Entertainment

Diversity at Sundance Doesn’t Carry Over to Hollywood

Published

11 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.

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Advice

COMMENTARY: If You Don’t Want Your ‘Black Card’ Revoked, Watch What You Bring to Holiday Dinners

From Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year’s Day, whether it’s the dining room table or the bid whist (Spades? Uno, anyone?) table, your card may be in danger.

Published

5 days ago

December 14, 2025

Oakland Post

The ‘aunties’ playing cards. iStock photo by Andreswd.

By Wanda Ravernell
Post Staff

From the fourth week of November to the first week in January, if you are of African descent, but particularly African American, certain violations of cultural etiquette will get your ‘Black card’ revoked.

From Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year’s Day, whether it’s the dining room table or the bid whist (Spades? Uno, anyone?) table, your card may be in danger.

It could take until Super Bowl Sunday for reinstatement.

I don’t know much about the card table, but for years I was on probation by the ‘Aunties,’ the givers and takers of Black cards.

How I Got into Trouble

It was 1970-something and I was influenced by the health food movement that emerged from the hippie era. A vegetarian (which was then considered sacrilegious by most Black people I knew) prepared me a simple meal: grated cheese over steamed broccoli, lentils, and brown rice.

I introduced the broccoli dish at the Friday night supper with my aunt and grandfather. She pronounced the bright green broccoli undone, but she ate it. (I did not, of course, try brown rice on them.)

I knew that I would be allowed back in the kitchen when she attempted the dish, but the broccoli had been cooked to death. (Y’all remember when ALL vegetables, not just greens, were cooked to mush?)

My Black card, which had been revoked was then reattained because they ate what I prepared and imitated it.

Over the decades, various transgressions have become normalized. I remember when having a smoked turkey neck instead of a ham hock in collard greens was greeted with mumblings and murmurings at both the dining room and card tables. Then came vegan versions with just olive oil (What? No Crisco? No bacon, at least?) and garlic. And now my husband stir fries his collards in a wok.

But No Matter How Things Have Changed…

At holiday meals, there are assigned tasks. Uncle Jack chopped raw onions when needed. Uncle Buddy made the fruit salad for Easter. My mother brought the greens in winter, macaroni salad in summer. Aunt Deanie did the macaroni and cheese, and the great aunts, my deceased grandmother’s sisters, oversaw the preparation of the roast beef, turkey, and ham. My father, if he were present, did the carving.

These designations/assignments were binding agreements that could stand up in a court of law. Do not violate the law of assignments by bringing some other version of a tried-and-true dish, even if you call it a new ‘cheese and noodle item’ to ‘try out.’ The auntie lawgivers know what you are trying to do. It’s called a menu coup d’état, and they are not having it.

The time for experiments is in your own home: your spouse and kids are the Guinea pigs.

My mother’s variation of a classic that I detested from that Sunday to the present was adding crushed pineapple to mashed sweet potatoes. A relative stops by, tries it, and then it can be introduced as an add-on to the standard holiday menu.

My Aunt Vivian’s concoctions from Good Housekeeping or Ladies’ Home Journal magazine also made it to the Black people’s tables all over the country in the form of a green bean casserole.

What Not to Do and How Did It Cross Your Mind?

People are, of all things holy, preparing mac ‘n’ cheese with so much sugar it tastes like custard with noodles in it.

Also showing up in the wrong places: raisins. Raisins have been reported in the stuffing (makes no sense unless it’s in a ‘sweet meats’ dish), in a pan of corn bread, and – heresy in the Black kitchen – the MAC ‘n’ CHEESE.

These are not mere allegations: There is photographic evidence of these Black card violations, but I don’t want to defame witnesses who remained present at the scene of the crimes.

The cook – bless his/her heart – was probably well-meaning, if ignorant. Maybe they got the idea from a social media influencer, much like Aunt Viv got recipes from magazines.

Thankfully, a long-winded blessing of the food at the table can give the wary attendee time to locate the oddity’s place on the table and plan accordingly.

But who knows? Innovation always prevails, for, as the old folks say, ‘waste makes want.’ What if the leftovers were cut up, dipped in breadcrumbs and deep fried? The next day, that dish might make it to the TV tray by the card table.

An older cousin – on her way to being an Auntie – in her bonnet, leggings, T-shirt, and bunny slippers and too tired to object, might try it and like it….

And if she ‘rubs your head’ after eating it, the new dish might be a winner and (Whew!) everybody, thanks God, keeps their Black cards.

Until the next time.

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Arts and Culture

Fayeth Gardens Holds 3rd Annual Kwanzaa Celebration at Hayward City Hall on Dec. 28

Kwanzaa celebrates seven principles – Nguzu Saba – that support an ideal of community, beginning from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1. Those principles, in Swahili, are: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work & Responsibility), Ujamaa (Collective Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith).

Published

5 days ago

December 14, 2025

Oakland Post

The Pride and Joy Band performed at the first annual Kwanzaa celebration sponsored by Fayeth Gardens. Courtesy photo.

Entertainment, vendors, and special honors for Sankofa Lifetime Achievement awardees

Special to The Post

Celebrating Ujima, the principle of ‘Collective Work and Responsibility,’ Fayeth Gardens’ 3^rd Annual Kwanzaa Celebration will be held on Dec. 28, from 12 noon to 5 p.m.

Kwanzaa celebrates seven principles – Nguzu Saba – that support an ideal of community, beginning from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.

Those principles, in Swahili, are: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work & Responsibility), Ujamaa (Collective Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith).

The free event at Hayward City Hall at 777 B St. will feature live entertainment, a guest speaker, awards for community activists whose work reflects the principle of Ujima, vendors and an honoring of the ancestors by Awon Ohun Omnira (Voices of Freedom).

On stage will be the Touch of Class Band, a New Orleans Second-Line Band, and the California Griot Storytellers. Bring the children to have fun in the Kids Korner.

Velda Goe, who has been celebrating Kwanzaa since it started in the 1960s, noticed there was no public celebration of the holiday in Hayward when she moved to the city in 2008.

“I started it a couple of years ago,” she said, “and hopefully it will continue just like the cultural events by other nationalities (in Hayward). The Afro-descendent people of Hayward deserve cultural recognition as well.”

Goe also believes it’s important that Kwanzaa gets its due because “there are so many misconceptions,” particularly by people of other nationalities, who are under the impression “that Kwanzaa is a cult, a religion, or replaces Christmas.”

The celebration, which is open to all, can have the effect of helping guests see that Kwanzaa’a principles and purpose are common to all

This year’s Sankofa Lifetime Awardees are:

Mrs. Freddye M. Davis: President of the South Hayward NAACP
•Baba Arnold X.C. Perkins: Co-founder of the Brotherhood of Elders
•Frederick Jordan,: Legendary founder of F.E. Jordan & Associates and the Design Engineer for the Charles P. Howard Container Terminal at the Port of Oakland + 1,000 Projects

Come dressed up in your best African wear to enter a raffle for a prize for best-dressed Afrocentric King and Queen.A free, healthy soul food lunch is available with an Eventbrite ticket, which can be found at for free lunch is available from for 11:30 to 12 p.m.

In its third year, the event is the brainchild of Velda Goe, founder of Fayeth Gardens, a community planting site to educate and provide a means for urban dwellers to grow healthy food for their families and develop life-sustaining eating habits.

Interested in being a vendor, volunteer, or sponsor? Reach out to FayethGardens@gmail.com

For tickets, go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fayeth-gardens-3rd-annual-kwanzaa-celebration-at-hayward-city-hall-tickets-1974966953322