Mannie Holmes | Events Editor
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Chelsea Lauren/Variety/REX/Shutterstock (8344346u)
Sterling K. Brown and Mandy Moore
NAACP Image Awards, Show, Los Angeles, USA – 11 Feb 2017
The 48th annual NAACP Image Awards honored the past year in entertainment, specifically spotlighting projects with minority representation. Projects that took home awards included “Hidden Figures,” “This Is Us,” “Black-ish” and “Queen Sugar.”
Upon accepting his 20th NAACP Image award for outstanding actor in a motion picture in “Fences,” Denzel Washington spoke at length, motivating the newer artists who were listening.
“I am particularly happy and proud about the young filmmakers, actors, singers, writers, producers that are coming up behind my generation,” he said, citing “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins. “It’s not easy. If it was easy, there’d be no Kerry Washington, Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis, Mykelti Williamson, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Russell Hornsby, and there’d be no Denzel Washington.”
Washington went on, “Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship, so keep moving, keep growing, keep learning. See you at work.”
While the year’s past achievements in television and film were highlighted, host Anthony Anderson couldn’t help but touch on the present political climate in his monologue. He used the latter half of his speech to commend the legacy of the Obama administration, even asking the nation “to make room on Mount Rushmore” for the 44th president.
It was Trevor Noah, however, who made the first direct jab at the expense of the current commander-in-chief when he said: “This room is so black and beautiful. It’s so black that it looks like a photo negative of the Trump administration.”
“The Daily Show” host went on, “Well let’s get to it; I’m black and an immigrant so I don’t have much time.”
Laughter rippled across the room, where Omarosa Manigault was seated in the center aisle to take it all in. (This all came moments after she praised president Trump for monitoring who comes into the country and calling out Chicago violence. The White House staffer also dropped mention of having a West Wing office.)
The audience also included Rep. Maxine Waters, Dwayne Johnson, Kerry Washington, Uzo Aduba, Tracee Ellis Ross, Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Regina King, Laverne Cox, TV One founder Cathy Hughes, and the entire adult cast of NBC’s “This Is Us,” which stood up to cheer after Sterling K. Brown took the best actor in a drama series trophy.
The ceremony not only presented awards to entertainers, but to community activists and humanitarians as well. Harvard Law School professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr. and historian Lonnie G. Bunch, III also received honors at the star-studded event.
Bunch, who is the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., accepted his award thanking the NAACP for the part that it has played in history.
“There is nothing more noble honoring all of our ancestors than remembering,” he ended, receiving a standing ovation.
After the ceremony, guests at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium kept the celebration going with cocktails, dinner and live performances in the ballroom next door.
A full list of winners can be viewed here.
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After our debut at Sundance, and a successful screening at Morehouse, we brought BURNING SANDS to the LA’s PAFF. At 25 years old it is one of the oldest black film festivals in the country.
Here I am with the amazing, writer/director Gerard McMurray and PAFF founder Babu Ayuko.
Me with fellow producers Stephanie Allain and Mel Jones.
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JANUARY 31, 2017 / SHADOWANDACT
MARSHALL
Having already played Jackie Robinson and James Brown, Chadwick Boseman is taking on another real-life icon in a courtroom thriller about Thurgood Marshall.
Under the direction of Reginald Hudlin, Boseman stars as the legendary attorney in “Marshall,” a film that focuses on a case early in the career of the Supreme Court justice.
Via the press announcement: “As the nation teeters on the brink of WWII, a nearly bankrupt NAACP sends Marshall to conservative Connecticut to defend a black chauffeur against his wealthy socialite employer in a sexual assault and attempted murder trial that quickly became tabloid fodder. In need of a high profile victory but muzzled by a segregationist court, Marshall is partnered with Samuel Friedman, a young Jewish lawyer who has never tried a case. Marshall and Friedman struggle against a hostile storm of fear and prejudice, driven to discover the truth in the sensationalized trial which helped set the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement to come.”
Joining Boseman in front of the camera are Sterling K. Brown as Joseph Spell, the defendant at the center of the above case; Keesha Sharp plays Buster Marshall, Thurgood’s wife; and Josh Gad is Samuel Friedman, the young Jewish lawyer who partners with Marshall on the case.
Kate Hudson, Dan Stevens and James Cromwell round out the starring cast.
Paula Wagner is producing through her Chestnut Ridge Productions banner along with Jonathan Sanger and Hudlin.
Open Road has set an October 13 release date for “Marshall,” it was announced today – just in time for awards season.
“I can’t wait for the world to see this movie,” Hudlin said. “It’s a thriller, not a biopic, about an early case of one of the greatest lawyers in American history. In a time when we need heroes who fight for justice, ‘Marshall’ is an inspirational movie that brings people together.”
The film is being produced with the full cooperation of the Thurgood Marshall and Samuel Friedman estates.
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JAN. 31, 2017, 8:39 A.M.
Octavia Spencer, left, Janelle Monáe and Taraji P. Henson will present at the 48th NAACP Image Awards. (Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images)
The 48th NAACP Image Awards will have a slew of Oscar, Emmy and SAG award nominees and winners handing out trophies at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Feb. 11.
Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe of “Hidden Figures,” Sterling K. Brown of “This Is Us,” “Insecure” producer-actress Issa Rae and Mykelti Williamson of “Fences” are among the first group of presenters revealed, as are Image Awards nominees Mike “Lucas Cage” Colter and Trevor Noah, host of “The Daily Show.”
Anthony Anderson, star of “black-ish,” will host the live two-hour broadcast, which airs at 9 p.m. on TV One, and a red carpet pre-show featuring host Nischelle Turner kicks off live at 7:30 p.m. Both shows are tape-delayed on the West Coast.
The NAACP Image Awards celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in TV, music, literature and film and also honor individuals or groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors.
LeBron James and Harvard Law professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr. already have been announced as recipients of the Jackie Robinson Sports Award and the Chairman’s Award, respectively.
Other presenters are yet to be announced, as is this year’s NAACP Entertainer of the Year. Reginald Hudlin and Phil Gurin are the Executive Producers. Co-Executive Producers are Kimmie H. Kim and Byron Phillips. Tony McCuin is the Director and Robin Reinhardt is the Talent Producer.
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