'Moonlight' is by the one of the best reviewed films of the year, and today it scored eight Oscar nominations. The film's editors Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders scored their first nominations.
McMillion's nod was a historic one. She is the first Black woman to ever be nominated for an editing Oscar.
Remarkably, 'Moonlight' is McMillon's first feature-length film as an editor. She previously worked as an assistant editor on reality tv shows like "Beauty and the Geek" and "The Biggest Loser" and moved on to work on to work in supporting roles on feature films like Don Cheadle's Talk to Me and multiple Tyler Perry projects. She was recruited to work on Moonlight while working on HBO's "Togetherness."
McMillon knew the film's director, Barry Jenkins, from her days at Florida State University, where both attended film school.
As a Black woman in the field, she says her wait for a big break was sometimes frustrating but expected.
"As an assistant, you can be waiting around for a good 10 years,” she told IndieWire. “The feature world is dominated by a lot of men, which is makes it that much harder.”
McMillon's next project "Lemon," directed by Janicza Bravo’s debut premieres at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
Jada Pinkett Smith told some truth last week in a series of tweets about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences refuses to acknowledge people of color. Her tweets circulated quickly and she's back with another message for viewers and creatives.
"Have we now come to a new time and place where we recognize that we can no longer beg for the love, acknowledgement or respect of any group," she said in a short video posted to her Facebook page. "That maybe it's time that we recognize that if we love, acknowledge and respect ourselves in the way in which we are asking others to do that that is the place of true power."
Pinkett Smith advocates for the people of color to lift themselves up. "Begging for acknowledgment diminishes dignity," she continues.
Though she does not advocate for a mass boycott, she says she will not be supporting the Oscars this year. "I will not be at the Academy Awards and I won't be watching, but I cannot think of a better man to do the job than you."
This year the Academy Awards are as white as ever with no people of color being nominated for the acting awards. With a clever nail tutorial, Franchesca Ramsey aka Chescaleigh highlights the absurdity of an award show that supposedly celebrates the best in a field that has so little diversity.
In her very own pitch perfect way, she gets to the root of the problem.
Lupita Nyong'o sat down with Ellen today fresh off of her Oscar win. In the interview, Ms. Nyong'o reveals that she hasn't had any sleep, and she hardly remembers what happened.
Last night Lupita Nyong'o became the 7th Black woman to win an Academy Award and the first-ever African to win for her portrayal of Patsey in "12 Years A Slave."
She's wowed the world with her grace and charm since the beginning of the award season, but last night Lupita brought us to tears with her incredible acceptance speech.
In 1940, Hattie McDaniel won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy in "Gone With the Wind." The win thrust McDaniel into the history books as the first African-American to win an Oscar, but even when she won, she was still fighting for recognition in racially segregated America.
The 27th Annual Academy Awards took place on March 30, 1955. The same year that Dorothy Dandridge was nominated for an Academy Award for her leading role in "Carmen Jones," she presented the award for Film Editing.
Watch Hollywood legend Bob Hope flirt with the stunning film star just before she coyly presents the Oscar.
