African Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Ellise Shafer At the Venice Film Festival press conference for Ava DuVernay’s new film “Origin” on Wednesday, the director revealed that she has previously been told not to apply to the festival, because “you won’t get in.” DuVernay is making history this year as the first African American woman in the festival’s 80-year history to have a film compete for the Golden Lion. “For Black filmmakers, we’re told that people who love films in other parts of the world don’t care about our stories and don’t care about our films.

The Venice Film Festival revealed the lineup for its 80th edition Tuesday morning, and its Official Competition featured works by five women filmmakers, including Ava DuVernay, who makes history as the first African American woman in selection.

Christopher Vourlias Four African episodic screenwriters will take the stage Tuesday at Series Mania to pitch the genre-flavored series they currently have in development, a crop of shows that reflect the rich and fertile landscape for African series creators looking to tap into the global TV market.  The shows are created by the first graduating class of the AuthenticA Series Lab, a training program for African episodic screenwriters launched last year by Realness Institutein partnership with Geneva-based philanthropic organization The StoryBoard Collective and Series Mania. The four participants have spent the past six months in a collaborative environment that included both online workshops and residencies in South Africa and Switzerland, while attending masterclasses with leading industry professionals and working with a mentoring team comprised of creative producer Mehret Mandefro and story expert Selina Ukwuoma.

Beyoncé stars in an irresistibly energetic new ad campaign for Tiffany & Co.

Solange is a real-deal ballet composer now.

Fourteen-year-old Zaila Avant-garde took the top prize at the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday by correctly spelling the word “murraya.” For those who aren’t botanists — or brilliant 8th graders — murraya is “a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae,” according to Wikipedia.

By Bruce Haring