Clare-Hope Ashitey Talks Netflix's 'Seven Seconds,' Imperfect Characters And Authentic Stories

The truth doesn't stay buried. Reality always seeks to reveal itself. Netflix’s new anthology series, Seven Seconds is an intricate work on police/minority relations and the culpability of our criminal justice system. Set in Newark, New Jersey, the series is told from the perspective of a heartbroken couple, Emmy-winner Regina King and Russell Hornsby, a corrupt cop (Beau Knapp) and a troubled assistant district attorney, Clare-Hope Ashitey. The series opens in the wake of a Black teen's gruesome accidental death at the hands of a cop and the stunning coverup that ensues as a result.

Exploring issues that are as glaring in our country as a pool of blood in the freshly fallen snow, Seven Seconds is visceral, painful, and raw. Ashitey received creator Veena Sud’s script a little over a year ago and was immediately intrigued. Ahead of the series debut, we sat down to chat about Seven Seconds and why she was compelled to step into ADA K.J. Harper’s shoes. “I read a lot of scripts, and they range from terrible, to mediocre, to fantastic, and this is a really good one,” the London native explained. “It was well put together, and the characters were really interesting. They were complicated, which is very attractive to me because when characters are archetypes of the hero or the villain, it doesn't feel like it's true, especially in a series. They're asking you to believe this is the real world and no one is straightforward and uncomplicated. The characters in this certainly weren't."

Though she was born and raised in London, England—the daughter of Ghanese immigrants, Ashitey has been well-aware of the continuous incidents of police brutality against Black and brown citizens in the States, as well as the Black Lives Matter movement which has been making strides to combat those types of injustices. “We get a lot of that news in the U.K., and actually quite a lot of coverage of it," she explained. “So it's something that most people at home are aware of, and there are lots of names that most people at home are familiar with, so it wasn't something that was new to me. It's in the news now, but it's been going on for a long, long time. I think the concept of tension, racial tension, in the American society, and also tension between the police force and the African American community, whether it's in the news or not, is never something that's a surprise to anyone.”

Though fictional, Seven Seconds could have certainly been ripped from the headlines. It’s Ashitey’s character K.J. Harper who stands at the center as the tormented, alcoholic ADA who is desperate to piece the case together. “I liked, that she was troubled and that she was struggling,” Ashitey said. “Watching people try to overcome adversity is quite an interesting thing to watch, and it's an interesting thing to play, as well — it's interesting to play with. I'm always more attracted to accurate depictions of people because I don't think it's helpful to have archetypes or stereotypes. I've been asked before about whether I thought it was difficult to portray K.J. as a Black woman, and if I was worried about issues of representation. I'm really not because I think portraying people as they are and not being one thing or another, and not trying to pretend that anyone is perfect is actually much more helpful to the conversation than trying to just put forward a perfect face or a perfect façade.”

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Executive Producer Tressa Azarel Smallwood On Her Unconventional Journey Into The Film Industry

Black women are done waiting for opportunites—we’ve learned to create lanes for ourselves. Fifteen years ago, Executive Producer Tressa Azarel Smallwood pulled the shade on her career as an educator and decided to take a massive leap of faith. Her tenacity and entrepreneurial skills led her to the book publishing industry with Life Changing Books and eventually to film and television as the co-founder of MegaMind Media. A few weeks after presenting her latest film Sinners Wanted at the Sundance Film Festival, Smallwood sat down to chat with me about her unconventional journey and trailblazing career. “The doctor told me that I had to stay on bedrest for six months and I was like, ‘Now wait a minute now, that's like a death sentence!’, she recalled. “During that time I had a family member who said, 'Maybe you should write a book while you're on bedrest, you're really good with creative writing .’ I used to teach English Language Arts. I said, ‘Okay, you know what I'll give that a shot. It's better than flipping the remote all day.' I started working on this book project, and back then, self-publishing was not very popular, so there were a lot of challenges and setbacks with distribution. However, I was really good at business. I put all of my efforts into not only the writing of the book but the distribution and the marketing. When I got off bedrest, I published that book, and I made $40K within my first two months.”

Realizing what she was able to accomplish in a relatively short period of time was eye-opening for the North Carolina native. “I talked to my husband, and he was like, ‘Okay if you don't want to go back to work if this is what you're going to do—you've gotta really do it.’ I never went back to work," Smallwood explained. “I started publishing other authors, writing more books, and that just became an open mecca for me. It’s what led me to eventually create MegaMind Media. I said if I'm going to have a film company the main issue is having the content. What better way to start a movie company when you have 162 book projects to choose from?”

Smallwood was adamant that she didn’t want to just throw a movie together. A novice in the film world, it was vital for her to surround herself with people who knew the ins and outs of the business. “My first project, it was a little bit unorthodox,” she laughed. “In 2015 I was ready to start making my mark in film. I had researched like crazy, and I kept saying I don't want to step out and do this unless I do it the right way. I didn’t want my movie to look dark and fuzzy. I haven't been to film school; I didn't have that level of expertise, so I knew I had to hire the people who could do it the right way. For the first project, I went to filmmaker Jamal Hill. He had already worked with Queen Latifah on Brotherly Love, and he was in pre-production on Deuces. He said, ‘Give me the top five books that you want to work on, and let me tell you which one would work for me.’ So I let him read five of the books. He came back to me and said, ‘Secrets of a Housewife is it. It will speak to the masses. Everybody has been cheated on, or has been the cheater, or knows somebody who's been cheated on.’ I just wanted to make sure at the end of the day we're sending positive messages about Black people. He wrote the first draft of the script, and I loved it. We shot that film in November of 2015. Jamal moved to Washington, D.C. with me for six weeks; he brought in all of the people that he knew and had relationships with from the Director of Photography to producers. My first time out was a success because I chose the right people.”

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Tiffany Boone Talks 'The Chi,' Black Women And Telling Complex Stories

Chicago is being used as a political pawn. Murder rates and gang violence are splashed across our newspapers and television screens with no consideration for facts, figures, and the people who live and thrive in the city. Lena Waithe’s critically acclaimed Showtime series The Chi, gives the city and the South Side, in particular, a chance to speak for itself. The Chicago native’s engrossing characters and words are what drew actress Tiffany Boone out of her acting hiatus and back to television. A few days after The Chi was granted an early season two renewal, Boone and I chatted over the phone. The Baltimore native explained why the role of Jerrika Little shook her awake and reinvigorated her desire to tell stories. “I read it, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I have to be in this. How do we get me in this? Do it now,’ she recalled. “I auditioned, and I didn't get it, and then they cast it, shot it, and then completely recast it. Here we are three years later.”

It wasn’t simply Waithe’s love letter to her hometown that drew Boone to the story, The Following alum connected with Jerrika because she found a kinship with the young woman. “She felt familiar to me," Boone remembered. “I normally play characters that are very different from me. I've played quite a few murderers and a lot of crazy people. It was the first time I had read something that felt, really super close to me. (Jerrika) is a young Black woman trying to get her career together and trying to build this strong relationship with this man she's in love with. She’s strong, funny, independent and complicated —it felt like me, it felt like my friends, it felt like my family, it felt like I knew her. That's what made me want to play her. Then with Jason (Mitchell), we just understood each other from the beginning. It's just a second hand with Jason and I. I think Jason is also in a situation where Brandon is the closest to him that he's ever played as well. We brought a lot of ourselves.”

Thus far, The Chi focuses on four men, Emmett (Jacob Lattimore), Brandon (Mitchell), Ronnie (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine) and Kevin (Alex R. Hibbert) whose lives intersect after the murders of two young men from their neighborhood. However, women are very much a part of this tapestry. “The women, at least in the first season, are orbiting them -- we are the planets orbiting their sun," Boone explained. “So, you don't get to see a lot of our lives, outside of our interaction with them. I thought (the scene with Jerrika’s girlfriends) was great and I would love to do more of that. For Black women, our relationships with our girlfriends are so important and so vital to who we are. Your girlfriends are your refuge. What surprised me the most is when (the ladies) showed up to set -- the friends. They were all natural too, and all of us were different sizes and shapes and colors. It was amazing to see the way they cast that and immediately we had a camaraderie.”

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'Hale County This Morning, This Evening' Is Quiet, But Moving (Sundance Review)

Documentary filmmaking is an intimate act. The subject must trust the director enough to allow the camera to capture their most intimate moments and secrets, laying them bare before a prying and curious audience. It’s not something that should be done casually -- especially when it puts Black, brown, and impoverished people on display, many of whom don’t have any real control over how they are presented to the world. In his debut feature documentary, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, director RaMell Ross immerses himself deep into the Alabama Black Belt, following two young men, Daniel Collins and Quincy Bryant over the course of five years. Throwing away the traditional tropes often seen in documentary film, Ross is most concerned with capturing the purity of Black life, with all of its beauty, joy, and frustrations. A photographer and basketball coach, Ross moved to Alabama in 2009 and decided to shift how rural poor Black people are seen in the media. In doing so, he unravels Walker Evans and James Agee’s 1941 Depression-era study of sharecroppers in Hale County, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. In the text, there was not a single close-up of a Black face.

Told non-linearly, Hale County This Morning, This Evening is made up of incredible moments and moving scenes. It’s up to the audience to try and ground themselves in the film, with Ross acting like a guide, providing statements but mostly asking questions about Black life, what the source of our dreams are, and if we can even be contained within the frame of a film.

As we come to know Daniel, who plays basketball at the HBCU Selma University with hopes of making it to the major leagues, we also meet his mother, Mary, whom he is somewhat estranged from because he was raised by his grandmother. We watch scenes from the locker room, Daniel and his teammates roughhousing and preparing for a game, as well as the young man's quiet commentary on his height – he’s not even six feet tall.

Remembering An Icon: 'King: A Film Record … Montgomery to Memphis'

Fifty-years after his assassination and on what would have been his 89th birthday, the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in partnership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (MPAA) honored the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The NMAAHC and The Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts (CAAMA) held a screening of the Academy Award-nominated film King: A Film Record … Montgomery to Memphis in 35mm archival print. The four-hour long documentary had only been screened once previously on March 20, 1970, just two years after the icon was stolen from the world. Throughout his life, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s strength, perseverance, and wisdom made him a giant. In the decades after his death, he’s become an idol – in many ways Dr. King has become almost mythical. King: A Film Record is the closest most of us will ever get to the man himself. Directed by Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the film is made up solely of archival footage and short vignettes spoken by some of his closest friends and allies including Ruby Dee, Harry Belafonte, and James Earl Jones. Through footage of the period, King’s speeches, marches, and sermons, the audience is drawn into and mesmerized by a man who so steadfastly believed in non-violence and in reshaping a very broken America.

The film's lead-in was an introduction from the iconic and regal Harry Belafonte in partnership with the MPAA. The 90-year-old activist spoke all these years later of his first time meeting the young Reverend. The King of Calypso recalled the uncertainty that he heard and saw from the man who seemed surer than anyone that Black people could and would overcome Jim Crow and stifling segregation. Though Dr. King seemed determined to the public, at 26-year-old, he felt unprepared to take on the role as the moral compass of an entire people.

Propelled by Rosa Parks' arrest to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott which took place from late 1955 to 1956, Dr. King and his comrades were determined to strike down Jim Crow and segregationist laws. However, what he nor Belafonte would anticipate was King’s towering legacy that would not only shift opportunities for Black Americans in a way that hadn’t been done since the Reconstruction era but also how he would inspire generations across the globe including our current Black Lives Matter movement. Though he may have felt unsure, Dr. King also predicted our current predicament.

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Renée Elise Goldsberry On Slaying In Netflix's Dystopian Series 'Altered Carbon'

In case you forgot that Renée Elise Goldsberry is a multitalented thespian who can literally do it all, you're about to get a reminder. It's a frigid morning in New York City, and Goldsberry has flown in from Paris for a few days to discuss her new Netflix project. An astounding series based on the 2002 novel by Richard K. Morgan, Altered Carbon is a massive tale set in a future dystopian world where humans transfer their consciousnesses or souls between sleeves (bodies), but only the rich and powerful can truly live forever. A tale of betrayal, love, sex, and fear, Goldsberry stands at the center as warrior Quellcrist Falcone an Envoy or member of the military who was killed in the series prologue. (Once your consciousness is destroyed you cannot transfer sleeves.) And yet, Quellcrist remains a guiding light and a safe memory for Altered Carbon’s protagonist, Takeshi Kovacs (played by Joel Kinnaman) a former Envoy, and the last of his kind. Kovacs is awakened and resleeved after 250 years by billionaire Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy) to solve Bancroft's murder. If the series sounds rich and complicated to you, that’s because it is, and even Goldsberry wasn’t sure what to make of it when she first received the script. “I did not know (the book) when this came across my desk," she remembered. “I was put on a phone call with Laeta Kalogridis, who is the showrunner, and I wasn't even looking for another job. I was kind of neck deep in Broadway doing Hamilton. I think, within three sentences she had me because she said, ‘My mission in life is to create worlds where the hero is a woman of color.’ I was like, ‘Where are we doing this?’"

Quellcrist is more than just a hero; she’s a warrior. Watching Goldsberry shed her Hamilton petticoats and vintage ’40 fashions from The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks for combat boots and guns was thrilling. “When you ask me about it, I start smiling because on paper that sounds really fun," Goldsberry says laughing. “It's always been my dream to be an action star. I can't believe it took this long for somebody to ask me to do it.”

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Condola Rashad And Screenwriter Marcus Hinchey Talk 'Come Sunday' (Sundance Interview)

Capturing years and decades of a lifetime, and squeezing them in a two-hour time span seems almost impossible. For screenwriter Marcus Hinchey, it was something he felt compelled to do. Eight years ago, Hinchey was on a flight from Los Angeles to New York when he began listening to a 2005 episode of NPR’s This American Life. The episode he'd chosen was entitled "Heretics," and followed the rise and fall of Tusla Pentecostal Bishop Carlton Pearson. After years of preaching at his immensely popular and massive Higher Dimensions church (which also boasted a mix-race congregation), Bishop Pearson came to believe that everyone is already saved and that there is no hell. For his convictions, he would lose everything. Hinchey has been in talks with This American Life producers Ira Glass and Alissa Ship about adapting some of their shows for film, but “Heretics" propelled him forward. “Within about 15 minutes I knew I wanted to write the film," he explained to me in a quiet room tucked away from the noise and frenzy of the Sundance Film Festival. “I had never heard of anybody like Carlton. I grew up in a very different world than he did, but I'd had some experience with Pentecostal churches, and they never convinced me of very much. But when I heard him speak he had this incredible ability to go from scripture into an anecdote with so much humor, it was like listening to Richard Pryor.”

Hinchey set out to write the script for Come Sunday by spending as much time as possible with Bishop Pearson and his family. “By the time I landed I'd listened to the episode twice, and I knew that I really wanted to do it," he recalled. “On the one hand you had this extraordinary character, and there are so few, and on the other hand, you had an almost archetypal story which is a man who gives up everything for what he believes in."

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Boots Riley And The Cast Of 'Sorry To Bother You' On The Bold, Whimsical Film (Sundance Interview)

There are plenty of films with commentary surrounding race, commodification, self-worth, and what it means to be normal. However, none of those films have been as strange, compelling and masterful as Boots Riley’s debut feature film; Sorry to Bother You. As Riley said bluntly in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, "I'm not good at sounding like somebody else or doing what someone else does." Starring the incredible Lakeith Stanfield as Cassius Green, the film follows a young Black man trying to find his purpose in life in an alternative version of Oakland. Living in his uncle’s (Terry Crews) garage, Cass finds solace in the arms of his artist, sign-twirling girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson) who chooses activism over affluence.Desperate for more in life, Cass finds a job at telemarketing company where after receiving some advice from an older co-worker (Danny Glover) he quickly rises up the ranks. However, what he isn’t prepared for is what he’ll have to sell or how he'll have to sell out to stay at the top. Steven Yuen, Omari Hardwick, Armie Hammer and Jermaine Fowler also star.

At the MACRO Lounge presented by Shea Moisture at Sundance Film Festival, Riley, Thompson, Yeun and Crews lounged on a plush couch and discussed bringing this magical and shocking film to life. For Riley, who is a musician, activist, and poet, the idea for Sorry to Bother You was born out of the desire to break all the rules. “I read all the hack books like, How to Write a Script in 30 Days and What Not to Do When Writing Your Script," he recalled. “I read those purposely to figure out what rules I could play with. And, as I wrote those first few pages, I realized that that's not the way that I create normally. "

More than just creating a story on his own terms, Riley wasn’t interested in being confined to a certain genre. “A lot of times when people decide, even in music or film, that this thing I'm making is this genre, we edit along the lines of what we're told is the genre," Riley explained. “We leave out a lot of real things, a lot of real joys and pains and awkwardness and other ideas and we stick to this pretty formulated thing. If we're gonna truly make something that comes from artists that aren't usually able to get a voice, those artists have also had other experiences.”

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Jason Mitchell On 'TYREL' And Refusing To Conform (Sundance Interview)

It’s freezing in Park City, Utah, but Jason Mitchell is unphased by the brisk windchill and unending slow flurries. The 31-year-old's career is continually rising, and it shows in his upbeat attitude. His performance on the Lena Waithe helmed The Chi is garnering rave reviews, but Mitchell is at Sundance for another project entirely. In TYREL, the New Orleans native stars as Tyler, a young man who takes a trip to upstate New York with one of his friends. He soon finds himself trying to navigate blinding whiteness as the only Black person in the group. When Mitchell read the script which was penned by the film’s director Sebastian Silva, he jumped at the chance to be involved. “It was the most unorthodox thing I think I'd ever seen,” he explained. “(Sebastian) let me know that he wanted me to have the role, but he also wanted me to make sure all the nuances were right because he’s not Black.” As Black folks, we’ve all experienced that sense of unease that comes with being the only Black person in a room. It’s a feeling Jordan Peele captured perfectly in his stellar Oscar-nominated film Get Out. It's a feeling that Mitchell further emphasizes in TYREL — sans the horror elements. “I feel like it's important to let people know how we feel, meaning Black people, especially Black men in this situation,” Mitchell expressed. I think it's important to do that in a non-violent manner. I thought this was the perfect way to show that everyday struggle. A lot of times my characters go to extremes, like Ronsel in Mudbound— he was very extreme.”

From his breakout role in 2015’s Straight Outta Compton as the legendary Easy-E to his more recent roles in The Chi and Amazon’s Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, Tyler is Mitchell's closest role to an every day Black man, and he wanted to be sure that the screenplay reflected as such. "(Sebastian) really wanted to know if you were Black, how would you feel in this situation," he said, "A lot of the ways I moved reflected that. That's what makes TYREL such a beautiful movie. They have things in there that only black people can get.”

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'Crime + Punishment' Reveals Devastating Problems With No Easy Answers (Sundance Review)

With a population of over eight million people, New York City also boasts the biggest police force in the country. Over 36,000 men and women wield badges in the city, and though crime has gone down overall, the most impoverished communities with the highest minority populations and crime rates continually feel the weight and pressure of the police on their backs. In Crime + Punishment, director Stephen Maing tries to get to the root of the issue by going straight to the source. The film follows twelve minority police officers who have been reprimanded for not fulfilling quotas (obtaining a certain number of summonses and arrests each month) that further disenfranchise people of color. Quotas and mandates like these were supposedly outlawed by the NYPD back in 2010. Maing opens the film in 2014 and follows these officers who have been coined the "NYPD 12" through 2017. What the police reveal and what Maing discovers should enrage us all.

To compile evidence against the police department, the NYPD 12 use hidden cameras and recording devices in their various precincts from The Bronx to Brooklyn to prove that quotas are still very much in use. As a collective, they decide to file a lawsuit against the NYPD for discriminatory practices. The bottom line is this, $900 million dollars of NYC’s budget comes directly from the police force. Since those dollars are made on the backs of brown bodies, the money is generated by whatever means necessary.

Examining all angles, Maing leaves no stone unturned. Along with the police officers who have chosen to risk everything but speaking out, he follows the young Black and Latino men who are constantly harassed and arrested. We're also introduced to private investigator Manny Gomez, a former cop with a massive personality who is determined to be an advocate for the young people who are continually swept up into the broken judicial system.

One of Gomez’s clients is 17-year-old Pedro Hernandez and his devastated mother, Jessica Perez. Hernandez was falsely arrested for attempted murder and imprisoned on Riker’s Island—it was a scenario that rang eerily close to the tragic story of Kalief Browder. Using these various threads, Maing unravels the racism and impropriety in the police force and court system, laying it all out in the open.

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Stellar Performances Carry ‘Night Comes On’ (Sundance Review)

Our society continually fails Black women. As a result, we’re forced to choke back our emotions and vulnerabilities, often turning to anger to cope. Ironically we’re then met with disdain or annoyance. Hurt, pain, and anger can be all-consuming, no one is disputing that. It can fester, stifling the people we are meant to become because we choose to hold on to past injustices. And yet, anger and rage are tricky, they can also be used as fuel. Jordana Spiro's feature film debut, Night Comes On follows Angel LaMere, played by rising star Dominique Fishback. Angel is released from a juvenile detention center just outside of Philadelphia on her eighteenth birthday and soon embarks on a singular mission of revenge against her father for the murder of her mother. Determined to see her journey through, Angel does not expect to have her precocious and hilarious 10-year-old sister, Abby (newcomer Tatum Hall) in tow.

From the very moment she steps beyond the padlock gates, Angel begins to set her plan in motion. She sets off to purchase a gun, discover her father’s whereabouts, and see her sister one final time. However, as Angel soon discovers, sheer will and self-determination won’t get you very far when you only have a busted cellphone and a couple of bucks in your purse.

Spiro and her co-writer Angelica Nwandu‘s airy script leaves a ton of room for quiet spaces and contemplation. Fishback is wonderful as usual. She presents a harden young woman, emotionally armored and determined not to connect with anyone or anything until she’s gotten vengeance for the life that was taken from her. What Angel doesn’t count on is the power of sisterhood.

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'Monsters and Men' Is Magnificent And Profound (Sundance Review)

We often forget that as human beings we are interconnected. No one has a singular experience, good or bad that doesn’t directly affect those closest to them. With everything that is happening in society today, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and isolated. The perils of the world seem to weigh us all down, and we fail to be vulnerable and find comfort in others. Reinaldo Marcus Green’s extraordinary feature film debut Monsters and Men examines what it means to be a person of color in these perilous times and how deeply haunted and affected we all are by acts of violence and police brutality. Told in a triptych of stories that are connected but don’t necessarily overlap, Green captures the intricacies of New York City and Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn in a way that is reminiscent to Spike Lee’s love letters to his hometown. However, Green is not trying to pay homage; he’s intent on taking a stand.

The first part of the film follows Manny (Hamilton alum Anthony Ramos), a young father with major life changes on the horizon. Coming home one evening, he records the death of his good friend Darius Larson on his cell phone. It’s a ripped-from-the-headlines scenario, nearly identical to the 2014 death of Eric Garner. Big D, as he was known around the way, was a staple in the community. He was known for selling loose squares outside of the bodega and giving the kids who rode by a dollar here and there. Traumatized by Big D’s death and tormented by the NYPD who threaten him to keep quiet, Manny must decide what to do, a decision that could greatly alter not just his life but the life of his pregnant girlfriend and young daughter.

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Daveed Diggs' 'Blindspotting' Is Electrifying (Sundance Review)

It’s not often that films can teeter on that fine line between comedy and drama perfectly. It’s a difficult balance, gaining the audiences' trust through humor and wit only to shift so swiftly to say something profound about life and the experiences of being human. Hamilton alum Daveed Diggs and his writing partner Rafael Casal manage to do this flawlessly, hitting the audience squarely in the gut with the intense and moving Blindspotting. Helmed by the electrifying Carlos López Estrada in his feature film debut, Diggs and Casal star as an unlikely duo, best friends Collin and Miles respectively, who work together at a budget moving company and get into hilarious and dangerous shenanigans during their off time. Set in Oakland, California, the film’s whimsical open showcases the eccentric nuances of the city and the Bay Area where the men have lived their entire lives. And yet, the first few minutes of Blindspotting don’t even begin to prepare the audience for the film’s extraordinary commentary on race, police brutality, and manhood.

Collin played thoughtfully by Diggs is a seemingly mild-mannered ex-con with just three days left on his parole sentence. Desperate to get through his last few days unscathed, Collin tries to avoid trouble at all cost, only to be confronted with it at every turn. Miles, in contrast, is a hardened white boy with the gift of gab and a chip on his shoulder. Oakland born and bred, the grill-wearing hothead finds himself in a polarizing position as other white people, hipsters with their press juices and vegan “burgers,” begin moving in on his territory.

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What’s The 411?: A Black Cinephile’s Guide To Sundance

Film Festivals can be quite bougie. Each year, a ton of them are held across the globe including niche fests with films that tackle a certain genre, and massive ones like those held in Toronto, Cannes, Tribeca and of course, Park City's Sundance. If you’re the friend in your group who is constantly pressed to get to the theater before the previews roll, or if you’re always reading entertainment news on sites ours, then chances are — you’re a cinephile. Festivals like Sundance give movie lovers the opportunity to get up close and personal with new flicks before studios acquire them and are distributed to the public. It can be an incredibly lit experience, but with a fest like Sundance which shows thousands of films, and hosts hundreds of panels and events, it can be incredibly overwhelming.  However, if you plan ahead and get organized, Sundance can be a once in a lifetime experience.

Plan Ahead

We know you live to be spontaneous and what not, and we do too, but Sundance is not the time to try and wing it.  The fest which was started by Robert Redford back in 1978 is held in Park City, Utah in mid-January each year. This means you have a full 365 days to get things all lined up. We recommend requesting the time off work and snagging an Airbnb or hotel as early as possible. (By early we mean late summer.) This will also help you decide how long you want to spend at the fest. It runs for a total of ten days but a solid four days should be perfect.

Plane tickets or plans to drive in can wait. However, if you don’t get your lodging nailed down, you’ll find yourself taking a 40-minute trek into Park City from neighboring Salt Lake City every day. After a full day of festival fun and giving $40 to a Lyft driver (pools and lines don’t exist in Utah) you’ll be pleased that you didn't procrastinate.

What Do You Want to See?

If you like Excel, go ahead and pull that joint up. Figure out which films/panels you want to see and make a list of the dates and times. Shadow and Act always publishes a list of diverse films/panels and such for you to peruse as soon as Sundance announces them. You can also head over to Indiewireor Variety to get a comprehensive list of the most anticipated flicks headed to Sundance.  You can’t see everything, so don’t worry, whatever you missed will probably be in theaters within the next year or so.

Make sure you double check your list. Times and locations tend to shift in the weeks leading up to the fest, and you don’t want to be salty when you’ve missed something or showed up the wrong place.

Tickets v. Passes

Just like going to the movies around the corner from your house, attending film festivals cost money. Luckily, Sundance has a ton of options. You can get individual tickets to each screening and event, or a fancy pass that gets you into a ton of stuff. Just know that passes can cost quite a bit of coin. Be realistic about your budget and figure out what works best for you, just be sure you do it as soon as the tickets go sale in October or else you’ll just be chillin' in your plush Airbnb with nowhere to go.

Note: If you can't get the tickets that you want, there is a waitlist, so you can always try and cop a ticket at the very last minute.

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Christina Faith talks 'Single and Anxious,' giving Philadelphia some love & Christianity onscreen (EXCLUSIVE)

Society often dismisses the problems of millennials as trivial and not worth noting -- as if the trials and tribulations of life only bare down on us in our more advanced year. With her stellar web series Single and Anxious, creator, writer, and director Christina Faith brings the lives of twenty-somethings into the forefront, allowing her characters to grow, expand and be their authentic selves. Single and Anxious follows a group of friends, Karissa (Milaya S. Gregory) and her drug-dealing boyfriend T (Branden Brook). Amaya (Daarinah Saafir) and her cousin Tasha (Fann Sanders), Sebastian (Don Cephas) who is struggling with his Christianity, Santos (Jerrick Medrano) and Je’Kob (Brandon J McLean).

Described as Girlfriends meets A Different World with just a hint of The Wire, Single and Anxious which just dropped its second season earlier this fall is Faith's brainchild. “When I think about anxiety, I don't think about anxiety from the perspective of, 'I just want to be in a relationship'," she explained to me. “My thing is, anxiety comes from being in relationships with people that may not be the best fit for us -- or at the wrong time. Single and Anxious came from my singleness when I was single and bothered me all the time. I got tired of writing about singleness from the biblical perspective, and I thought, ‘Let's just make some characters.’ So the book and the show both have the same name, but they approach anxiety from a different perspective. Karissa is anxious to keep the perfect life you see from the first season. Then, in the second season, you see she's anxious from the perspective of, 'I don't want the perfect life. I just want to do what I want to do.' So it's just a play on words."

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Buicks in Cinema & Austin, Texas with the 2018 Regal Sportback

Austin, Texas doesn’t get enough credit. The state capital is an energetic cultural hub that sits in one of the biggest states in the country. It’s not just the city itself that has a rich history of music and film; it’s also the hilly landscape and lush bodies of water that I was able to discover on the First Drive in the 2018 Buick Regal Sportback. On country roads built for hiking and biking, my partner Xilla and I traded off throughout the day coasting along in the sleek coupe-like design. The versatile vehicle allowed us to pack in everything from a bike to a delightful unicorn floatation device. Switching from a front wheel to all-wheel drive, as we drove from the Hamilton Pool to the Horseshoe Bay Yacht Club; it became clear why Austin has been the location choice for many films over the years. Movies like 1993's Menace II Society, Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof and 1999’s Office Space are just a few among many that have showcased the splendor and beauty of the city.

Austin itself hasn't been the only center point in cinema, Buick has also had a significant presence in cinema. The car brand is all about attainable luxury while putting a spin on the traditional Films have recognized the innovative car brand as such. One of the biggest films of 2016, La La Land opened with Ryan Gosling's character Sebastian in a 1982 Buick Riviera. The car, just like the characters and the film's songs, became a running theme throughout the film.Buick isn't just making its presence known in live-action films. An animated Buick Regal from the 1980s appeared in the critically acclaimed 2006 Disney film, Cars. The cars have long since lost their boxy, squared-off appearance and gotten a sleek premium look.

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7 dope web series to dive into before the New Year

We all watched Issa Rae change the game when it came to content creation with Awkward Black Girl, and since her meteoric rise from the internet to HBO, folks have been putting out amazing web series left and right. Though Rae isn't the first writer/director/producer triple threat to get her talent out there, she did help light a spark for Black content creators who were having trouble getting mainstream studios and audiences to pay attention to their stories. Since we live in a time when the world is literally at our fingertips, it seems like everybody and their mama has a show for us to check out. With so many options to choose from here are just seven of our favorite web series currently streaming for your binging pleasure.

Giants

We’re all out here trying to live our best lives, but Malachi (James Bland), Journee (Vanessa Baden), and Ade (Sean Samuels) are determined to do so no matter what it cost them. Raised as a devout Christian, Malachi is questioning everything as he approaches thirty. His soul searching leads him to uproot his life, quit his corporate job, and move to Los Angeles. Malachi’s BFF and roommate Journee struggles to keep a job since her chronic depression makes it difficult for her to get out of bed each day. Then there is Ade; a former engineering grad student turned dancer who has decided to be his true self no matter what anyone thinks.

Giants is captivating because the series tackles topics not often seen on mainstream television including homophobia in the Black community and mental illness.

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Jess Hilarious on HBO's 'All Def Comedy,' talking that mess and taking it all in (EXCLUSIVE)

Jess Hilarious (née Jessica Robin Moore) is here for the mess, and we love her for it. The Baltimore native has risen quickly to the top of the comedy world -- a male-dominated sphere with her jokes, roasts and outlandish entertainment commentary. Just a few years ago, she was studying mortuary science. Now, the Wild 'n Out comedian appears in HBO’s Def Comedy Jam reboot, All Def Comedy. Ahead of the series premiere, I chatted with Jess who is currently touring the country and performing her stand-up routines. Comedy has always been a significant part of the 25-year-old's life. “It was just something effortless for me because I've always been a humorous person --just socially humorous, “ she explained. “It started at family reunions and just general conversation with my family, friends, and boyfriend. One day I was just sitting, and I was like let me just start making videos. They went viral. I saw a response from that my following was growing. I started doing stand-up. I jumped into it, and it was good. It hasn't even been that long. I’ve only been doing stand-up for like 18 months. The comedy all-together, like two and half years."

With her hands in improv, stand-up and her Instagram segment, Jess with the Mess -- the comedy phenom feels most at home on the stage. “Honestly, I like stand-up better, “ she reflected, “I'm not a big fan of improv. I'm not a big fan of acting on the spot. I can on the spot roast somebody like on the Wild 'n Out shows and that type of stuff. But unless it's a person that I have to roast, it's not going down.

Jess' knack for roasting is what has helped propel her to the center of social media comedy. With spats with the likes of Azealia Banks, Hazel E and a major controversy surrounding an innocent photo with her son, Jess has remained unphased by it all. “I don’t regret anything. Not ever,” she said adamantly. “The problems I choose, I choose them wisely. I don't regret anything that I've done. I don't regret picking on anybody. It's a difference between bullying and roasting and if you need to be roasted you gonna get roasted. That's just how it is. That's just who I am. That's how I was brought up. I have an older brother -- all he did was crack on me. He made me real tough and got me together for the world. He just prepared me to be quick on my feet for when somebody comes at me. It's all fun and games until people get serious. Then when they get serious, I still be playing.”

The spot-on impressionist has obtained a massive following that topples over 2.5 million on Instagram alone by being engaging and talking directly to her fans. “I just talk about my everyday life,” she explained. “You know, relatable situations that people go through every day. I find a way to make it funny. It's gonna make you laugh not only because it's funny, but because you can relate to it. So that's what makes me likable. That's how I keep my audience’s attention -- that's how I build my set. That's how I build my material.”

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Netflix's 'Bright' refuses to take any real risks (Review)

Fans of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings have probably all wished at some point that they could arise one morning and walk amongst magical creatures. These mystical beings might make our world more enticing and adventurous or at the very least break up the daily monotony that seems to bog us all down. With his new film Bright, Suicide Squad director David Ayer unveils a futuristic graffiti laced Los Angeles where Orcs, Fairies, Elves, and Centaurs live and thrive amongst human beings. Will Smith and Joel Edgerton star as LAPD Officers Daryl Ward and a Deputy Nick Jakoby-- a human and diversity hire Orc respectively, who are reluctantly bound together as partners on the force. With just five years until he receives his pension, a weary Ward is clinging to his job and his life so that he might be able to provide a future for his family. However, retiring unscathed might be more difficult than he expected. In this world, racism looks different. Humans rank well below the glamorous Elves who have taken over the posh districts of the city. In contrast to Ward, Jakoby adores his position on the force, though he’s ostracized by other Orcs who turn their nose down at him for betraying their race. Things are also difficult for him on the job where officers berate, abuse, and distrust him. With glimpses of vicious Fairies, magic wands and the upper echelon of the Elf communities, Bright sets the scene for a nuanced and detailed LA that should be right out of a fairy tale. However, things don’t stay quite so magical.

Out on the beat one day, Ward and Jakoby stumble across Tikka (Lucy Fry), a young Elf with powers (called a Bright) in possession of a coveted magic wand. On their quest to get Tikka and the wand to safety, Ward and Jakoby must evade a diabolical Elf named Leilah, a witch who seeks the power of the wand for herself. The men are also up against their fellow police officers, Orcs, and LA gangsters who are also desperate for the potent artifact. This is where the storyline stops being riveting and fresh. Ayer who wrote the screenplay for the phenomenal Denzel Washington led Training Day, takes a significant trope from the older film --one so easily recognizable that it was almost comical to watch again, sixteen years later in Bright.

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Roland Buck III on 'Chicago Med,' 'The Long Road Home' & his upcoming Netflix comedy, 'The Week Of' (EXCLUSIVE)

Roland Buck III exudes charm. The Chicago Med actor has been capturing hearts on the NBC medical drama as Dr. Noah Sexton, and now with a whirlwind year under his belt and an exciting 2018 just around the corner, Buck is ready to show the world how versatile he is. The 29-year-old is no stranger to the grind. “This year's been pretty busy, and I'm glad, it's changed a lot," he reflected. “I just think anything worth having doesn't come easy. I think everything is hard or should be in anything that you love to do -- if you could just have it, then it loses its luster.” When he thinks about his acting career, the Chicago native relates it to his time on the football field. “I think football and sports taught me a great work ethic," Buck revealed. “I've been through some practices that physically felt and mentally felt like I was about to die. But I didn't. So when you push your body and your mind to a certain limit you know you're not going to die. It's okay, you can just keep pushing forward. The pain, the struggle won't last forever. I use that toward acting as well. You figure out what works for you and what doesn't, but the preparation and the focus -- what you put in on the downtime is what people don't see. Acting gives me that same immediate satisfaction, the thrill of losing yourself in something, and getting that immediate response from people evoking some kind of emotion. That's the only thing that gave me that rush and that chill, so I knew that's what I wanted to do.”

Wearing Dr. Noah’s scrubs has been a ton of fun for Buck. The reluctant doctor is always cracking jokes and trying to find the silver lining in every situation. Noah’s humanity is what spoke to Buck when he first read for the part. “I think sometimes you look at someone in a uniform, or in a specific position, (and) you don't see them as a brother or father or a son anymore," he explained. “You just look at them as a doctor or a police officer or a soldier. They're just like us; they can mess up. That's what I liked about Noah. I think this is a different story of a doctor that you haven't heard yet. There's a lot of people that are first-generation Americans, and their families moved from different countries to make a better life for themselves. The medical field is a steady job profession. I think Noah makes mistakes. He's genuine and he's growing, he's learning. I like that he has redemption, I like that he's flawed, I like that he's a doctor of color in Chicago. He's charismatic with the ladies, so he's not a square, by any means. He shows that it's cool to be a doctor. You don't have to perfect either. You can be a lot more than what's been shown on TV. And I think that's good. I'm grateful and humbled that I got that opportunity to portray that.”

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