James Baldwin Film “I Am Not Your Negro” Nominated For NAACP Image Award, Possible Oscar Nod Too [Trailer]

James Baldwin Film “I Am Not Your Negro” Nominated For NAACP Image Award, Possible Oscar Nod Too

 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced 15 films in the “Documentary Feature” category that will advance in the voting process for the 89^th Academy Awards®.

One hundred forty-five films were originally submitted in the category. I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, a bold new documentary inspired by legendary writer, James Baldwin, created by master filmmaker, Raoul Peck and narrated by Hollywood A-lister, Samuel L. Jackson, proudly takes position as one of the 15 selected and moves one step closer to a full nomination.

The Academy’s Documentary Branch determined the shortlist in a preliminary round of voting.  In the coming weeks, Documentary Branch members will select the five nominees from among the 15 titles and will announce their final selections on Tuesday, January 24, 2017

The nominees for the 89th NAACP Image Awards were also announced this week and I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO firmly claims a spot as one of the nominees for “Outstanding Documentary!”

Other contenders for the category include: 13th (Netflix), Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise (The People’s Poet, LLC), Miss Sharon Jones (Cabin Creek Films) and Olympic Pride, American Prejudice (Coffee Bluff Pictures).

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends – Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.

At the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only thirty completed pages of this manuscript.

Now, in his incendiary new documentary, master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words and flood of rich archival material.

I Am Not Your Negro  is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for.

I Am Not Your Negro is scheduled to be released on February 3, 2017. So far the film’s accolades include  an IDA Documentary Award Winner for Best Writing; Nominee for Best Feature, Gotham Award Nominee for Best Documentary, 5 Cinema Eye Honors Nominations, including Best Picture and Best Direction and 4 Festival Audience Awards including Toronto, Hamptons, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Watch the empowering trailer now and for more info on the film click here: www.IAmNotYourNegroFilm.com.

 

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