Julian Schnabel is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings" — with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been a proponent of independent arthouse cinema. Schnabel directed Before Night Falls, which became Javier Bardem's breakthrough Academy Award-nominated role, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which was nominated for four Academy Awards. For the latter, he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director and the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, as well as receiving nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director and the César Award for Best Director.
Kasi Lemmons is an American film director, screenwriter, and actress. She made her directorial debut with Eve's Bayou (1997), followed by Talk to Me (2007), Black Nativity (2013), Harriet (2019), and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022). She also directed the Netflix limited series Self Made (2020), and an episode of ABC's Women of the Movement (2022).
Anika Noni Rose is an American actress and singer. She is best known for voicing Tiana, Disney's first African-American princess, in The Princess and the Frog (2009). She was named a Disney Legend in 2011.
The Princess and the Frog is a 2009 American animated musical romantic fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is inspired in part by the 2002 novel The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker, which in turn is based on the German folk tale "The Frog Prince" as collected by the Brothers Grimm. The film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements and produced by Peter Del Vecho, from a screenplay that Clements and Musker co-wrote with Rob Edwards. The directors also co-wrote the story with the writing team of Greg Erb and Jason Oremland. The film stars the voices of Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, Jim Cummings, Jennifer Cody, John Goodman, Keith David, Peter Bartlett, Jenifer Lewis, Oprah Winfrey, and Terrence Howard. Set in New Orleans during the 1920s, the film tells the story of a hardworking waitress named Tiana who dreams of opening her own restaurant. After kissing a prince who has been turned into a frog by an evil witch doctor, Tiana becomes a frog herself and must find a way to turn back into a human before it is too late.
Anthony McCarten is a New Zealand writer and filmmaker. He is best known for writing big-budget biopics The Theory of Everything (2014), Darkest Hour (2017), Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), The Two Popes (2019), and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022). McCarten has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including twice for Best Adapted Screenplay, for The Theory of Everything and The Two Popes.
J. Mills Goodloe is an American film producer, screenwriter, director and actor.
Taylour Dominique Paige-Angulo is an American actress and dancer. She is best known for her role as Aziah "Zola" King in the film Zola (2020) which won her the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. Other notable performances include her role as Ahsha Hayes in the VH1 sports drama series Hit the Floor, Jean of the Joneses (2016), White Boy Rick (2018), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020), and Boogie (2021).
Jennifer Michelle Lee is an American filmmaker. She is the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios. She is best known as the writer and one of the directors of Frozen (2013) and its sequel Frozen II (2019), the former of which earned her an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Lee is the first female director of a Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film and the first female director of a feature film that earned more than $1 billion in gross box office revenue. She has won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and an Annie Award, and has been nominated for one more BAFTA Award and two more Annie Awards.
Whitney is a 2015 American biographical film directed by Angela Bassett based on American singer Whitney Houston and her turbulent marriage to R&B artist Bobby Brown that premiered on Lifetime in North America on January 17, 2015. Whitney received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with DaCosta's performance as Houston and Bassett's direction being praised but Escarpeta's casting and the film's accuracy being criticized.
The Shape of Water is a 2017 romantic fantasy film directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor. It stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, the film follows a mute custodian at a high-security government laboratory who falls in love with a captured humanoid amphibian creature, and decides to help him escape from death at the hands of an evil colonel. Filming took place on location in Ontario, Canada, from August to November 2016.
Hannah Beachler is an American production designer. She worked on the 2015 Rocky film Creed, the Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead, and most recently has become known for the film Moonlight, Beyoncé's 2016 TV special and visual album Lemonade, and for her Afrofuturist design direction on the film Black Panther, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Production Design. She was the first African-American to be nominated in the category.
Jean of the Joneses is a 2016 Canadian-American film written and directed by Stella Meghie in her directorial debut. The film, starring Taylour Paige as the eponymous Jean Jones, premiered at the 2016 SXSW 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.
Naomi Sarah Ackie is an English actress. She made her television debut as Jen in the Doctor Who episode "Face the Raven" (2015). For her role as Bonnie on the television dark comedy-drama series The End of the F***ing World, she received the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2020. Ackie is well known for her role as Jannah in the film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). In 2021, she had a main role on the third season of Master of None. In 2022, she garnered critical acclaim for her portrayal of American pop icon, singer Whitney Houston in the biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, earning a Rising Star nomination at the British Academy Film Awards.
The Weekend is an American comedy film written and directed by Stella Meghie. It stars Sasheer Zamata, Tone Bell, DeWanda Wise, Y'lan Noel, and Kym Whitley. It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2018. Lionsgate released the film in theaters on September 13, 2019.
The Photograph is a 2020 American romantic drama film written and directed by Stella Meghie. It follows the estranged daughter of a famous photographer who falls in love with the journalist who is investigating her late mother's life. Chelsea Peretti, Lil Rel Howery and Courtney B. Vance also star.
The Eyes of Tammy Faye is a 2021 American biographical drama film directed by Michael Showalter from a screenplay by Abe Sylvia, based on the 2000 documentary of the same name by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato of World of Wonder. The film tells the story of Tammy Faye Bakker, from her humble beginnings growing up in International Falls, Minnesota, through the rise and fall of her televangelism career and marriage to Jim Bakker. Cherry Jones and Vincent D'Onofrio also star. The film is produced by Chastain's production company, Freckle Films.
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody is a 2022 American biographical musical drama film directed by Kasi Lemmons, from a screenplay by Anthony McCarten, based on the life and career of American singer and actress Whitney Houston. The film stars Naomi Ackie as Houston with Stanley Tucci, Ashton Sanders, Tamara Tunie, Nafessa Williams, and Clarke Peters in supporting roles.
Pussy Island is an upcoming American thriller film directed by Zoë Kravitz, in her directorial debut, from a screenplay she co-wrote with E.T. Feigenbaum and starring Naomi Ackie and Channing Tatum.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is a 2022 American biographical documentary film about photographer, artist, and activist Nan Goldin. Interspersed throughout the film is Goldin's most recent work in fighting the Sackler family for their role in causing the opioid epidemic. The film is produced, co-edited and directed by Laura Poitras. Poitras said, "Nan's art and vision has inspired my work for years, and has influenced generations of filmmakers."
