Marla Gibbs is an American actress, singer, comedian, writer, and television producer whose career spans seven decades. Gibbs is known for her role as George Jefferson's maid, Florence Johnston, on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons (1975–1985), for which she received five nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Tessa Lynne Thompson is an American actress. She began her professional acting career with the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company while studying at Santa Monica College, appearing in productions of The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet. Following her role in Veronica Mars (2005–2006), her breakthrough came with leading roles in Tina Mabry's independent drama film Mississippi Damned (2009) and Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls (2010).
Kristin Hanggi is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter; and theater director best known for the 2009 Broadway musical Rock of Ages. The jukebox musical received five Tony Award nominations, including a nomination for Best Direction of a Musical. She has also directed two national tours, and West End, Australia, Toronto, and Las Vegas productions.
Fences is a 2016 American period drama film directed and co-produced by Denzel Washington from a screenplay by August Wilson, based on his 1985 play. It stars Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, and Saniyya Sidney. It follows a working-class African-American father who tries to raise his family in the 1950s, while coming to terms with the events of his life.
Aja Naomi King is an American actress. King began her career in guest-starring roles on television, and starred in the short-lived CW medical comedy-drama series Emily Owens, M.D. (2012–2013). She also has starred in the films Four (2012) and Reversion (2015). After her breakthrough as Michaela Pratt in the ABC legal drama series How to Get Away with Murder (2014–2020), she received praise for portraying Cherry Turner in the historical film The Birth of a Nation (2016).
Mandela's Gun is a 2016 South African biographical film of Nelson Mandela's experience as a guerrilla fighter for the African National Congress. It was directed by John Irvin and shot in South Africa.
Reggie Austin is an American male actor. He is best known for his recurring roles on the Notes from the Underbelly as Dr. Greg Wise, The Starter Wife as Devon Marsh, Desperate Housewives as Renee Perry's ex-husband Doug Perry, Pretty Little Liars as Eddie Lamb, and Devious Maids as Reggie Miller.
Cinelou Films is an American film production and distribution company founded by Courtney Solomon in 2014. The company's first release was Cake (2014), starring Jennifer Aniston.
The Man in 3B is a 2015 American mystery crime-thriller film directed by Trey Haley. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by The New York Times best-selling author Carl Weber. The Man in 3B stars an ensemble cast that includes Lamman Rucker, Christian Keyes, Anthony Montgomery, Robert Ri'chard, Nafessa Williams, DB Woodside, Kellita Smith, James Black, Jackée Harry, Marla Gibbs, and Billy Dee Williams. The film was released on November 6, 2015.
Creed: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a soundtrack album for the 2015 film Creed, which features music by various artists. The album was released on November 20, 2015, through Atlantic Records.
Angelica Nwandu is the founder of the Shade Room (TSR), an Instagram-based media company focused on celebrity gossip. The site has since branched out into covering politics and focusing on Black culture news. The Shade Room has over 20 million subscribers across all platforms. Nwandu was dubbed "The Oprah of our generation" by Refinery29 and a "celebrity culture savant" by Complex. Time magazine named TSR in the 30 most influential on the internet in 2016. The New York Times called the Shade Room "Instagram's TMZ".
Madeline's Madeline is a 2018 American drama film written and directed by Josephine Decker. It stars Helena Howard in her first film role, alongside Molly Parker and Miranda July. The film follows a teenage actress who is encouraged by her theater director to blur the lines between the character she is playing and her actual identity. The film is known for its experimental visuals and the improvisational process Decker used to create the story, not unlike the characters themselves.
Cédric Ido is a Burkinabe-French director, writer and actor. He grew up in Stains, Seine-Saint-Denis, a small suburban town near Paris and in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso during Thomas Sankara’s revolution. His directing works have been exhibited worldwide in film festivals such as Seattle, Dubai and Venice.
Driss Mrini is a Moroccan film and television director, producer and writer.
Kaitlyn Helena Howard is an American actress. After being discovered by director Josephine Decker at age 15, she made her film debut in the drama film Madeline's Madeline (2018), which IndieWire named as one of the 50 best performances of the 2010s and The New Yorker listed as the second-best film performance of the 21st century.
The North Star is a 2016 film about slavery and the underground railroad.
Citation is a 2020 Nigerian drama film directed by Kunle Afolayan, written by Tunde Babalola and starring Jimmy Jean-Louis, Temi Otedola, Bukunmi Oluwashina, and Gabriel Afolayan.
Stephanie Johnes is an American documentary filmmaker. She is most noted for her 2022 film Maya and the Wave, which was the first runner-up for the People's Choice Award for Documentaries at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.
Tayarisha Poe is an American writer and director. Her feature directorial debut Selah and the Spades won the Best Narrative Feature Award at the 2019 BlackStar Film Festival and premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
