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Chi-Raq
''Chi-Raq'' () is a 2015 American musical crime comedy drama film, directed and produced by Spike Lee and co-written by Lee and Kevin Willmott. Set in Chicago, the film focuses on the gang violence prevalent in neighborhoods on the city's south side, particularly the Englewood neighborhood. The story is based on Aristophanes' ''Lysistrata'', a classical Greek comedy play in which women withhold sex from their husbands to put an end to the Peloponnesian War. It stars Nick Cannon, Wesley Snipes, Teyonah Parris, Jennifer Hudson, Angela Bassett, John Cusack, and Samuel L. Jackson. It was the first film to be produced by Amazon Studios, released in select theaters on December 4, 2015 and on their video on demand service Amazon Instant Video on December 29. Plot In Chicago's Southside, as the events are narrated by Dolemedes, a war rages between two rival gangs: the Spartans, led by rapper/gang leader Demetrius Dupree, nicknamed "Chi-Raq" and the Trojans, led by gang lord Cycl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teyonah Parris
Teyonah Parris ( ) is an American actress. Her first prominent career role was playing secretary Dawn Chambers in the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2012–2015) and starring in the 2014 independent film ''Dear White People''. Since that, Parris starred in Spike Lee's film ''Chi-Raq,'' in US soap opera ''Empire'' and in Academy-nominated film ''If Beale Street Could Talk''. In 2021, Parris portrayed an adult Monica Rambeau in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Disney+ series ''WandaVision.'' She will reprise the role in ''The Marvels'', scheduled to be released in 2023. Parris has won two Black Reel Awards and received nominations at Screen Actors Guild Awards and NAACP Image Awards. Early life and education Parris was born on September 22, 1987 and raised in Hopkins, South Carolina. She was accepted into the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities where she finished 11th and 12th grade, before attending and graduating from the Juilliard School. Career She made her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut with ''She's Gotta Have It'' (1986). He has since written and directed such films as '' School Daze'' (1988), ''Do the Right Thing'' (1989), '' Mo' Better Blues'' (1990), '' Jungle Fever'' (1991), ''Malcolm X'' (1992), '' Crooklyn'' (1994), '' Clockers'' (1995), '' 25th Hour'' (2002), ''Inside Man'' (2006), ''Chi-Raq'' (2015), ''BlacKkKlansman'' (2018) and ''Da 5 Bloods'' (2020). Lee also acted in eleven of his feature films. His films have featured breakthrough and acclaimed performances from actors such as Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L. Jackson, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Delroy Lindo and John David Washington. Lee's work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lysistrata
''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', "Army Disbander") is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city states by denying all the men of the land any sex, which was the only thing they truly and deeply desired. Lysistrata persuades the women of the warring cities to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace—a strategy, however, that inflames the battle between the sexes. The play is notable for being an early exposé of sexual relations in a male-dominated society. Additionally, its dramatic structure represents a shift from the conventions of Old Comedy, a trend typical of the author's career. It was produced in the same year as the ''Thesmophoriazusae'', another play with a focus on gender-based issues, just two years after Athens' catastrophic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard (born March 13, 1962) is an American trumpeter and composer. He started his career in 1982 as a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, then The Jazz Messengers. He has composed more than forty film scores and performed on more than fifty. A frequent collaborator with director Spike Lee, he has been nominated for two Academy Awards for composing the scores for Lee's films ''BlacKkKlansman'' (2018) and ''Da 5 Bloods'' (2020). He has won five Grammy Awards from fourteen nominations. From 2000 to 2011, Blanchard served as artistic director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. In 2011, he was named artistic director of the Henry Mancini Institute at the University of Miami, and in 2015, he became a visiting scholar in jazz composition at the Berklee College of Music. In 2019, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), named Blanchard to its Endowed Chair in Jazz Studies, where he will remain until 2024. The Metropolitan Opera in New York staged ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and talk show host. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, television, and theater. Hudson became the youngest woman and second African-American woman to receive all four of the major American entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony ( EGOT). She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013. ''Time'' named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020. Hudson rose to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of ''American Idol,'' placing seventh. She made her film debut as Effie White in the musical ''Dreamgirls'' (2006), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the youngest African-American to win in a competitive acting category. After signing to Arista Records, Hudson released her self-titled debut studio album in 2008 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Cusack
John Paul Cusack (; born June 28, 1966)(28 June 1996)Today's birthdays ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'', ("Actors John Cusack is 30") is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and political activist. He is a son of filmmaker Dick Cusack, and his older sisters are actresses Joan and Ann Cusack. Cusack began acting in films during the 1980s, starring in coming-of-age dramedies such as ''The Sure Thing'' (1985), '' Better Off Dead'' (1985), and '' Say Anything...'' (1989). He then started appearing in independent films such as ''Eight Men Out'' (1988), '' The Grifters'' (1990), '' True Colors'' (1991), and ''Bullets Over Broadway'' (1994). Cusack began appearing as a leading man in such film as the comedic films ''Grosse Pointe Blank'' (1997), the action thriller ''Con Air'' (1997), the animated musical ''Anastasia'' (1997), the psychological drama ''Being John Malkovich'' (1999), and the romantic comedies '' High Fidelity'' (2000), ''America's Sweethearts'' (2001), '' Serendipity'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kevin Willmott
Kevin Willmott (born August 31, 1959) is an Academy Award Winning American film director and screenwriter, and professor of film at the University of Kansas. He is known for work focusing on black issues including writing and directing '' Ninth Street,'' '' C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America,'' and '' Bunker Hill.'' His ''The Only Good Indian'' (2009) was a feature film about Native American children at an Indian boarding school and the forced assimilation that took place. In ''Jayhawkers'' (2014), he followed the life of Wilt Chamberlain, Phog Allen and the 1956 Kansas Jayhawks basketball team. Willmott has collaborated with Spike Lee, with whom he shared an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for ''BlacKkKlansman''. The two again collaborated in writing ''Da 5 Bloods'', released worldwide digitally on June 12, 2020. Biography Willmott grew up in Junction City, Kansas, and received a BA in Drama from Marymount College (Kansas), Marymount College. He received a M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roadside Attractions
Roadside Attractions is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films. Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ... bought a portion of Roadside in 2007.JAY A. FERNANDEZ "Indiewire" SEPTEMBER 13, 201Toronto 2012: Just What's Going on With Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions? Here Are Some Answers.Indiewire.com, Retrieved on February 12, 2013 Filmography All pictures distributed by Roadside, unless otherwise specified. 2000s 2010s 2020s Upcoming References External links * Online Press Site* {{Authority control Companies based in Los Angeles Mass media companies established in 2003 Film distributors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks
40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks is the production company of Spike Lee, founded in 1979. The company name is a reference to the phrase most often used to refer to the early Reconstruction period policy and episode of events, in which certain recently emancipated black families on the Georgia coast were given lots of land no larger than and in some cases surplus army mules. The order, issued in 1865 by General Sherman as " Special Field Order 15", was later revoked by Andrew Johnson, and the land was taken away from the freed slaves and returned to previous owners. History The company has produced all of Lee's films, starting in 1986 with ''She's Gotta Have It''. After the success of films ''Do the Right Thing'' and ''Malcolm X'', Lee expanded the 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks brand by opening clothing stores with merchandise that bore the company's emblem. Lee has also done several collaborations with Nike, Eckō Unltd. and Brooklyn Denim. 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks also has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amazon Studios
Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed through theaters and Amazon Prime Video, Amazon's digital video streaming service, whose competitors include Netflix and Hulu, among others. Overview Scripts for television and films used to be submitted online to Amazon and read by staff; however, the website states they no longer accept submissions. Amazon aimed to review submitted scripts within 90 days (although the process may be longer). If a project was chosen for development, the writer was paid $10,000. If a developed script was selected for distribution as a full-budget movie, the creator was paid $200,000; if it was selected for distribution as a full-budget series, the creator was paid $55,000 as well as "up to 5 percent of Amazon's net receipts from toy and t-shirt licensing, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Libatique
Matthew Libatique (born July 19, 1968) is an American cinematographer. He is best known for his work with director Darren Aronofsky on the films '' Pi'' (1998), ''Requiem for a Dream'' (2000), ''The Fountain'' (2006), ''Black Swan'' (2010), ''Noah'' (2014), and ''Mother!'' (2017). For his work on ''Black Swan'' and Bradley Cooper's directorial debut film, '' A Star Is Born'' (2018), Libatique was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Early life and education Matthew Libatique was born in Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, to Filipino immigrant parents Georgina (née José) and Justiniáno Libatique. His father was from Dagupan City, Pangasinan and his mother is from Lucena City, Quezon province. Libatique studied sociology and communications at California State University, Fullerton before earning an MFA in cinematography at AFI Conservatory. Career Libatique served as director of photography for music videos and teamed with fellow AFI alumnus Aronofsky for th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel L
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him the third highest-grossing actor of all time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave him an Academy Honorary Award in 2022 as "A cultural icon whose dynamic work has resonated across genres and generations and audiences worldwide". Jackson started his career on stage making his professional theatre debut in ''Mother Courage and her Children'' in 1980 at The Public Theatre. From 1981 to 1983 he originated the role of Private Louis Henderson in '' A Soldier's Story'' Off-Broadway. He also originated the role of Boy Willie in August Wilson's ''The Piano Lesson'' in 1987 at the Yale Repertory Theatre. He returned to the play in the 2022 Broadway revival playing Doaker Charles. Jackson early film roles include ''Coming to Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
