men on Film. His writing for the series earned him two Emmy Award nominations.

More from DeadlineShowrunner Matthew Wheeler Inks With Thruline & Apaapa Confronts Coronavirus With Salary Cuts, & Furloughs, No Layoffs'Grimm' Co-creator David Greenwalt Signs With Apa; Innovative Inks 'Sacred Lies' Actress Jordan Alexander

Wayans also starred in, co-created and executive-produced the hit comedy series My Wife and Kids, which received numerous awards including the 2002 People’s Choice Award for Favorite New Television Comedy Series and Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series. He also created, executive-produced and...

John Witherspoon passed away suddenly yesterday at the age of 77. His death has sparked an outpouring of tributes from Hollywood and the world of hip hop. Witherspoon is arguably best known for his role as Ice Cube's grumpy father in the Friday comedy franchise, although he had done a lot more than just that role, including I'm Gonna Get You Sucka and House Party, along with many others. He also had roles on the small screen in The Richard Pryor Show, The Wayans Bros., and The Tracy Morgan Show. Now, the world is grieving his loss.

Actor/rapper Ice Cube says, "I'm devastated over the passing of John Witherspoon. Life won't be as funny without him," which seems to sum up just about what everybody else is saying about Witherspoon. Regina King, who also starred alongside Witherspoon and Ice Cube in Friday took a different approach. She was able...

Days before he passed away, John Witherspoon appeared on Dl Hughley’s radio show to explain why he’s still drawing crowds and working in this business. “Try to be as funny as you can as that character. You can’t be an old dude trying to act young, talking hip hop. I don’t know hip hop. I don’t even know how to turn my phone off.” Witherspoon stayed true to his characters no matter whom he played or how old he got, and the audience resonated with that. Here are some of the great character actor’s finest moments on screen.

“Hollywood Shuffle” (1987) – One of Witherspoon’s first, most memorable movie roles was as Eddie Murphy’s boss in “Hollywood Shuffle,” about a struggling actor working at a hot dog stand who can’t get a break because of his skin color. But this ain’t no ordinary hot dog stand,...

We've got some terrible news to pass along today, as beloved comic actor John Witherspoon has passed away at the age of 77. At this time, no exact cause of death has been revealed. The sad news comes directly from Witherspoon's official Twitter account, with the actor's family confirming his passing with an official statement. "It is with deep sadness we have to tweet this, but our husband & father John Witherspoon has passed away," the statement reads. "He was a Legend in the entertainment industry, and a father figure to all who watched him over the years. We love you 'Pops' always & forever."

Born in 1942 as John Weatherspoon, the future actor would later change the spelling of his surname to the one we recognize. Early in life, Witherspoon had done some modeling work, but noticed he had a penchant for comedy. By the 60s and 70s, he had begun performing stand-up comedy,...

John Witherspoon, a prolific character actor best known for a run of comedic turns in acclaimed films and cult classics like “Hollywood Shuffle” and the “Friday” franchise, died Tuesday in his Sherman Oaks, California, home. He was 77.

“It is with deep sadness we have to tweet this, but our husband & father John Witherspoon has passed away. He was a Legend in the entertainment industry, and a father figure to all who watched him over the years. We love you “Pops” always & forever,” Witherspoon’s family said in a statement posted to his Twitter account.

Born John Weatherspoon in Detroit (he changed his name to Witherspoon later) in 1942, he began his career in the 1960s, performing as an actor, comedian and occasional model. He made his television debut in 1970 on an episode of “Barnaby Jones,” and later in the decade appeared on episodes of “Good Times,” “What’s Happening!!” and “The Incredible Hulk,...

John Witherspoon, an actor-comedian who for decades made audiences laugh in TV shows and films, including the hit Friday feature franchise, died suddenly at his home today. He was 77.

“It is with deepest sorrow that we can confirm our beloved husband and father, John Witherspoon, one of the hardest working men in show business, died today at his home in Sherman Oaks at the age of 77,” Witherspoon’s family said in a statement to Deadline. “He is survived by his wife Angela, and his sons Jd, Alexander, and a large family. We are all in shock, please give us a minute for a moment in privacy and we will celebrate his life and his work together. John used to say ‘I’m no big deal’, but he was huge deal to us.”

Comedy great Witherspoon was born in Detroit in 1942 as John Weatherspoon. He launched a stand-up comedy career and...

“In Living Color” creator Keenen Ivory Wayans is taking over for Saladin Patterson as showrunner on “The Last O.G.” for the Tracy Morgan and Tiffany Haddish-led TBS comedy’s upcoming third season.

The Turner-owned network made the announcement during the Television Critics Association’s press tour Wednesday, also revealing Wayans will direct four episodes of “The Last O.G.” Season 3.

This marks the second showrunner switch the series, co-created by Morgan and Jordan Peele, has seen since its inception. Patterson took over for original showrunner John Carcieri before Season 1 premiered.

“I’m thrilled and excited to be working with such a great cast, team of producers and reuniting with Tracy Morgan,” Wayans said. “Together we’re all going to take the show to the next level.”

Also Read: Tracy Morgan's 'The Last Og' Renewed by TBS for Season 2

“We can’t wait to see where Keenen takes this series next,...

Variety has exclusively learned that Urban Movie Channel has set the new multi-generational family drama “A House Divided” for a summer 2019 premiere.

The series follows the direct descendants of Letty Sanders, who was enslaved in the 1800s and later became the wealthiest black woman in Los Angeles. The show centers on present-day members of the Sanders family, whose legacy is being threatened by the passing of its matriarch, a government investigation, and newly discovered secrets.

Currently in the beginning stages of production, the new series will star Demetria McKinney (Tyler Perry’s “House of Payne”), Paula Jai Parker (“Ray Donovan”), Lawrence Hilton Jacobs (“The Jacksons: An American Dream”), Brad James (“Superstition”), David McKnight (“Hollywood Shuffle”), Taja V. Simpson (Fox’s “Lethal Weapon”), and Art Evans (“Die Hard 2”).

“A House Divided” comes from Dan Garcia, the creator of Umc’s series “Bronx Siu.”

“A thrilling tale of scandal and secrecy...

Turner Classic Movies and the African American Film Critics Association have partnered on The Black Experience on Film, a monthlong programming initiative showcasing portrayals of African-Americans throughout cinematic history.

Hosted by 13 different members of the Aafca from print, online and broadcast outlets, programming begins September 4 and continues every Tuesday and Thursday in primetime.

The Black Experience on Film provides a wide-ranging retrospective from the 1920s through the 1990s including:

Exploring Black Identity airing Sept. 4 – Aafca president Gil Robertson and cultural critic Ronda Racha Penrice explore films ranging from Oscar Micheaux’s look at racial violence in Within Our Gates (1920) to Julie Dash’s 1991 story following three generations of Gullah women in Daughters Of The Dust; Hollywood Confronts Racism airing Sept. 6 – Aafca co-founder and film critic Shawn Edwards and HipHollywood.com’s Jasmine Simpkins examine A Raisin in the Sun (1961), about a black Chicago family searching for a better life, and...

The year 1990 was the beginning of a new decade that just had survived the neon excesses of the ’80s. This fresh start was seen in the world at large with the reunification of Germany, the unification of Yemen, the release of Nelson Mandela and the resignation of Margaret Thatcher as the U.K.’s prime minister.

It was also the fledgling days of the internet, when the first web server was created, providing a foundation for the World Wide Web as we know it.

Read More: ‘Animaniacs’ Reboot Being Developed by Steven Spielberg, Amblin TV and Warner Bros. — Exclusive

Over on television, “Saturday Night Live” welcomed the new talents of Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and Julia Sweeney.

The year also marked the end of an era for shows like “Alf,” “227,” “Newhart,” primetime soap “Falcon Crest,” Nickelodeon’s slime purveyor “You Can’t Do That on Television,...

"It is an exciting debut, and a film that, without exaggeration or false modesty, finds interest and feeling in the world just as it is." That was A.O. Scott, reviewing Barry Jenkins' Medicine For Melancholy (2008) for the New York Times back in early 2009. Scott was hardly alone in his praise. A modest micro-budget film that made ripples on the festival circuit, Medicine For Melancholy was a day in the life of two black bohemians in San Francisco (Wyatt Cenac and Tracey Heggins), who, following a one-night stand, travel the city, share a tenuous courtship, and debate the challenges and contradictions of being black in a white cultural space. The most obvious comparison is the walk-and-talk films of Richard Linklater, but that comparison is also something of a trap. Wyatt Cenac's cry from the heart in Melancholy was that the cachet of "indie" culture privileges white perspectives above all others,...

Michael Larnell and I spoke by phone today. We had met several years ago when we spoke at his graduate film class at Nyu, which was taught by our friend the producer Peter Newman.

Michael carefully chose to do his graduate studies at Nyu after researching schools and finding the films of Nyu grads were most interesting to him. Another professor there was Spike Lee.

“Cronies” was his thesis film there.

Spike Lee liked the early stages of the project and his yearly grant went to Michael along with Spike becoming the Executive Producer and he brought ICM into the picture. ICM is repping the film for both U.S. and international distribution.

Regarding domestic distribution, Michael says that “there are couple of options. We have a couple of offers, but I’m thinking of alternative ways of distributing which in turn will help pave the way for the next group of filmmakers. Nyu is working on providing its filmmakers with film funding and distribution services.”

Sundance has its digital services and branding too.

On the international side, he is soon to hear from some festivals which will launch the film abroad. “It’s exciting because I’ve never been in Europe before.”

Shows love - comedy to show men struggling with showing their emotions.

“Cronies” is a character piece about twenty-two-year-old Louis who doesn’t know whether his childhood friendship with “Loose Cannon Jack” will last as he sets a new path for his life. When a new buddy, Andrew, is introduced, emotions such as jealousy set in motion a struggle of the three to express emotions, something they are not used to doing.

This comedy about love and men struggling to express it stars first time local actors George Sample III, Zurich Buckner and Brian Kowalski. Zurich has been in shorts and along with George and Brian must now decide how to proceed with their acting careers. Perhaps the L.A. premiere will bring some clarity when the film is seen by agents and producers.

Michael filmed in his hometown St. Louis, Mo. It is a small city – not a town -- big enough for sports teams, etc. However, George, Zurich and Brian will probably have to decide to leave it if they want to pursue their acting careers. What is good about St. Louis when compared to New York is that in NYC kids grow up fast and in St. Louis they can grow up more slowly.

Michael did his undergraduate studies in St. Louis, majoring in business. Afterward he went to work for several years in corporate insurance. He added part-time jobs in other areas of interest. This was at the time that YouTube was becoming popular and he and a friend began shooting and editing shorts. It intrigued Michael to see how stories came together through editing and he decided to learn more by returning to school. Nyu offered the best program for him.

Since showing the film at Sundance and later at Tribeca with two very different audiences – quiet in Slc and very vocal in NYC, Wme has come on as his agent. Wme is helping him with his next script, now in process.

Los Angeles Premiere at Next Fest

“Cronies” director Michael Larnell will have a conversation after the screening with Robert Townsend, one of the “Godfathers of the Independent Film World” an actor, writer, director and producer, first of “Hollywood Shuffle” followed by many other films. He chosen by the filmmaker when Sundance asked Michale who was influential and who would they want to see their film.

When Michael first started making films he moved to Chicago and then to New York. Robert is from Chicago where they have a big indie world which makes the films they want to make without caring about who will see them.

Michael took that ethos with him to New York. He never met Robert Townsend, so this conversation will be very interesting to him and to us in the audience.

Michael also likes Tarantino and the Hughes Brothers. Larry Clark is also an inspiration to him. All these filmmakers have influenced various parts of this film.

We welcome Michael to L.A. and are eager to see his film and meet him again.

At their annual retreat, the traditional internal kick-off for the big Sundance Film Festival this January, programmer Charlie Reff was able to take some time to talk with me about Next Fest.

My colleague Carlos Aguilar has already written about this big L.A. event here, so I will cover other areas and fill in on the music components of the film program.

Each film is its own event so that audiences will go to one film and not necessarily all films. Though the series package is selling well, the individual ticket sales are significant not only selling out but in bringing in new audiences. Getting L.A. people’s attention is not an easy task, but the pairing of movies and music in the unique way Next is creating, plus the spectacular venue, the Theatre at the Ace Hotel, one of L.A.’s most lavish and historic film venues, downtown at 9th and Broadway, will also bring out new audiences who care about preservation of our art deco landmarks.

This year more than half the films that showed in Sundance came out quickly theatrically this spring and summer followed by their VOD releases. If they did not get released theatrically then they were eligible to be chosen for Next if they were sufficiently “renegade” in the best spirit of indie filmmakers, like past films “Obvious Child”, “Compliance”, “Appropriate Behavior”, “Tangerine” and “Escape from Tomorrow”.

Out of the six films chosen for the unconventional and forward thinking of their narrative styles – including one doc -- there is a full range of experience to be had.

Four films showing in the evening are paired with live musical acts which somehow fit the film in mood or in ideas and are new and next in film and music.

In addition there will be three world premiere music videos and a full-body, mind-blowing virtual reality flight simulator, Birdly which was shown this past Sundance in the New Frontier exhibition. You can experience being a bird from a first-person perspective through a full-body virtual reality set up….it’s free, in the mezzanine of The Theatre of the Ace Hotel and available through an onsite waitlist system.

The world premiere music videos are Superhumanoid’s music video for “Anxious in Venice”, premiering Friday along with Noah Baumbach’s out of the mold “Mistress America” (Fox Searchlight) followed by a live performance by Sky Ferreira.Health’s album trailer for “Death Magic” as part of Saturday evening’s screening of “ Entertainment“ (Magnolia Releasing) starring Michael Cera will be followed by a solo performance by Sharon Van Etten. “Death Magic” is directed by acclaimed graphic designer, title designer, and editor Pablo Ferro, who has worked alongside some of the most respected filmmakers of all time including Stanley Kubrick, Hal Ashby and Tim Burton. An experimental short film by Eddie Alcazar with soundtrack by Flying Lotus, “Fuckkkyouuu”, will premiere Sunday at the “Turbo Kid” (Epic Pictures Releasing) screening with a back-to-back DJ battle between Neon Indian and Toro Y Moi.

Pairing music audiences with movie audiences aims to bring new awareness of new art canvasses to people who do not have a lot of crossover knowledge of film on one hand or of music on the other. Musicians often want to make movies and both they and filmmakers have had the carpets pulled out from under them and are struggling to find their way amidst digitization. It seems self-evident that fimmakers appreciate music since soundtracks and even the most incidental music in a film can make or break it. By pairing “Mistress America” with Sky Ferreira, Charlie is sure Sky’s fans will love “Mistress America” which will result in new discussions and will perhaps begin to define how to make sense of movies to music audiences. The cross-pollination of audiences enriches everyone.

The two daytime films, “Cronies” by Michael Larnell and “Finders Keepers” will be followed by conversations, paired respectively with Robert Townsend, one of the Godfathers of the Independent Film World, actor, writer, director and producer of first of “Hollywood Shuffle” followed by many other films; and Saturday’s “Finders Keepers” directors Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel with Thomas Middletich (“Silicon Valley” ) along with the film’s subject John Wood himself! Speakers were chosen by the filmmakers who were told to ask who was influential them them and who would they want to see their film.

Among the filmmakers, cast and musicians expected to attend Sundance Next Fest are Rick Alverson, Noah Baumbach, Bryan Carberry, Munro Chambers, Greta Gerwig, Health, Tim Heidecker, Lola Kirke, Michael Larnell, François Simard, Superhumanoids, Gregg Turkington, Clay Tweel, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell.

Attendance is expected to be around 10,000 judging by lat year’s numbers. Last year all three film with music event was sold out. The opening screening in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery was huge and the screenings over three days had about 1,000 at each event.

Next is not just a film festival; it is an Event.

Sundance Next Fest is supported by Principal Sponsors – Acura and Adobe; Major Sponsor – Kickstarter; Media Sponsor – Kcrw; and Supporting Sponsors – Beachside Films, Dolby, FilmL.A., Inc., ShopHouse, Shudder, Skullcandy®, Southwest Airlines, Stella Artois®, The Theatre at Ace Hotel and the Utah Film Commission. As part of their presence at the festival, Adobe and Kickstarter will host panels open to the public on Saturday and Sunday afternoons;

Below is the full program in detail. Even more details and tickets ($15-25) now on sale can be found at sundance.org/next.

Friday, August 7, 8:00 p.m.

"Anxious in Venice" (Band: Superhumanoids, Director: Taylor Cohen) — It's 4:37 a.m. and someone straps a camera to your chest. Nearby, your hungover bandmate sips gas station coffee and the director yells about missing the sunrise. You hate performance music videos but you're sure this one will be different. Then again, when you've been up all night and are shooting without a permit -- you can't be sure of anything. Welcome to Anxious In Venice. Music Video. World Premiere

"Mistress America" / U.S.A. (Director: Noah Baumbach, Screenwriters: Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig) — Tracy is a lonely college freshman in New York, having neither the exciting university experience nor the glamorous metropolitan lifestyle she envisioned. But when she is taken in by her soon-to-be stepsister, Brooke – a resident of Times Square and adventurous gal about town – she is rescued from her disappointment and seduced by Brooke's alluringly mad schemes. Cast: Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke. Los Angeles Premiere

Sky Ferreira — Sky Ferreira has quickly established herself as one of today’s most exciting new faces in music, film and fashion. She first signed to Capitol Records at the early age of 15 where she eventually wrote & executive produced her critically acclaimed debut album, Night Time, My Time. As an actress, she has worked with many independent filmmakers including Eli Roth, Liza Johnson & Matthew Porterfield. Sky is currently recording her highly anticipated new album, Masochism.

Saturday, August 8, 3:30 p.m.

"Finders Keepers" / U.S.A. (Directors: Bryan Carberry, Clay Tweel) — Recovering addict and amputee John Wood finds himself in a stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction and believes it, therefore, to be his rightful property. Los Angeles Premiere

Followed by a conversation between directors Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel, subject John Wood and special guests Aubrey Plaza and Thomas Middleditch.

Saturday, August 8, 8:00 p.m.

"Death Magic" (Band: Health, Director: Pablo Ferro) — The sun slowly sets; its beauty soundtracked by a serene yet melancholy sound. As the last rays of light slip behind the clouds, a violent transformation takes place. The music, ever-changing and explosive, creates the imagery… supergraphic and never seen before! The quick cuts in sync with the music, introduce the emotional range and complexity of Health’S new album Death Magic. Album Trailer. World Premiere

"Entertainment" / U.S.A. (Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Gregg Turkington, Tim Heidecker) — In an attempt to revive his dwindling career and reunite with his estranged daughter, a broken, aging comedian plays a string of dead-end shows in the California desert. Cast: Gregg Turkington, John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan, Michael Cera, Amy Seimetz, Lotte Verbeek. Los Angeles Premiere

Sharon Van Etten — Singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten writes from free-flowing emotional honesty and vulnerability, creating a bond with the listener that few contemporary musicians can match. Following her 2012 break-through Tramp, last year’s follow up Are We There and her new Ep I Don’t Want to Let You Down, Van Etten finds herself in full stride, writing, producing and performing.

Sunday, August 9, 3:30 p.m.

"Cronies" / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael J. Larnell) — Twenty-two-year-old Louis doesn’t know whether his childhood friendship with Jack will last beyond today. Cast: George Sample III, Zurich Buckner, Brian Kowalski. Los Angeles Premiere

Followed by a conversation between director Michael J. Larnell and special guest Robert Townsend.

Sunday, August 9, 8:00 p.m.

"Fuckkkyouuu" (Director: Eddie Alcazar, Music: Flying Lotus) — With the ability to travel in time, a lonely girl finds love and comfort by connecting with her past self. Eventually faced with rejection she struggles with her identity and gender, and as time folds onto itself only one of them can remain. Cast: Jesse Sullivan, Charles Baker. Experimental Short / Music Video. World Premiere

"Turbo Kid" / Canada, New Zealand (Directors and screenwriters: Anouk Whissell, François Simard, Yoann-Karl Whissell) — Set in a post apocalyptic year of 1997, this nostalgic tribute to ’80s action-adventure films follows an orphaned teenager who goes on an adventure to save his female-robot companion from the hands of the evil warlord who controls the only water supply. Cast: Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, Michael Ironside, Aaron Jeffery, Edwin Wright. Los Angeles Premiere

Neon Indian (DJ set) B2B Toro Y Moi (DJ set) — Neon Indian, the brainchild of Alan Palomo, is defined by a unique electro-mangled sound which has attracted fans and opening slots before acts like Massive Attack, The Flaming Lips, Phoenix and Chromeo. Toro Y Moi, the guise of Chaz Bundick, channels a wide swath of stylistic influences into his electronics-incorporating music and cites Big Star, Talking Heads and Todd Rundgren as some of his inspirations.

The decade’s underground film offering rarely gets its dues but at a new festival Jarmusch and Lynch sit next to under appreciated gems like Heat and Sunlight

It started with a conversation about Hollywood Shuffle.

Nellie Killian, programmer at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAMcinématek, and Jake Perlin, director of Artists Public Domain’s Cinema Conservancy, were discussing Robert Townsend’s 1987 independent comedy born from the frustration of being a black actor unable to find good roles. “The trailer actually has him holding up his credit cards,” they both enthusiastically recalled, and this captured the essence of what the massive 60+ film, six-week series kicking off on 17 July at Bam is all about. “Was this put on the director’s credit card?” was the litmus test they asked one another when deciding which titles to include in indie 80s. The question may not have been literal, but the spirit is easy to recognize.

"Cooley High" ought to be remembered as a cinema milestone, and its writer and director remembered as pioneers.

Released 40 years ago this week (on June 25, 1975), it ought to be celebrated for its vast influence on movies, TV, and music. As a young-men-coming-of-age movie, it deserves to be mentioned alongside Fellini's "I Vitelloni," George Lucas's "American Graffiti," Barry Levinson's "Diner," and John Singleton's "Boyz N the Hood." And yet, the film and its creators have been largely forgotten, lost to history.

The story behind "Cooley High" is even more dramatic than the comedy-drama that unspooled on the screen. It's the story of Kenneth Williams, who, like protagonist Preach, left Chicago's Cabrini-Green projects with dreams of becoming a Hollywood screenwriter. Having dropped out of high school, he hitchhiked from the Windy City to Hollywood with $5 in his pocket and no connections, and for a while he supported himself selling drugs.

Read More: 20th Stony Brook Film Festival Welcomes 'Best of Enemies,' 'Wildlike' and More Brooklyn's BAMcinématek revealed plans for a six-week-long retrospective screening series that is scheduled to begin in mid-July. Focused exclusively on independent American cinema from the 1980s, the program will feature over sixty films, along with special guests such as directors Ross McElwee and Rob Nilsson. Robert Townsend's "Hollywood Shuffle" (1987), a comedy about an African American actor (Townsend) struggling with the limitations of racial representation in Hollywood, will open "Indie 80s" on July 17. The series will conclude on August 27 with a screening of "Chameleon Street" (1989), which follows actor-director Wendall B. Harris, Jr. as he camouflages himself at hospitals, newspapers and court, faking as an expert in a wide range of professions in order to escape his tedious life.  Other notable titles include Rob Reiner's classic...

You could be vaccinating felines for a year at an animal shelter and still not hear the word "pussy" as much as you do in the first half hour of Entourage. This expansion of the HBO TV series appears to have been conceived by a gaggle of misogynistic, beer-chugging adolescent virgins who brag about getting laid, but the closest they've ever gotten is a Playboy centerfold bespattered with cream of mushroom soup that they rescued from the city dump.

To be fair, I have never viewed any episode of this series that I thought was supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek inside gander at Hollywood. Instead, what we have here is a glorified daydream of the male need to copulate with any orifice within five inches of his zipper. Make that four inches.

Directed and written with unflinching ineptitude and fetid taste by the series' executive producer Doug Ellin, the film is basically plotless.

In the mid-1980s, actor and comedian Robert Townsend had scored supporting roles in films like A Soldier’s Story and Streets of Fire, but was still limited in the opportunities available to him as a black performer. Frustrated by the lack of roles, Townsend created one for himself – and directed a landmark in American independent cinema in the process – by helming Hollywood Shuffle, a self-financed comedy about a young actor whose experiences mirrored Townsend’s own. Bobby Taylor (Townsend) is an aspiring thespian who dreams of playing superheroes and Shakespearean kings but mostly finds himself auditioning to play pimps and […]...

In the mid-1980s, actor and comedian Robert Townsend had scored supporting roles in films like A Soldier’s Story and Streets of Fire, but was still limited in the opportunities available to him as a black performer. Frustrated by the lack of roles, Townsend created one for himself – and directed a landmark in American independent cinema in the process – by helming Hollywood Shuffle, a self-financed comedy about a young actor whose experiences mirrored Townsend’s own. Bobby Taylor (Townsend) is an aspiring thespian who dreams of playing superheroes and Shakespearean kings but mostly finds himself auditioning to play pimps and […]...

David Gordon Green returns to his alma mater to present Manglehorn; local newcomers impress with Homeless feature.Scroll down for full list of winners

RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, wrapped last night with Shawkat Amin Korki’s Memories on Stone winning best narrative feature and Hao Zhou’s The Chinese Mayor winning best documentary feature.

In the audience awards, best of the fest went to honoree Stanley Nelson’s The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution; best narrative feature went to Anywhere Else by Ester Amrami; best documentary feature went to Marc Silver’s 3 ½ Minutes and best indie was Proud Citizen by Thomas Southerland.

The festival presented 165 films in total in its 17th annual edition; more filmmakers than ever before attended the event.

“Films showcased at our festival this year reflected diverse stories from around the world, immense talent from directors, many trained in Winston-Salem, and a host of passionate projects that are jewels...

For a novel that's been adapted into ten different films, Brewster's Millions seems to still have some life in its pages. Since 1906, audiences have had quite a few chances to see what could have been their favorite book adapted for the screen, with the most memorable one being the Richard Pryor/John Candy version from 1985. And just when we'd thought we'd heard the last gasp for any sort of modern shot at a revival, a new Brewster's Millions remake has arrived and it brought a director along for the ride! Variety has reported that Robert Townsend, director of such classics as Hollywood Shuffle and Meteor Man, will be the latest director to tell the tale of a man who stands to inherit a large fortune... if only he can spend a small one in a limited amount of time. In the 1985 version, the stakes were to spend $30 million in 30 days,...

If we could only agree on what ‘remake’ actually means, we could probably decide which film was the most remade. Cinderella is said to be the most retold story in cinema history, with A Christmas Carol also a hotly-tipped contender.

Somewhere high in that ranking must also be Brewster’s Millions. To date, it’s been filmed ten times and, according to Deadline, an eleventh iteration is now in the offing.

All that’s known about the new version is that Robert Townsend will be directing.

Townsend’s debut, Hollywood Shuffle, is a very sweet but also sincere and pointed piece of satire on how the American film industry marginalised and stereotyped actors and characters of colour. It’s still his most successful film, at least critically speaking, but Townsend did go on to make several other films that engaged with similar themes.

This is why I find his attachment...