Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a 1982 play – one of the ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle by August Wilson – that chronicles the 20th-century African-American experience. The play is set in Chicago in the 1920s, and deals with issues of race, art, religion, and the historic exploitation of black recording artists by white producers.
Youn Yuh-jung is a South Korean actress. In a film and television career spanning over 55 years, Youn is best known for starring in Woman of Fire (1971), The Housemaid (2010), The Taste of Money (2012), and The Bacchus Lady (2016).
Chadwick Aaron Boseman was an American actor and playwright. After studying directing at Howard University, he became prominent in theater, winning a Drama League Directing Fellowship and an acting AUDELCO, and being nominated for a Jeff Award as a playwright for Deep Azure. Transitioning to the screen, he landed his first major role as a series regular on Persons Unknown in 2010, and his breakthrough performance came in 2013 as baseball player Jackie Robinson in the biographical film 42. He continued to portray historical figures, starring in Get on Up (2014) as singer James Brown and Marshall (2017) as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
First Cow is a 2019 American drama film directed by Kelly Reichardt, from a screenplay by Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond based on Raymond's novel The Half Life. It stars John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones, Ewen Bremner, Scott Shepherd, Gary Farmer and Lily Gladstone. It also features René Auberjonois in one of his final film roles.
Never Rarely Sometimes Always is a 2020 drama film written and directed by Eliza Hittman. It stars Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin, Ryan Eggold and Sharon Van Etten. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2020. It was also selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a 2020 American drama film directed by George C. Wolfe and written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, based on the play of the same name by August Wilson. The film, and its source play, focus on Ma Rainey, an influential blues singer, and dramatizes a turbulent recording session in 1920s Chicago.
Sound of Metal is a 2019 American drama film directed and co-written by Darius Marder and starring Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff and Mathieu Amalric. It tells the story of a hard rock drummer who loses his hearing.
Sidney Flanigan is an American actress and singer-songwriter. Flanigan made her acting debut with the independent drama film Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020). Her performance garnered critical acclaim and won her the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress.
Small Axe is a British anthology film series, created and directed by Steve McQueen. The anthology consists of five films which tell distinct stories about the lives of West Indian immigrants in London from the 1960s to the 1980s. Two episodes of the series were selected in the official competition of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. The series premiered on 15 November 2020 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on 20 November 2020 on Amazon Prime Video in the United States. The title references a proverb – "Small axe fall big tree" or "If you are the big tree, we are the small axe" – that was popularised by Bob Marley in his 1973 song "Small Axe".
The Disciple is a 2020 Indian Marathi language drama film written, directed and edited by Chaitanya Tamhane. It stars Aditya Modak, Arun Dravid, Sumitra Bhave, Deepika Bhide Bhagwat, and Kiran Yadnyopavit. Alfonso Cuarón serves as an executive producer.
The 30th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, presented by the Independent Filmmaker Project, were held on January 11, 2021. The nominations were announced on November 12, 2020. Actors Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis, director Steve McQueen, writer Ryan Murphy and the cast of The Trial of the Chicago 7 received tribute awards.
The 41st Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2020, were given on December 13, 2020.
The 86th New York Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in film for 2020, were announced on December 18, 2020.
The 46th Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), honored the best in film for 2020.
The 36th Independent Spirit Awards, presented by Film Independent, will honor the films of 2020. It also expanded categories to honoring television shows for the first time, creating five new ones: Best New Scripted Series, Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series, Best Male Performance, Best Female Performance, and Best Ensemble Cast. Though it was initially intended for the ceremony to air on April 24, 2021, later, it was changed to April 22, 2021.
The 92nd National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in film for 2020, were announced on January 26, 2021.
The 19th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards were announced on February 8, 2021.
