Entertainment

Diversity at Sundance Doesn’t Carry Over to Hollywood

Published

12 years ago

January 28, 2015

This photo provided by courtesy of the Sundance Institute shows, from left, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, and Shameik Moore, in a scene from the film, “Dope.” The movie, directed by Rick Famuyiwa, is included in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. (AP Photo/Sundance Institute, David Moir)

SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — One of the most buzzed-about movies at this year’s Sundance Film Festival is “Dope,” a coming-of-age story about three outcasts in the inner city.

Written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa and featuring a diverse cast of actors, the film spawned a bidding war before domestic and international distributions rights were snapped up late Monday.

But when Famuyiwa and his producing partners, including Forest Whitaker and Pharrell Williams, initially shopped the film around to Hollywood studios, no one bit.

“I don’t know if there’s a recognition on the part of those who make these decisions that we’re living in a world that doesn’t look like what’s being reflected on screen,” Famuyiwa said.

Two years ago, a similar bidding battle broke out over another film that premiered at the festival, “Fruitvale Station,” Ryan Coogler’s dramatization of the killing of Oscar Grant by police in Oakland, California. A year before that, “Selma” director Ava DuVernay was named best director at Sundance for her debut feature, “Middle of Nowhere,” about a woman whose husband is sentenced to eight years in prison.

But while films by and about black people fare well at the independent festival, that success rarely translates to the Hollywood mainstream. “Whiplash” won the audience and jury awards at Sundance last year, and now it’s up for a best-picture Oscar. “Fruitvale Station,” however, won the same two prizes at Sundance, but didn’t get any Oscar attention.

Studios will have to start paying attention — not only because of the backlash against the all-white Oscar nominations and snub of “Selma” director Ava DuVernay and star David Oyelowo, but because it’s just good business, Famuyiwa and others said.

“It could be why it’s getting harder and harder to get people into the cinemas and multiplexes,” Famuyiwa said, “because we’re just seeing a world that doesn’t reflect reality.”

Sacha Jenkins, whose documentary about hip-hop fashion, “Fresh Dressed,” premiered at Sundance last week, suggests that Hollywood needs more executives of color, and they need to be granted the same room to fail and succeed as other studio honchos.

“Like, just because I’m black or Latino or whatever, it doesn’t mean I’m the go-to guy for all things black and Latino,” he said. “Folks also need the opportunity to go beyond the box that you expect them to be in.”

The chief executives at the five biggest Hollywood studios are white men.

Even with executives in place who are receptive to more diverse stories and storytellers, Hollywood studios still treat such stories as more the exception than rule, Famuyiwa said.

“They’re stuck in … old ways of thinking that the country and many other industries and businesses have already recognized and moved beyond,” Famuyiwa said. “I think there’s a sense sometimes when studios make these films that they’re doing favors or that it’s sort of a charity case — we’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do — but it’s just good business at this point.”

Diverse voices and stories are an inherent part of an independent festival, said Sundance founder Robert Redford.

“We believe in diversity and freedom of expression is very much fundamental to us,” he said. “You see films here that are going to upset other people, but that’s OK. We will do everything in our power to keep (diversity) alive here.”

The Sundance Institute intentionally seeks voices outside the mainstream with unique stories to tell. And its own research confirms that as the stakes go up — bigger budgets, bigger distributors — diversity goes down.

“The pipeline of young talent interested in telling stories is there, but somewhere along the way, they fall out of the business equation, of getting that work made,” said Keri Putnam, executive director of the Sundance Institute. “So as money comes into the equation, diversity — whether it’s gender or racial and ethnic diversity — seems to step out.”

Multiplex movie going is also an issue, said Shaun Kosta, who released his first film, “The Republic of Two,” about a 20-something cohabitating couple facing the challenges of love, over the summer. As multiplexes replace independent theaters and movie going becomes more of an event, both exhibitors and ticket-buyers are less likely to take chances on unproven stories and storytellers.

“It comes down to proximity and what’s available,” he said.

That’s where cinemas may be short-sighted. Famuyiwa cites some of today’s popular TV shows: “Orange Is the New Black,” ”Empire,” ”How to Get Away With Murder” — all of which feature diverse casts.

“There’s a hunger our there for different types of stories, and I think there’s an audience that’s waiting and primed to accept a vision of America that looks like what they see when they walk out of the door each day,” Famuyiwa said. “We’re a country of many different cultures, and that’s always what has made this country stand out.

“It almost feels like making diverse movies is the most American thing you can do.”

___

AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen at www.twitter.com/APSandy.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

LA Jury Awards $5 Million to Funk Legend Sly Stone

Don't Miss

Common, John Legend to Perform ‘Glory’ at Academy Awards

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Business

From Historic Memories to New Possibilities: Oakland Celebrates Coliseum 60

More than 75 people gathered at Youth UpRising in East Oakland on Friday, September 18, for Coliseum 60, an event marking six decades of sports, entertainment, employment, and community memories at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex. Held 60 years to the day after the Coliseum first opened, the celebration featured cultural performances and a mini-documentary highlighting its history. Speakers reflected on the venue’s significant role in the community and its future possibilities. Read more to learn about the individuals and stories honored during this special event.

Published

5 hours ago

September 27, 2026

Post News Group

Quixote Atkins of VillageGIVE moderates a panel discussion at the Coliseum 60 celebration at Youth UpRising featuring Keith Brown, a member of IATSE Local 107; author, historian and former Black Panther Party member Tareka Lewis; and African American Sports and Entertainment Group President Ray Bobbitt.

By Carla Thomas

More than 75 people gathered at Youth UpRising in East Oakland on Friday, Sept. 18, for Coliseum 60, a celebration honoring six decades of sports, entertainment, employment and community memories connected to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex.

Held 60 years to the day after the Coliseum opened, the event carried the theme, “One Community. One Legacy. One Future. Forward Together.”

The celebration opened with the national anthem performed by sisters Anese Jade, Amina Benjamin and Zaza Benjamin. Diamano Coura West African Dance Company contributed African dance and drumming, bringing movement, rhythm and cultural expression to the program.

A mini documentary highlighted the Coliseum’s sports history and its broader role as an entertainment destination. Archival material recalled performances by Prince and Tina Turner, along with memorable games featuring the Warriors, Oakland A’s and Raiders.

“The Coliseum 60 is about much more than celebrating a building or looking back at 60 years of history,” said event organizer Quixote Atkins of VillageGIVE.

“It’s about the people who made that history possible: the families, workers, athletes, artists, community leaders, fans and generations who gathered there and created memories together.”

A panel exploring that history featured author, historian and former Black Panther Party member Tareka Lewis; stagehand and union representative Keith Brown; and Ray Bobbitt, president of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group AASEG. Lewis described her family as fourth-generation Bay Area pioneers.

“My family and Black families who arrived even earlier helped build the Bay Area, grew businesses and established culture here,” Lewis said. “This should be taught in the public schools.”

Lewis recalled Oakland’s influence on sports, music and literature, from the Raiders’ beginnings at Laney College to stars such as The Pointer Sisters and Rickey Henderson who attended Oakland public schools. She also advocated for school museums, historical timelines, entrepreneurship training and investments benefiting corridors such as Bancroft Avenue and High Street.

Keith Brown, a member of Local 107 of the International Alliance of Theater and Stage Employees (IATSE) who began working at the Coliseum in 2011, remembered the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the Ice Capades, baseball bat giveaways and Nelson Mandela’s 1990 appearance.

“The special events are amazing, but it’s the workers that make the memories real for everyone,” Brown said. “They make the magic happen at the Coliseum.”

The program recognized longtime workers, including beer-stand manager Robert Preston, who served for 40 years, and Kenyatta Gentry, who worked as a vendor for 24 years and used her earnings to purchase her first apartment. Union workers Jose Gonzales and Carmen Sandoval were also honored. Speakers emphasized that Coliseum employment provided generations of residents with union wages and benefits.

Dr. Denise Saddler, the superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) was also honored. Saddler shared her family’s history of working at the Coliseum.

District 7 Oakland City Councilmember Ken Houston discussed the complex ownership arrangements involving the city, county and private interests.

“This was the most complex deal of its kind in the country,” Houston said.

Prior to moving from the East Coast, Alameda County Supervisor and Coliseum Joint Powers Authority Chair Nate Miley recalled learning about Oakland through its three professional sports teams. As an elected official and public servant, Miley fought hard to keep the Golden State Warriors, Oakland As, and the Raiders, but he is hopeful for the future.

“The story is not over for the Coliseum,” Miley said. “We’re entering a new chapter.”

Bobbitt said the departure of three teams had once seemed unimaginable, but he maintained that Oakland’s future remains bright.

“Oakland is a cultural superpower worldwide,” Bobbitt said. “We’re going to write the future where we participate and drive the redevelopment.”

Bobbitt highlighted AASEG’s four-year partnership with Castlemont High School’s architecture program, which engages students in reimagining and creating redevelopment concepts for the Coliseum property. “The youth will always move us forward. They are the future.”

In closing, Atkins said, “September 18 is the celebration, but what we build together afterward is the legacy.”

Post News Group

Posts by Post News Group

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of September 23 – 29, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 23 – 29, 2026

Published

6 hours ago

September 27, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Books

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Laws of Solomon’ Reveals Tender Heart of Former Child Soldier

The monsters that came to him early in his sleep were the easy ones. It was the later demons that stole Solomon Nangobi’s sleep, the spirits of all the people he killed when he was a child soldier in Uganda, and when he was a fixer in New York as an adult. Their ghosts called to him with urgent voices, though he left that life behind long ago.

Published

6 days ago

September 22, 2026

Post News Group

Book cover of “Laws of Solomon.” Courtesy of Poisoned Pen Press

By Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm Sez

Author: Eriq La Salle, Copyright: c.2026, Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, SRP: $18.99, Page Count: 304 pages

Finally, after so much work, you’ve left your past behind.

That’s what you tell yourself: what’s done is done and you can’t undo history. It’s over. You try not to think about last month, last year, a decade back because what does it matter? As in the new novel, “Laws of Solomon” by Eriq La Salle, remembering is too full of pain.

Now, his days were filled working the soil in gardens near Malibu, and he loved the quiet life.

Still, he kept his guns.

And he was glad: when Solomon recognized two Zeta gunmen stalking a well-dressed man, woman, and child through the gardens, he couldn’t walk away. He stopped the gangsters with bullets, but not before the adults and their bodyguards were dead. The child, an 8-year-old boy named Gaby, was safe, but Gaby couldn’t tell Solomon what was going on.

What became quickly certain, however, was that Solomon was now Gaby’s guardian, and the Zeta crime boss wanted them dead, too.

When he was the same age as Gaby, Solomon saw unspeakable things, the murder of his parents, the destruction of his homeland, and the atrocities that Uganda dictator Idi Amin’s soldiers committed. He learned to kill, he observed, and he was hardened, understanding as a small boy that revenge was often necessary and needed, and that blood would shed at those times.

But Gaby was pure, an innocent, a child.

Solomon reached out to his contacts to try to get the boy to safety, but being a contact of a marked man was likewise a dangerous thing: the monsters outside were worse than the ones inside him.

Two words for you: ‘Whoo weee.’ That’s what you’re going to say when you close the back cover of “Laws of Solomon,” knowing that you’ve just been taken on a wild up-and-down, around-and-round ride.

La Salle makes it impossible not to like Solomon, an African man who has, over time, lost nearly everything dear to him and who has no faith in much of anything. Readers get that part of the story eventually, and there’s historical authenticity in some of it, but we never really get to know Solomon, which makes the book feel dark and dangerous. Along the way, we meet and get to know his helpers, which buoys Solomon’s chase to find safety for the boy, and your heart won’t stop pounding.

Keep in mind that this is a thriller partially set in 1970s Uganda, so expect lots of violence but don’t expect a lot of people to live. If you’re up for that, find “Laws of Solomon.” You won’t be able to leave it behind.