Giving Voice | |
---|---|
Directed by |
|
Produced by |
|
Cinematography | Jonathan Narducci |
Edited by |
|
Music by | Bryan Senti |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Netflix |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 87 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Giving Voice is a 2020 American documentary film, directed and produced by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena. The film follows the 2018 edition of the annual August Wilson Monologue Competition [2] entered by thousands of high school students for the opportunity to perform on Broadway. Viola Davis, John Legend, Constanza Romero and Nicholas Caprio serve as executive producers.
The film had its world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Festival Favorite award. It was released on December 11, 2020, by Netflix.
Thousands of high school students enter the yearly August Wilson monologue competition for the opportunity to perform on Broadway. Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Jack Viertel, Gerardo Navarro, Nia Sarfo, Freedom Martin, Cody Merridith, Callie Holley and Aaron Guy appear in the film.
The film had its world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on January 26. [3] Shortly after, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film. [4] It was released on December 11, 2020. [5]
At the Sundance Film Festival, the film won the Festival Favorite Award. [6] Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% rating from 16 professional critic reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. [7]
In December 2020, the film was named as a New York Times Critic's Pick. [8]
Judith Therese Evans, known professionally as Judy Greer, is an American actress. She is primarily known as a character actress who has appeared in a wide variety of films. She rose to prominence for her supporting roles in the films Jawbreaker (1999), What Women Want (2000), 13 Going on 30 (2004), Elizabethtown (2005), 27 Dresses (2008), and Love & Other Drugs (2010).
Carey Hannah Mulligan is an English actress. She has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award.
John David Washington is an American actor and former professional football player. He is the son of actor Denzel Washington. He started his career in college football at Morehouse College and signed with the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2006. Professionally, Washington spent four years as a running back for the United Football League's Sacramento Mountain Lions.
Dear White People is a 2014 American satirical dark comedy-drama film written, directed and co-produced by Justin Simien. The film focuses on escalating racial tensions at a fictitious, prestigious Ivy League college from the perspective of several black students. It stars Tyler James Williams, Tessa Thompson, Kyle Gallner, Teyonah Parris, Brandon P. Bell, Brittany Curran, Marque Richardson and Dennis Haysbert.
Justin Simien is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. His first feature film, Dear White People, won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. It was later adapted into the Netflix series of the same name (2017–2021). Simien has also been named to Variety's 2013 "10 Directors to Watch" list.
Southside with You is a 2016 American biographical romantic drama film written, produced, and directed by Richard Tanne, in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter as a young Barack Obama, and Michelle Robinson, respectively, and focuses on the couple's first date in 1989.
Eliza Hittman is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer from New York City. She has won multiple awards for her film Never Rarely Sometimes Always, which include the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award—both for best screenplay.
Come Sunday is a 2018 American drama film directed by Joshua Marston and written by Marcus Hinchey, based on "Heretics", a 2005 episode of the radio show This American Life. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Carlton Pearson, an evangelist minister who was ostracized by his church and excommunicated for preaching that there is no Hell. Jason Segel, Condola Rashad, Lakeith Stanfield, Stacey Sargeant, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Danny Glover, and Martin Sheen also star.
Roxanne Roxanne is a 2017 American musical drama film written and directed by Michael Larnell. It stars Chanté Adams, Mahershala Ali, Nia Long, Elvis Nolasco, Kevin Phillips, and Shenell Edmonds. The film revolves around the life of rapper Roxanne Shante. It was screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Adams won the Breakthrough Performance Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Kelvin Harrison Jr. is an American actor. He is the recipient of such accolades as a Screen Actors Guild Award and nominations for a British Academy Film Award, Gotham Award, an Independent Spirit Award.
Monster is a 2018 American legal drama film directed by Anthony Mandler, from a screenplay by Radha Blank, Cole Wiley, and Janece Shaffer, based on the novel of the same name by Walter Dean Myers. It stars Kelvin Harrison Jr., Jennifer Ehle, Tim Blake Nelson, Nas, ASAP Rocky, Paul Ben-Victor, John David Washington, Jennifer Hudson, and Jeffrey Wright. Wright, Nas, and John Legend also serve as executive producers on the film.
The Souvenir is a 2019 drama film written and directed by Joanna Hogg. A semi-autobiographical account of Hogg's experiences at film school, it stars Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke and Tilda Swinton.
Clemency is a 2019 American drama film written and directed by Chinonye Chukwu. It stars Alfre Woodard, Richard Schiff, Danielle Brooks, Michael O'Neill, Richard Gunn, Wendell Pierce, and Aldis Hodge. The plot follows the lives of prison warden Bernadine Williams (Woodard) and death row inmate Anthony Woods (Hodge).
Knock Down the House is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Rachel Lears. It revolves around the 2018 congressional primary campaigns of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush and Paula Jean Swearengin, four progressive Democrats endorsed by Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress who ran in that year's midterm elections.
American Factory is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, about Chinese company Fuyao's factory in Moraine, a city near Dayton, Ohio, that occupies Moraine Assembly, a shuttered General Motors plant. The film had its festival premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It is distributed by Netflix and is the first film acquired by Barack and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground Productions. It won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The Forty-Year-Old Version is a 2020 American comedy-drama film written, directed, and produced by Radha Blank, in her feature directorial debut. It stars Blank, Peter Kim, Oswin Benjamin, and Reed Birney.
Disclosure, originally subtitled Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen, is a 2020 American documentary film directed and produced by Sam Feder. The film follows an in-depth look at Hollywood's depiction of transgender people and the impact of their stories on transgender lives and American culture. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2020. It was released on Netflix on June 19, 2020.
The Sparks Brothers is a 2021 British-American documentary film about Ron and Russell Mael, members of the pop and rock duo Sparks. The film, directed by Edgar Wright, and produced by Wright, Nira Park, George Hencken and Laura Richardson, premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released the following summer. It received critical acclaim.
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It is a 2021 American documentary film, directed, produced, and edited by Mariem Pérez Riera. The film follows Rita Moreno, focusing on her early life and career. Norman Lear, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Michael Kantor serve as executive producers.