The 49th NAACP Image Awards were held in Pasadena last night, recognizing people of color making strides in film, music, literature and television. Female filmmakers were well-represented at the ceremony, with director Ava DuVernay winning entertainer of the year over nominees like Chance the Rapper, Bruno Mars and Issa Rae. It was DuVernay’s fourth nomination and first win in a year she worked on 13th, Family Feud and Queen Sugar. Her upcoming film A Wrinkle in Time made her the first black woman to direct a live-action movie with a budget that surpassed $100 million.
“A little black girl with glasses saves the universe from darkness that seems to be all around us,” DuVernay said of the film in her acceptance speech. “It’s a love letter that I’ve made for family and community and the best in ourselves. This is our time. We can say we were here when all this gorgeous art was happening, and that we supported it — that we lifted each other up, that we did as Dr. King said we would do: Live the dream. We’re the dream.”
Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit is the NAACP’s choice for outstanding independent motion picture, nominated along with Dee Rees’ Mudbound and Angela Robinson’s Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.Girls Trip took home the award for outstanding motion picture, co-written by Kenya Barris and Tracy Oliver (also nominated in the outstanding writing in a motion picture category). While Jordan Peele won outstanding director in a motion picture for Get Out, half of his fellow nominees were female – Rees and Stella Meghie (Everything, Everything).
In the documentary category, three films by women were nominated: winner Amanda Liptiz’ Step, Nancy Buirski’s The Rape of Recy Taylor (whose story was bolstered by Oprah Winfrey’s recognition in her Golden Globes speech) and Sabaah Folayan’s Whose Streets.
© Georgiana E. Presecky (1/16/18) FF2 Media
Top Photo: DuVernay with her Entertainer of the Year Award. (Courtesy of Just Jared)
Bottom Photo: Girls Trip, a film by and about women, won outstanding motion picture at the 49th NAACP Image Awards. (Courtesy of Universal Pictures)
