02/05/21
This week: A spotlight on Black creators and their stories.TRENDS THIS WEEK
☞ YouTube: Coming 2 America
☞ Letterboxd: SOUL
☞ TikTok: #MakeBlackHistory
☞ Spotify: drivers license - Olivia Rodrigo
☞ Twitter: Rosa Parks
Life & Culture
During this first week of Black History Month, I want to remind everyone that only 8 or 9% of history class time in US schools is devoted to Black history. Yeah, it’s staggeringly low. But also not at all surprising. After all, the people who have the power (usually white, cis men) get to write the history books—and tell us which stories and people mattered most. At PICTURESTART, we’re making it a priority to educate ourselves on the Black history we should have learned growing up. We’ll be sharing a new Tiny History Lesson each Wednesday on our Instagram, so follow along here, if you’re looking to expand your understanding of history as well.
And in today’s email, we’re thinking about the spectrum of talented Black creators telling Black stories in every medium. That’s what this edition of PS Weekly is dedicated to celebrating—we hope you enjoy it!
If you’re looking to get more quick bites of Black History lessons throughout the month, look no further than TikTok. Taylor Cassidy, one of my favorite creators on the platform, makes Fast Black History videos that educate viewers on notable Black figures in history. Taylor’s videos are fast-paced, digestible and fun, and also highly educational. While she’ll be releasing this series throughout the month, you can check out our favorites (so far!) here.
Also on TikTok this week, I recommend checking out @laronhinesofficial. In his “Are you smarter than a preschooler?” series, La’Ron asks preschoolers various questions and films their responses. The confidence (and cuteness) of these kids is exactly what we all needed to cap off this seemingly endless workweek.
—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant
Film
One of my favorite films from Sundance this weekend was the preview screening of Shaka King’s JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH, which arrives on HBOMax on February 12th! King has managed to craft a historical film that doesn’t feel like a stuffy biopic. It’s a dynamic, sleek, and often brutal depiction of William O’Neal’s infiltration of the Chicago Black Panther Party, leaking information to the FBI that ultimately led to activist Fred Hampton’s assassination. The film is full of excellent performances, but Daniel Kaluuya as the intoxicatingly charismatic Hampton and Lakeith Stanfield as the enigmatic O’Neal are the anchors of the film. Check it out next week and keep your eyes peeled for a cameo from AM I OK? star Jermaine Fowler.
—Julia Hammer, Creative Executive
Fans of RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN’S CINDERELLA, rejoice! Brandy herself announced on Thursday that the iconic 1997 film will arrive on Disney+ on February 12th. Starring Brandy, Whitney Houston and Whoopi Goldberg, the original broadcast saw a record-breaking 60 million viewers and was ABC’s most-watched Sunday night program in more than 10 years. Brandy’s performance was groundbreaking as no Black woman had ever portrayed Cinderella on screen before. Disney+’s move will bring the film to a whole new generation of movie lovers that don’t have access to a DVD or VHS recording of the movie.
—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant
TV
If there’s one show I always come back to, it’s Shonda Rhimes’s magnum opus GREY’S ANATOMY. This mid-season replacement for BOSTON LEGAL wowed audiences worldwide when it debuted in 2005, featuring a pitch-perfect (and diverse AF!) cast with a bomb-ass soundtrack—Snow Patrol, Ingrid Michaelson, and, oh yes, Adele—that single-handedly reinvented the procedural medical drama and marked the beginning of Rhimes’s prolific track record. Shonda, if you’re reading this, THANKS QUEEN! You gave this little repressed gay boy so much hope. <3
—Kauveh Khozein Carrera, Creative Executive
Music
Rico Nasty is having a full-circle moment. She started her career by releasing her first singles on Soundcloud, and now she’s set to headline the platform’s upcoming gaming and music festival. The festival is the first of its kind for Soundcloud, and will take place on February 18th in Fortnite, with accompanying live video on Twitch and Facebook. Prominent Soundcloud artists will compete against each other in the game, and Rico Nasty will host and headline the event with a performance during halftime.
—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant
Manga
BLASTER KNUCKLES by Wazarai Shizuya is great! This manga is an oldie but a goodie and although it’s not written by a black writer, it’s still fun and has everything you want out of an engaging series. It’s set during the 1800s and features Victor Freeman, an ex boxer who hunts KKK members. While the terrorist group looks exactly the same as we remember them, there’s one small difference...at night they turn into bloodthirsty monsters that want to eat all people of color. It veers into blaxploitation at times, but still manages to be a great read. It’s DJANGO meets BUFFY in this classic series.
—Royce Reeves-Darby, Director of Production
Theater
One of my favorite summer theater traditions is The Public Theater’s Public Works program, in which they gather hundreds of New York locals to participate in a one-weekend production of a big, spectacular musical. Though that program has temporarily been halted, we can all pretend it’s summer for a couple of hours by watching UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE. The documentary follows the Public Works 2017 production of AS YOU LIKE IT, directed by Laurie Woolery and featuring fantastic original music from Shaina Taub. If you, like me, are craving a strong dose of serotonin, then you should definitely check this heartwarming doc out.
—Julia Hammer, Creative Executive
Book
In this week’s edition of “I’ve been living under a rock and finally read a book everybody else read last year,” I want to talk about THE NICKEL BOYS by Colson Whitehead. If you somehow missed the hubbub around this Pulitzer Prize winner in 2019, I would urge you to pick up this (only 200 page!) story of two boys struggling to survive in juvenile reformatory school in 1960s Florida. Whitehead manages to craft a tale that is both a history lesson and an intricate character piece. It’s a dark story, and I did cry a whole lot when I finished it, but it’s also an incredibly important story that we all should know more about.
—Julia Hammer, Creative Executive
Short Film
We all know that Maya Rudolph has a lot of range when it comes to her acting, but did we think she could play a convincing mosquito? I did not—until I watched Nicole Delaney’s THIRSTY. Rudolph plays a mosquito who is in love with the main character of the short (a human) and follows him around as he lives his life. It’s comedic in tone but as you watch you realize how clever Nicole Delaney and Sonya Goddy’s writing is. The mosquito is someone we’ve all been in our relationships and when the sad ending comes, you feel it in your heart!
—Bennett Levine, Executive Assistant
Poetry
No, you aren’t hallucinating. A poet is performing at the Super Bowl this weekend—at the pre-show, specifically. That’s a first for the Super Bowl, certainly. And it’s a pretty exciting moment for the breakout star of President Biden’s inauguration, 22-year-old poet, Amanda Gorman. The first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate saw both of her books, CHANGE SINGS and THE HILL WE CLIMB, hit the top spots on Amazon last week, and they don’t even come out until September. I first met Amanda when she was a high school student visiting D.C. through a fellowship program, and have been rooting for her—and that very special fire that’s always been lit within her—ever since. I think we can all rest assured that this is just the beginning for her.
—Neha Gandhi, EVP, Digital