Aldis Hodge Is Devoted To Transforming The Image Of Black Men On-Screen

With a career that spans three decades, Aldis Hodge has been a pillar of Black representation in Hollywood for years. The actor got his start in the ’90s and hasn’t taken his foot off the gas since. After smaller parts throughout his childhood and teen years, Hodge got a breakout role in Leverage at age 21. Since then, he’s captivated us in projects like Underground, Hidden Figures, The Invisible Man and City on a Hill. A true leading man, he has an ability to reinvent himself and take up space in Hollywood that can’t be understated.  

“For me, the ambition is to continually change the perspective [on] and the approach to the identity of Black men and Black people fully,” says Hodge, 36. “That’s something that we, the community, need—so that we can maintain and control the professional narrative and affirm our value in Hollywood. We’re not sitting here waiting on a call. We’re creating that avenue of opportunity for ourselves.” 

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For Danielle Deadwyler, Black Women Define Legacy

Black women are central to Danielle Deadwyler’s artistry. Just days before the debut of the highly-anticipated historical drama Till, the actress is enjoying a moment of calm. In the movie, Deadwyler stars as activist Mamie Till-Mobley, whose 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, was kidnapped and lynched in Money, Mississippi, in 1955. The film, helmed by Clemency director Chinonye Chukwu, is already getting awards buzz, which means a whirlwind is certainly on the horizon for Deadwyler.

For now, the Atlanta-born actress is reflecting on Maime’s story and the stories of every woman she’s embodied throughout her career. From Cuffee in The Harder They Fall to Yoli in P-Valley, these Black women and their stories have all been puzzle pieces in the foundation of Deadwyler’s life’s work. 

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Nicole Beharie Is Taking Up Space

Summer is coming to a close, but Nicole Beharie‘s voice carries the warmth and brightness of a warm breezy day. She laughs easily, calming her rambunctious dog, who barks in the background. With two films in theaters and a new television role, the actress’s schedule is jam-packed, but you’d never know it based on the lightness of her tone.

She’s nothing like the no-nonsense bank manager Estel Valerie whom she portrays in Breaking. The thriller is based on the real-life story of Brian Brown-Easley (John Boyega), a Marine veteran who held up a Wells Fargo in 2017. Beharie’s other project, Honk For Jesus, Save You Soul, will showcase her comedy chops. She stars opposite Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown as a co-pastor of an up-and-coming church. With press days swirling around her, release dates on the horizon, and a new role in Apple TV+’s The Morning Show in production, Beharie has a lot going on, but at the moment, she’s carefree and content.

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In ‘Descendant,’ The Clotilda Slave Ship Wreckage Is Only The Beginning

In 1860 on the eve of the American Civil War and 52 years after the international slave trade was outlawed in the U.S., 110 African men, women, and children arrived on the shores of Alabama in a ship called Clotilda. The captives were sold to various plantations, and the vessel was set ablaze by Timothy Meaher, the man who had chartered the illegal expedition. 

One hundred sixty-two years later, filmmaker Margaret Brown has turned her lens toward the descendants of Clotilda’s survivors in her captivating documentary film Descendant. The story of the Clotilda has always been alive and well amongst the descendants of the ship’s survivors. Many of them still call Africatown, Alabama – founded in 1866 by the formally enslaved – home. When the ship’s wreckage was found in 2019, the world began to pay attention. But as Brown’s film suggests, many more questions still arise. 

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In ‘Alice’ A Historical Narrative Dissolves Into Melodrama

Alice begins with a blood-curdling scream. As the film comes into focus, the audience meets Alice (Keke Palmer), an enslaved woman on the run. Before her destination is revealed, the film pulls us back in time to a plantation in rural Georgia. Surrounded by her loved ones, Alice secretly weds a man named Joseph (Gaius Charles) in a darkened cabin. However, no sooner have the newlywed couple said their vows are they beckoned outside by the plantation owner, Paul (Jonny Lee Miller). The audience learns quickly that Paul luxuriates in endless acts of cruelty include sexual and physical violence. 

Alice’s world has been depicted in countless films, including Harriet, 12 Years A Slave and, the oddly similar Antebellum. In Alice, first-time filmmaker Krystin Ver Linden painstakingly takes the time to sit in this setting of horrors, depicting everything from iron muzzles to beatings and alarming talks of human breeding. Unfortunately, this adds nothing new to the narratives of this time period. 

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John Boyega And The Late Michael K. Williams Bring Compassion To The Hostage Drama ‘892’

“They Didn’t Have to Kill Him.” That’s the name of Aaron Gell’s 2018 article on which Abi Damaris Corbin’s debut feature film 892 is based. The hauntingly dark film centers on the real-life story of Lance Corporal Brian Brown Easley, who on a July day in 2017 walked into a Wells Fargo bank based in the suburbs of Atlanta and held it up, taking several hostages. In a stunning performance actor John Boyega, steps into the shoes of the desperate former Marine who, having exhausted all of his resources, made a desperate choice to get the money owed to him.

The nightmarish red-tape that runs through the Department of Veterans Affairs is well known. Still, in focusing on Brian, Corbin puts a face to just one of numerous veterans who served this country and are now left to flounder with food and home insecurity, as well as mental illnesses. It is a situation continually brought to the forefront of society that has never been truly addressed. 

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In Nikyatu Jusu's ‘Nanny’ The American Dream Is A Horror Story

Amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, modern-day motherhood and the unequal burden of parenting that often sits with women has never been more apparent. However, many women, particularly women of color who come to this country, continue to raise the children of affluent white people. In Nikyatu Jusu’s feature film debut, Nanny, one caregiver grapples with the challenges of her position while striving for her version of the American dream. 

Aisha (Anna Diop) is a Senegalese immigrant finding her footing in New York City. Staying in Harlem with her aunt, Aisha, is thrilled to find work with a wealthy white couple as a nanny to their bright young daughter, Rose (Rose Decker). The opportunity will enable Aisha to send for her young son Lamine (Jahleel Kamara), who remains in Senegal in the care of her sister, Mariatou (Olamide Candide-Johnson).

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Black Women's Stories Are Center Stage At Sundance 2022

For the second year in a row, amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Sundance Film Festival is offering its expansive slate online. Festival Director Tabitha Jackson and Producing Director Gina Duncan initially hoped to do a hybrid festival, offering in-person and virtual screenings. However, amid the Omicron surge, filmmakers and audiences are connecting in the comfort and safety of their own homes. Despite the shift in plans, this year’s films will reflect the ever-changing world that we know around us. 

Sundance 2022 will run from January 20–30. This year there are several Black directors at the helm of some of the most highly anticipated films of the festival. Moreover, fans of the late Michael K. Williams will have a chance to see him in one of his final roles.

From a 1970’s set drama Alice, starring KeKe Palmer to the Regina Hall-produced Master, here are a few of the highlights.

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Tabitha Jackson And Gina Duncan Have A New Vision For The Sundance Film Festival

For nearly 40 years, the goal of the Sundance Film Festival has been to connect storytellers and audiences through the medium of cinema. As the film industry has shifted and transformed to become more expansive, diverse, and inclusive, Sundance has also evolved. In 2021, amid the coronavirus pandemic, the film festival was entirely virtual, pulling in people from the safety and comfort of their homes into an expansive and connected online festival. 

Using the experiences of last year, Festival Director Tabitha Jackson and Producing Director Gina Duncan are forging ahead. They had hoped to debut a new format for the 2022 festival, redesigned as a hybrid. Sundance wanted attendees to have the option to attend the festival in person on the mountain in Park City, Utah. For others who preferred the comfort of their own homes, screenings, talks, and events would be available online.

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Chanté Adams Doesn't Want To Be Labeled

“What is to give light must endure burning” is one of Chanté Adams’s favorite sayings. Reflecting on this quote from Austrian philosopher Viktor Frankl, the actress says, “It means that the struggle is worth it. I always have to remind myself that the light is there and it’s going to come. It’s not going to come on my time, but it’s going to come when it should.” 

In 2017, just one year out of drama school, Adams, 26, was cast as the lead in Netflix’s Roxanne Roxanne, portraying hip-hop pioneer Roxanne Shanté. From that moment forward, her career has blazed. Historically, Black women have worked for decades in Hollywood before they’re afforded the title “leading lady.” And love stories that center Black women are still a rarity. “We still have some ways to go, but I feel like we’re on the right path,” Adams says. “We’re not allowing ourselves to be put off to the side anymore. I’m not saying the generation before us did so, but I feel like we’re at a place now where we can start demanding what we want, and what we want to see.” 

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Photography | Joyanne Panton 

Stylist | Shameelah Hicks

Hair | Sean Fears

Manicurist | Alex Jachno

Nail Design | Aja Walton, Maho Tanaka

Loki's Wunmi Mosaku On Not Changing For Hollywood: 'I Feel Blessed That I Look Like Me'

Long before she captured American audiences with her sharp portrayal of Ruby Baptiste in HBO’s Lovecraft Country, and later as the prideful Rial in Netflix’s His House, actress Wunmi Mosaku had amassed stellar acting credits. Born in Nigeria, raised in Manchester, England, and now based in Los Angeles, she confesses that making a name for herself in Hollywood is a bit like starting over. “I feel very new here,” the star says. “I don’t feel established in the U.S. I feel like I’m still finding my feet.”

In 2017, Mosaku became only the second Black actress in 62 years to score a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA), which she received for her supporting role in the film Damilola, Our Loved Boy. But that history-making win didn’t immediately shift the ground for her or change the type of parts she was offered. “It’s still up to the people who are making the shows,” she says. “A writer can write something, and then an executive producer can say, ‘No, we want them to look like this.’ Nothing happens overnight. But the only reason why I have a BAFTA is the Black actresses who came before me, who put in the legwork. It’s changing, but it’s slow.”

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Image: AMANDLA BARAKA

In 'As Of Yet' One Black Woman Finds Her Voice In Isolation

So much of what humanity has experienced in the past year has reshaped who we are as a society. In As of Yet, helmed by co-directors Chanel James and Taylor Garron, one Black woman’s pandemic experience comes to life through video diaries, facial expressions, and FaceTime calls. When the film opens, Naomi (Garron) has been isolated in Brooklyn for months. She spends her days having solo dance parties, buying random items on Amazon, cooking elaborate meals, pretending to do puzzles, and touching base with her family and friends.

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