queen of katwe
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'Queen of Katwe' Star Nikita Pearl Waligwa Dies of Brain Tumor at Age 15
Nikita Pearl Waligwa was a young newcomer to the acting world from Uganda. She was bright, gifted and adored by her co-stars in the 2016 Disney film Queen of Katwe, based on the true story of a chess champion’s coming of age. So it’s truly saddening that the young, budding actress has died of a…
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7 Black Movies to See if You Can’t Bear to See Birth of a Nation (or Even if You Do)
Ever since Nate Parker’s film The Birth of a Nation earned a record $17.5 million distribution deal and walked away with the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, the movie has been positioned as the film most likely to solve Hollywood’s #OscarsSoWhite problem. But Parker’s past…
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Urbanworld Celebrates 20 Years of Showcasing Black Films While Hollywood Plays Catch-Up
Long before Hollywood entertained modern-day diversity or inclusion conversations, Urbanworld, founded by onetime Motown Records and Miramax Films executive Stacy Spikes in 1997, was already expanding the “urban” landscape in film, pushing beyond racial, geographic and other limits, and freely mixing music and other aspects of urban culture. It’s a mission the festival, in its…