History Made Tonight at the 84th Annual Academy Awards

Oscar history was made on tonight...


Undefeated - takes home the Oscar Win for Best Documentary!! Check out the trailer here! Great film! 

The film documents the struggles of a high school football team, the Manassas Tigers of Memphis, as they attempt a winning season after years of losses


And to top it off TJ Martin, director of this documentary becomes the first African American director to win an Oscar!! Congrats on making history Mr. Martin!!

Also congrats are in order to Christopher Plummer becoming the oldest actor, at age 82, to win an Academy Award for his supporting role in The Beginners. 

Stay tuned for live tweeting of the Oscars with Black Savant Cinema (@GBreezy20)!!

"The Last Fall" Needs You!!

Alrighty folks I got another great project that needs your support!!

An NFL journeyman struggles to deal with life's complexities after his professional career is over.

The extremely, talented director Matthew Cherry needs YOU to help finish his movie The Last Fall and get his cast and crew down to SXSW. They have 30 days to raise $15,000. So give what you can (I just did!!) and more importantly pass this message on to others!!

This film has been on my radar for quite some time and I am looking forward to its release!! Every bit helps and this film definitely deserves the support!!

Seeing is believing so check out the trailer and become a believer...

To lend your support check out The Last Fall- Kickstarter !!

Featured Doc Alert: "Slavery By Another Name"

The National Productions is developing Slavery by Another Name, a multi-part PBS project based upon the 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Wall Street Journal writer Douglas Blackmon.

Slavery by Another Name challenges one of our country’s most cherished assumptions: the belief that slavery ended with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. The documentary recounts how in the years following the Civil War, insidious new forms of forced labor emerged in the American South, keeping hundreds of thousands of African Americans in bondage, trapping them in a brutal system that would persist until the onset of World War II.

Based on Blackmon’s research into original documents and personal narratives, Slavery by Another Name unearths the lost stories of slaves and their descendants who journeyed into freedom after Emancipation and then back into involuntary servitude. It also tells stories of courage and redemption, and the men and women who fought against the re-emergence of human labor trafficking.

Check out the promo here...



Slavery by Another Name is set to hit television screen in early 2012 on PBS.

Black History 365! Black Cinema Style!

This month, Documentary Channel honors Black History Month with a special month-long celebration of the "Best of Black Documentary Cinema" every Tuesday night in primetime. 


Beginning today Tuesday, February 7 with Beah: A Black Woman Speaks (8 p.m. ET), the series will culminate with the US television premiere of Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of the Spook Who Sat By The Door, a captivating film that examines the conspiracy and controversy behind a Hollywood picture about a black revolution shut down by the FBI due to its subject matter, on February 28 (8 p.m. ET). 

This special, "Best of" celebration also marks the one-year anniversary of "Black Documentary Cinema" on Documentary Channel. A noteworthy series of programming showcasing the work of black documentary filmmakers, "Black Documentary Cinema" features remarkable documentaries the last Tuesday of every month in primetime. 

The complete "Best of Black Documentary Cinema" schedule is as follows (all times ET): 

"BEST OF BLACK DOCUMENTARY CINEMA" SCHEDULE 

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks – Tuesday, February 7 (8 p.m.)

Stand – Tuesday, February 14 (8 p.m.)

Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons – Tuesday, February 21 (8 p.m.)

Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of the Spook Who Sat By The Door – Tuesday, February 28 (8 p.m.)


For more information check out The Documentary Channel !!

Celebrating Black History Month...By Taking you to the Movies!!

In honor of Black History Month, Black Savant Cinema wanted to make sure that we highlight a few films to add to your playlist. Hopefully you will gain something that you didn't know and share with others. Today's feature is a film by Afro-Cuban filmmaker, Gloria Rolando titled Eyes of the Rainbow a wonderful film that combines spiritual ritual and "ourstory" while depicting the life of revolutionary Assata Shakur.

Eyes of the Rainbow deals with the life of Assata Shakur, the Black Panther and Black Liberation Army leader who escaped from prison and was given political asylum in Cuba, where she has lived for close to 15 years. In it we visit with Assata in Havana and she tells us about her history and her life in Cuba. This film is also about Assata's AfroCuban context, including the Yoruba Orisha Oya, goddess of the ancestors, of war, of the cemetery and of the rainbow.

"In the struggle of the African American people, many women's voices in the past and the present have always called for social justice, women who throughout the years have shown integrity and firmness in their principles. For this reason, "The Eyes of the Rainbow" is dedicated to all women who struggle for a better world." ~Gloria Rolando on "Eyes of the Rainbow":

Here is a taste of this powerful film...



For more information about the film check out Hands Off Assata !!

"Part of being a revolutionary is creating a vision that is more humane. That is more fun, too. That is more loving. It's really working to create something beautiful." ~Assata Shakur

History is Made at Sundance Film Festival by Director Ava DuVernay!!

Well if anyone said there is no room for Black Indie film, then they have not met Ms. Ava DuVernay!

She's on a roll!! On last night, Ava DuVernay became the first African-American woman to win US Directing Award: Dramatic for her second feature film, Middle of Nowhere. 

 The movie stars  Emayatzy Corinealdi as a young woman struggling to maintain her identity while her husband (Omari Hardwick) serves an eight year prison sentence.  The groundbreaking director tweeted a pic after her historic win:

Just last week Middle of Nowhere premiered at Sundance, and has received remarkable reviews from critics and audiences alike.  So much so that the film has been picked up for distribution by Participant Media, partnering with DuVernay’s African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM) for Middle of Nowhere to be released in theaters later this year. I cannot wait!!

Films like this just prove that there is still quality in the movie industry especially as it relates to African Americans!! 

Black Savant Cinema gives a round of applause to Ava DuVernay, the cast and AFFRM on this outstanding achievement!! 

KUDOS!! Keep doing your thang!!

And Here Are 'The Oscar 2012' Nominees...

With the Academy Awards not too far in the distance you know we gotta take a look at the nominees... 2011 was quite the interesting year at the movies, if I had to describe it in two words... JAW-DROPPING!! And the nominees are...

Best Picture

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Actor in a Leading Role

Demian Bichir (ABetter Life)

George Clooney (The Descendants)

Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)

Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

Actress in a Leading Role

Glenn Close (Alber Nobbs)

Viola Davis (The Help)

Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)

Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)

Actor in a Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh (My Week With Marilyn)

Jonah Hill (Moneyball)

Nick Nolte (Warrior)

Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)

Actress in a Supporting Role

Berenice Bejo (The Artist)

Jessica Chastain (The Help)

Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)

Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)

Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Animated Feature Film

A Cat in Paris

Chico & Rita

Kung Fu Panda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango

Cinematography

The Artist

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Documentary Feature

Hell and Back Again

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Pina

Undefeated

Music (Original Score)

The Adventures of Tintin (John Williams)

The Artist (Ludovic Bource)

Hugo (Howard Shore)

Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy (Alberto Iglesias)

War Horse (John Williams)

So tell me folks, who made your list, what are your predictions, and who got robbed?? Your thoughts...

For the complete listing of nominees go to The Oscars 2012 . The Oscars will be televised LIVE on Sunday February 26th at 7pm EST/4 pm PST on ABC.