Short film "Hair Love" nominated for Academy Award

Congratulations to former NFL player Matthew A. Cherry! His short film "Hair Love" has been nominated for an Academy Award.

The film tells the heartfelt story of an African American father learning to do his daughter's hair for the first time.

Cherry had this to say about the film's nomination:

"It's very validating, I moved to LA 13 years ago and kinda started over when I retired, and I started as a PA (production assistant) and kinda worked my way up doing music videos and short films -- so to be here now at the highest level is so crazy,"

The film featured Issa Rae. It was written by Matthew A. Cherry, who was also a director and the executive producer of the film. Other directors include Everett Downing Jr. (Animator, "Up") and Bruce W. Smith (Creator, "The Proud Family," Animator, "The Princess and the Frog").

Producers on the film include Jordan Peele, Andrew Hawkins, Harrison Barnes, Yara and Keri Shahidi, N'Dambi Gillespie, Gabrielle Union-Wade, Dwayne Wade Jr., Gabourey Sidibe, Stephanie Fredric, and Claude Kelly.

WATCH THE FILM BELOW

Regina King, Mahershala Ali win best supporting actor/actress Oscars at the 2019 Academy Awards

Regina King is now an Oscar winner and Mahershala Ali is a now a two time Academy Award winner. Both won awards in the Best Supporting Actor/Actress categories.

Regina King won her first Oscar to go along with three Emmy Awards. The actress was awarded the best supporting actress statue on Sunday for her role in Barry Jenkins' "If Beale Street Could Talk," in which she plays Sharon Rivers, a matriarch whose spirit is as strong as her love for her family. Watch her acceptance speech below:

Mahershala Ali took home his second supporting actor Oscar in three years on Sunday night, for his role as the black pianist Don Shirley in “Green Book,”. Ali won two years ago, his supporting performance in “Moonlight' and with this win Ali joins Denzel Washington as the only other black actor to win multiple Oscars. Watch his acceptance speech below"

See Black Panther Free in movie theaters for one week only in honor of Black History Month

Oscar Best-Picture Nominee #BlackPanther returns to the big screen beginning February 1st and ending February 7th.

Fans of all ages can see the movie for free in honor of Black History Month at participating AMC Theaters.

Academy Award®-nominated “Black Panther” returns to the big screen to celebrate Black History Month for a one-week engagement, February 1-7, at 250 participating AMC Theatres locations.

Simply click here to find your state and claim your free tickets: Black Panther Tickets

‘BlacKkKlansman’ Returns to Theaters After Six Academy Award Nominations

“BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee’s crime drama about a black detective who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan, is heading back to theaters after picking up six Oscar nominations.

The film will be re-released in 168 theaters across the country this weekend. “BlacKkKlansman” will play in over 30 states, including New York, California, and Florida. Academy members will be allowed in showings free of charge with their membership card.

Focus Features initially released “BlacKkKlansman” in theaters in August, where it debuted with $10.8 million — the third-best opening weekend of Lee’s career. It went on to earn $48.5 million at the domestic box office and $40.8 million overseas.

“BlacKkKlansman” recounts the true story of black detective Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), who goes undercover to expose the Colorado Springs chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. After over 30 years of making movies, “BlacKkKlansman” finally landed Lee a best director nomination, making him only the sixth black filmmaker to receive a nod in that category. If he wins, he would be the first black director to do so. He is also the first black writer to be nominated in the screenplay category more than once.

[SOURCE: VARIETY]

Black Panther: First Super Hero film to be nominated for Best Picture

Marvel Studios' "Black Panther" has not only made Marvel history, but Oscars history. During this morning's Academy Awards nominations announcement, the Ryan Coogler-directed film gained seven nominations, including one for Best Picture! "Black Panther" is the first Super Hero film to be nominated in the Best Picture category. Marvel Studios' "Avengers: Infinity War" and Sony's "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" also received one Academy Awards nomination each.

In addition to the Best Picture nomination, the third-highest-grossing movie of all time in the US also nabbed . "Black Panther" also nabbed Best Production Design, Best Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, Best Original Song (Kendick Lamar's "All The Stars"), Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.

Black Panther wasn't the only hero recognized. Marvel Studios' "Avengers: Infinity War" was nominated for Best Visual Effects, while "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" secured a Best Animated Feature nod.

Congrats to all the nominees!

The 91st Annual Academy Awards with air February 24 on ABC.

Get Out receives four Academy Award nominations

Jordan Peele's horror film Get Out, which has received praise for its performances and thought-provoking take on race in America, received four Academy Award nominations Tuesday, including one for best picture.

Peele made history becoming the first black director to receive nominations in the writing, directing, and producing categories for his first feature film.

Peele tweeted his gratitude to the fans that made the movie both a critical and commercial success:

Right now I’m just thinking about everyone who bought a ticket and told someone else to. You did this. Thank you. ✊🏾

— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) January 23, 2018

Get Out was nominated for:

Best Picture

Directing: Jordan Peele

Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Kaluuya

Original Screenplay: Jordan Peele

African American Academy Award Nominees

While most of the focus was on La La Lands 14 Academy Awards nominations this was also a great year for African American actors and directors. This a record year that features a record number 6 black actors being nominated. There are the usual nominees like Denzel Washington and Octavia "I'm in every movie coming out for the next two years" Spencer, but there were a few surprises thrown in. Here is a complete list of the African Americans actors and directors nominated for Academy Awards.

Best Picture:

Fences

Hidden Figures

Moonlight

Lead Actor:

Denzel Washington, “Fences”

Lead Actress

Ruth Negga, “Loving”

Supporting actor:

Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”

Supporting actress:

Viola Davis, “Fences”

Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”

Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures”

Best Director:

“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins

Adapted screenplay:

“Fences,” August Wilson

“Hidden Figures,” Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi

“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins; Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney

Best documentary feature:

“13th,” Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish

“I Am Not Your Negro,” Raoul Peck, Remi Grellety and Hebert Peck

What to do since you are not watching the Academy Awards.

By George L. Cook III, AfricanAmericanReports.com georgelcookiii@gmail.com.

Author’s Note: I might suggest at least tuning in to see the beginning of the show and to hear Chris Rock’s monologue and see how he addresses the #OscarsSoWhite issue.

Many African Americans have planned not to watch tonight’s Academy Awards show in response to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.

Now there are a good number who had no plans to watch the show anyway, but there are some who normally do if for no other reason than to post negative tweets about it.

Now for those few who had actually planned to watch it, but have chosen instead to support the #Blackout movement I have a few suggestions as to what you might do tonight.

* Watch the All Def Movie Awards show on Fusion TV, which is airing the same time as the Academy Awards. You will have to search for the channel though and then hope that you are subscribed to it.

* Watch The Black Panthers: Vanguard of a Revolution here: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/the-black-panthers-vanguard-of-the-revolution/

* Read a book. I don’t care which one, just read a damned book and educate yourself. It can’t hurt.

* Watch tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead. Yes, I know they have a habit of killing off black people, but the show has more black characters than most “black” shows to begin with. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit I’m a huge TWD fan, so I may be biased here.

* Sit down and talk to those people called your family. Those are the people that live in the same house, normally have the same last name, and you may have occasionally seen them at the dinner table, you may even have spoken to them before.

* Go see the Jesse Owens biopic RACE, I think it’s still in 10 or 12 theaters nationwide.

* Go to sleep. A little extra rest before the start of the work week never hurt anyone.

Chris Rock Rewriting Monologue to Address #OscarsSoWhite Outrage

Outrage over the lack of diversity among nominees at the Oscars will not keep Chris Rock from his hosting duties. Rock is rewriting his script to address the #OscarsSoWhite controversy according to the Academy Awards Producer Reginald Hudlin. Watch Hudlin's interview with ET below:

Should African American viewers boycott the Oscars?

By George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.com Email George

Not one African American was nominated for an Academy Award this year. In a year that included outstanding performances by Samuel L. Jackson (The Hateful 8), Micheal B. Jordan (CREED), Idris Elba (Beast of no Nation), Will Smith (Concussion), and Tessa Thompson (Creed), and a year that included great films directed by Ryan Coogler (CREED) and Cary Fukunaga (Beast of No Nation) not one African American person was nominated for anything.

This has led to the return of the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag on social media but lets be a serious at the end of the day a hashtag is just a hashtag. Bringing notice to a situation is great but there has to be some followup action. I believe that African American viewers should boycott the Oscars in protest this year. That would give the show lower ratings and lower ratings equals less advertising dollars in the future for the Academy Awards. One color that Hollywood understands the most is green, and if you affect that green you can effect change.

So lets start a new hashtag, #BlackBoycottOscars, and then follow that up with action.

Mo'Nique: I Was "Blackballed" After Winning My Oscar

The 2010 best supporting actress winner for 'Precious' — who refused to campaign for her award — says she was told by her director Lee Daniels that the perception is she's "difficult" and "tacky," and she's lost out on several roles as a result.

At the 2010 Academy Awards, Mo'Nique wore white gardenias in her hair — just as Hattie McDaniel had in 1940 when she became the first African-American actress to win an Oscar. The Precious star later thanked McDaniel in her best supporting actress acceptance speech "for enduring all that she had to, so that I would not have to." As The Hollywood Reporter recognizes the 75th anniversary of McDaniel's historic win, we speak at length with Mo'Nique about her debt to her movie-star idol, her memories of her own Oscar night and the dramatic turn her career has taken in the five years since. As director Lee Daniels put it to her in a recent phone call, "Mo'Nique, you've been blackballed."

Read more: Mo'Nique: I Was "Blackballed" After Winning My Oscar

Was Selma's best picture nomination a "make up" call?

Unless you've been asleep for the last 24 plus hours you have heard or read the uproar over the lack of Oscar nominations for Ava DuVernay's movie, Selma. Although the picture was nominated for best picture, it missed out on what many thought would be sure bets for best director (Ava DuVernay) and best actor (David Oyelowo). Now some thinks it's due to racism at worst or the lack of diversity among the Academy Awards voters at best. (I personally think it's because the voters couldn't properly pronounce their names.) Most of the voters are white males over 65, so it goes to figure that the overwhelming majority of those nominated or white and male.

Now I know some are asking, "Well George if that's true how in the hell did Selma get nominated?"

Well I'm glad you asked that. If you have ever watched a basketball game you know there's something known as a "makeup" call. That's when the referees make a bad or questionable call on one team and then make it up to that team by making a bad call the other way. No referee will admit this happens, but we all know that it does. I think that's what happened with Selma getting a best picture nomination.

To be honest I don't even think that Selma was originally among the best picture nominees. I think that after the tallies were done someone looked at them and said, "Hey guys we didn't nominate any black people for sh*t!"

In my mind the conversation, after that was discovered, went something like this:

Old White Guy #1: What's that you say?

Old White Guy #2: We didn't nominate anyone of color.

Old White Guy #3: What about that black director that made that movie about Martin Luther King?

Old white Guy #4: You mean Spike Lee?

Old White Guy #2: Are there any other black directors?

Old White Guy #1: Well just put Spike's name up there.

Old White Guy #3: What about the voters?

Old white Guy #4: Trust me, they won't notice. It's not like they actually read the ballot.

Old White Guy #1: Hey wait a minute we can nominate up to ten movies for best picture, and we only nominated eight!

Old White Guy #2: Great idea, we just need a movie with black people.

Old White Guy #4: Oh, I vote for Ride Along!

Old White Guy #1: Didn't Tyler Perry make a movie this year?

Old White Guy #2: Guys! We can just put the Martin Luther King movie in that spot, and we will have added a tad of diversity. It's not like it will win anyway.

Old White Guy #1: Agreed!

Old White Guy #3: Agreed!

Old White Guy #4: Agreed!

Yup, that what I believe happened. Selma's addition to the Best Picture category was a makeup call. What do you think?

George L. Cook III, AfricanAmericanReports.com Email: georgelcookiii@gmail.com

Spike Lee Comments On ‘Selma’ Oscar Snubs

During an interview with Marlow Stern at The Daily Beast film director Spike Lee commented on the Oscar snubs of Selma for best director. Read his colorful comments below:

“Join the club!” Lee chuckled, before getting serious. “But that doesn’t diminish the film. Nobody’s talking about motherfuckin’ Driving Miss Daisy. That film is not being taught in film schools all across the world like Do the Right Thing is. Nobody’s discussing Driving Miss Motherfuckin’ Daisy. So if I saw Ava today I’d say, ‘You know what? Fuck ’em. You made a very good film, so feel good about that and start working on the next one.”

“Anyone who thinks this year was gonna be like last year is retarded,” said Lee. “There were a lot of black folks up there with 12 Years a Slave, Steve [McQueen], Lupita [Nyong’o], Pharrell. It’s in cycles of every 10 years. Once every 10 years or so I get calls from journalists about how people are finally accepting black films. Before last year, it was the year [in 2002] with Halle Berry, Denzel [Washington], and Sidney Poitier. It’s a 10-year cycle. So I don’t start doing backflips when it happens.”

Read the full article here: Spike Lee Blasts ‘Selma’ Oscar Snubs: ‘You Know What? F*ck ’Em’