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Exclusive: Key programming continues for the 20th annual Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival (Mvaaff) taking place August 5th – 13th.

The festival continues its slate of programming with featured content celebrating Black voices, with documentaries and the signature Q&a series, Color of Conversation from Run & Shoot Filmworks, and Festival Co-Founders Floyd and Stephanie Rance.

“Prime Video hosts Visionary Women: A Conversation with the New Wave of Filmmaking Voices,” featuring writer/director Nikyatu Jusu (Nanny) and writer/director Mariama Diallo (Master) at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center. The moderated discussion will be led by acclaimed actress, producer and 2022 Harvard graduate, Yara Shahidi. Through the lens of horror, the conversation between these three remarkable women will dive deep into Nikyatu Jusu and Mariama Diallo’s journey to the director’s chair, pushing genre boundaries, and the cultural discourse illustrated in their storytelling.

Disney’s Onyx Collective continues...

ABC released a trailer for the “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Station 19” crossover event that marks season premieres for both shows on Sept. 30. In the “Station 19” Season 5 at 8 p.m., the annual Phoenix Festival will cause problems to be solved by the teams of Station 19 and the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, all while Sullivan (Boris Kodjoe) and Andy (Jaina Lee Ortiz) must work on their marriage, Dean (Okieriete Onaodowan) comes to terms with his feelings for Vic (Barrett Doss) and Travis (Jay Hayden) revisits an old lover. In the “Grey’s Anatomy” Season 18 premiere, doctors treat a patient injured by illegal fireworks at the festival, Bailey (Chandra Wilson) tries to hire new doctors and Owen (Kevin McKidd) and Teddy (Kim Raver) take the next step together. The trailer shows explosions, suspensions, proposals and more — including a tease that “someone from Meredith’s past comes back.” See the trailer below.

Dates

ABC announced...

The seventh annual BronzeLens Film Festival (BronzeLens) was host to over 5000 attendees from across the United States, Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. During the course of four days over 50 films, including Atlanta premieres of Russ Parr’s “Ringside,”… Continue Reading →...

TV One hopes to secure your eyeballs this Labor Day weekend with its Sunday, Sept. 4 debut of the network’s latest original movie “Ringside” (7 p.m. Et; encore 9 p.m. Et), written, produced and directed by nationally syndicated radio host Russ Parr… Continue Reading →...

Diversity is no doubt one of the industry’s hottest topics, and panelists today at a TCA session devoted to the subject had much to say. The group, introduced by filmmaker and El Rey Network founder Robert Rodriguez, included Wgn America’s Underground executive producer Anthony Hemingway and star Jurnee Smollett-Bell; TV One exec D’Angela Proctor and the network’s Ringside director-writer Russ Parr; El Rey network exec Theresa Vargas Wyatt and From Dusk Till Dawn…...

The Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film (Faaaf) announced its nominees for the 15th Annual Black Reel Awards Wednesday morning. Justin Simien's "Dear White People" and Ava DuVernay's "Selma" led the way with 10 nominations each. They were joined by "Belle," "Beyond the Lights" and "Top Five" in the organization's best picture category. Check out the full list of nominees below. Winners will be announced on Feb. 22, 2015. And learn more about what's going on this season at The Circuit. Motion Picture Outstanding Motion Picture "Belle" "Beyond the Lights" "Dear White People" "Selma" "Top Five" Outstanding Actor Chadwick Boseman, "Get on Up" David Oyelowo, "Selma" Nate Parker, "Beyond the Lights" Chris Rock, "Top Five" Denzel Washington, "The Equalizer" Outstanding Actress Rosario Dawson, "Top Five" Gugu Mbatha-Raw, "Belle" Gugu Mbatha-Raw, "Beyond the Lights" Tessa Thompson, "Dear White People" Quvenzhané Wallis, "Annie" Outstanding Supporting Actor Nelsan Ellis, "Get On Up" David Oyelowo,...

This Halloween, TV One will treat viewers to an anthology of three short films of deadly romance with the premiere of The Fright Night Files airing October 18, 2014 at 8:00 Pm/Et. The horror trilogy marks the first scripted production for Cathy Hughes, Founder and Chairperson of Radio One Inc., and production partner Susan Banks, who together have helmed nearly 50 high profile interviews for the network. Joining forces with award-winning director Russ Parr of Up To Parr Productions they usher in another first – the network’s first-ever horror themed scripted film. “Since the inception of TV One, it has been one of my greatest desires to provide our audience with a...

Kenneth Lampl and Darren Tate are the composers of Magnolia Picture’s “Frontera”. What makes them so unique? They've never met in person. Join us as we talk with them about their interesting and unique working relationship.

Working partnerships are common in the movie-making industry. Pooling together knowledge and talent is one way to create a more appealing and more complete product. Furthermore, for large projects with lots of work to do and tasks to complete, it makes the burden easier to bear (we all know how helpful it can be to have a shoulder to lean on). What is not common is having such partnerships develop across an ocean and not in person. For Kenneth Lampl and Darren Tate, that's exactly what happened.

Kenneth Lampl is a Professor of music at Hofstra University in New York. Darren Tate is an international DJ and producer who resides in London. Together,...

Reiterating a suggestion I previously made... if you're a filmmaker/producer/distributor reading this, and your film is streaming on Netflix, please let me know. Netflix unfortunately doesn't have what I feel should be a more efficient search/sort method, and it can be quite a chore trying to find something worth watching. So, help me out if you can. The same goes for non-filmmakers. If you stumble across any titles that you think should be featured in this series, let me know! Without further ado, here is this week's list of 5:1 - Russ Parr's divisive drama The Undershepherd, which never saw a theatrical release, and would eventually make its broadcast TV premiere on TV...

After collaborating on Patrik-Ian Polk's Blackbird, Isaiah Washington and Mo’Nique will pair up again, to star in another indie drama by another black filmmaker, Choice Skinner, titled We Are Family. You have to appreciate Washington's motivations over the last couple of years or so, attaching himself to smaller, what would be deemed *riskier* independent movies, written and directed by black filmmakers (mostly) who, otherwise, may not have access to an actor of his abilities and name recognition - from Russ Parr to Tony Abulu, to Matthew Cherry, Patrik-Ian Polk, and now Choice Skinner. Of course, I can't leave out his quietly-unnerving performance in Alexandre Moors' Blue...

TV One has unveiled its holiday programming lineup, which will include the premiere of two original specials broadcasts: first, the network’s first-ever holiday variety show, One Christmas, on Saturday, November 30, 8Pm/Et, and Russ Parr’s latest feature film, family drama A Christmas Blessing, on Saturday, December 7, 8Pm/Et. I had no idea Russ Parr had completed another feature film, since The Undershepherd, so this is certainly news to me. Although this appears to have been made specifically for TV One.TV One will also air Christmas-themed episodes of the network’s original sitcoms Love That Girl and The Rickey Smiley...

Russell Leigh Sharman’s passion project, Apartment 4E is Now Out on DVD (as of May 21st), courtesy of Rlj Entertainment. The “urban” thriller stars Nicole Beharie (in Fox’s upcoming Sleepy Hollow). Here’s a press release:

Los Angeles (May 16, 2013) – One Village Entertainment, an Rlj Entertainment (Nasdaq: Rlje) brand, announces the release of the urban thriller film, Apartment 4E (formerly known as Small of Her Back), available on DVD on May 21, 2013 at an Srp of $14.98. Starring Nicole Beharie (42, Shame) and Christopher Domig (Second-Story Man), the film was written and directed by Russell Leigh Sharman.

Piper (Beharie) is a beautiful, intelligent young woman with everything to live for…but she’s trapped in a dark world of her own making. Deeply troubled, desperate and clutching a handgun, Piper has not left her apartment in a long time, and when there’s a knock on the door, she will face a...

As previously announced, Russ Parr's contentious drama The Undershepherd, will make its broadcast TV premiere on TV One on Saturday, March 30th at 8pm/Et, and will screen again on Sunday, March 31, at 5:30pm/Et. This will be the very first time most of you will get a chance to see it, since it screened at only 4 or 5 film festivals last year through this year, and it never received a theatrical release (I'll be posting my interview with Russ in the next day or two, in which he discusses his struggles in getting the film in theaters).  In the meantime, TV One has released more clips from the film, which are embedded below, for you...

Always a hot topic, TV One will air the special on Saturday, March 30, at 7pm/Et, right before its broadcast premiere of Russ Parr's The Undershepherd. A perfect lead-in, given the film's subject matter. I should have my interview with Russ Parr up in the next day or two. Full details on what the hour-long special (hosted by Roland Martin) will include belo, via press release from TV One: TV One Announces Amazing Grace: Drama In The Black Church – A Washington Watch Special With Roland Martin, Saturday March 30, 7:00 Pm/Et Silver Spring, MD, March 28, 2013 – TV One’s Washington Watch with Roland Martin will tackle the themes of power, corruption and redemption in...

As previously announced, Russ Parr's contentious drama The Undershepherd, will make its broadcast TV premiere on TV One on Saturday, March 30th at 8pm/Et, and will screen again on Sunday, March 31, at 5:30pm/Et. This will be the very first time most of you will get a chance to see it actually, since it screened at only 4 or 5 film festivals last year through this year, and it never received a theatrical release (I'll be posting my interview with Russ next week, leading up to the film's broadcast TV premiere, in which he discusses his struggles in getting the film in theaters). In the meantime, TV One has released a couple of clips from the film (which I posted yesterday and are embedded...

As previously announced, Russ Parr's contentious drama The Undershepherd, will make its broadcast TV premiere on TV One on Saturday, March 30th at 8pm/Et, and will screen again on Sunday, March 31, at 5:30pm/Et. This will be the very first time most of you will get a chance to see it actually, since it screened at only 4 or 5 film festivals last year through this year, and it never received a theatrical release (I'll be posting my interview with Russ next week, leading up to the film's broadcast TV premiere, in which he discusses his struggles in getting the film in theaters). In the meantime, TV One has released a couple of clips from the film, for you to get a glimpse at what to...

I announced this yesterday, but minus some key details, which you'll find below in the press release I received this morning... Russ Parr's controversial drama The Undershepherd, will make its broadcast TV premiere on TV One on Saturday, March 30th at 8pm/Et and will screen again on Sunday, March 31, at 5:30pm/Et. TV One Presents World Television Premiere Of Russ Parr’S The Undershepherd Saturday, March 30, 8Pm/ETIsaiah Washington, Lamman Rucker and Malinda Williams lead all-star cast Silver Spring, MD, March 14, 2013 – TV One presents the world television premiere of Russ Parr’s award-winning film The Undershepherd, starring Isaiah Washington...

I've known of the film's TV One broadcast debut for a few months, but couldn't say anything about it until it was made public. Two of the film's co-stars - Elise Neal and Lamman Rucker - revealed the news on Twitter, earlier today, so I think it's safe to say that the cat's out of the bag. Russ Parr's controversial drama The Undershepherd, will make its broadcast TV premiere on TV One on Saturday, March 30th. So does this mean no theatrical release? Well, unfortunately, no. But there's a lot of backstory to this that I'll share in a later post; I had the opportunity to interview Russ in January, before his film was to make its New York premiere at the New Voices In Black Cinema Festival,...

A good start to the year for Isaiah Washington - his starring role in the critically-lauded drama Blue Caprice (which was acquired by Sundance Selects after its premiere at the festival in January), to his signing with new management (announced just yesterday), to Russ Parr's The Undershepherd (which Washington stars and excels in) finally getting picked up for release (cable TV) to air this spring, a book that's selling, and more to come which will be announced in coming months, including today's news. Is it too early to call it the beginnings of a comeback, 6 years after being given the boot from Grey’s Anatomy? Washington has been cast in a starring role on the CW’s post-apocalyptic...

When he's not busy with his nationally-syndicated radio show, Russ Parr Morning Show, which reaches millions of listeners nationwide, Russ Parr is also a writer/director - a filmmaker with passion for the craft to spare. This Sunday, the 17th of February at 9:45pm, his latest work, the controversial drama The Undershepherd, will make its New York Premiere at the 3rd annual New Voices In Black Cinema Festival in Brooklyn, NY, presented by BAMcinématek and ActNow Foundation, which runs from February 15 - 18, at Bam Rose Cinemas. By the way, Russ will be there himself for the screening, which will be followed by a Q&A moderated by yours truly ...

A film we've been watching closely for a while now - writer/director Chinonye Chukwu's feature film debut Alaskaland will make its New York premiere at the 3rd annual New Voices In Black Cinema Festival, presented by BAMcinématek and ActNow Foundation. Running from February 15 - 18, at Bam Rose Cinemas, this should be a good year, with 10 New York premieres include the aforementioned Alaskaland, and several other films that we've highlighted here on S&A in the last 12 months, like: Alain Gomis’ Aujourd’hui (Tey), Russ Parr’s The Undershepherd, Alfons Adetuyi’s High...

I'm very glad to have helped put this line-up of feature films together, with 10 New York premieres of some solid films! Excellent for a festival that's only in its 3rd year. In the absence of the former head of ActNow Foundation, Aaron Ingram, who passed away last year, a hat-tip to Curtis Caesar John (who also does the This Week In Black TV posts here on S&A) and Marty Majeske, the legal eagle, and man behind the curtain! This should be a good year, as we look towards even greater years ahead! The 10 New York premieres include films that we've highlighted here on S&A, like: Alain Gomis’ Aujourd’hui (Tey), Russ Parr’s The...

The 16th Annual American Black Film Festival announced its Grand Jury winners in last night's ceremony. Russ Parr's The Undershepherd won Best Director and Best Narrative. Matthew Cherry's The Last Fall was awarded Best Screenplay. The Best Documentary award went to Byron Hurt's Soul Food Junkies. See the full list of winners below. Congratulations to the nominees and winners! Grand Jury Prize Best Narrative Feature Presented by Bet Networks The Undershepherd, USA/106 min – Produced by Russ Parr/Directed by Russ Parr Grand Jury Prize Best Performance by an Actor (Male or Female) ***Tie** Presented by Gold Peak Tea Sheldon Shepherd...

I had the pleasure of meeting Russ Parr, the big winner at the 2012 American Black Film Festival this weekend. His film The Undershepherd won Best Director and Best Narrative; official winners will be announced later. Parr talked about the The Undershepherd's festival's reception and hopes for distribution. He says he's gotten a couple of offers, but has received some push back from distributors due to the film's controversial nature. Tambay posted his initial reactions to the film after its premiere at the Pan African Film Festival (read it Here). He also talks about his next project, a romantic dramedy titled Definitely Divorcing. Thanks to the Mr. Parr...

Image Entertainment has announced that it has joined forces with 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks to distribute Spike Lee.s coming-of-age film, Red Hook Summer. The agreement covers all North American rights, besides theatrical, including VOD, digital, Blu-ray./DVD and broadcast and will be released under Image.s One Village label. With a slated theatrical release of August 10th through Variance Films, Image Entertainment anticipates a Q4 home entertainment release..Spike Lee is hands down one of the greatest working filmmakers we have today. Red Hook Summer personifies the type of films we release on our One Village label and I am personally honored that Spike has chosen Image to distribute it.

.I.m very happy with my new friends and partners at Image Entertainment,. said Spike Lee. .They are helping me bring Red Hook Summer to the World..

.We.re excited about the opportunity to work with Spike Lee and his team,...

The host of Bet's "106 & Park" by day, emerging actor Terrence J (who also goes by his given name, Terrence Jenkins) is just one of the heartthrobs in the romantic comedy "Think Like a Man," in which a group of friends turn the tables on their women.

In the movie, based on Steve Harvey's best-selling book "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man," the men find out that their girlfriends have been manipulating them with the help of the advice in Harvey's book. Feeling betrayed, they set out to use the book and manipulate them right back -- with predictably unpredictable results.

Terrence, who plays mama's boy Michael in the film, talked to us about working with Steve Harvey, the romantic advice we should expect from this film and how he'd love to play a certain president.

Did you always know you wanted to act?

Yeah, acting is...

HollywoodNews.com: ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ star NeNe Leakes hasn’t made a lot of friends while on ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ but she is adamant that she is not picking on anyone.

Leakes insisted on ‘The Russ Parr Morning Show’ that she is just trying to stand up for her beliefs on the reality TV show, states Wetpaint.

“I stand up for what I believe in, and I’m very honest, and I always tell the truth. I’m not a liar, I’m not manipulative, and I don’t stab you in your back, because I will stab you in your chest,” Leakes commented about viewers thinking she is a villain on the show.

Do you think NeNe Leakes is a bully?

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I thought we’d covered this film previously on this site, but a search revealed that we most certainly have not, so here it is, along with news that it will be released in theaters this May.

The gist of it…

It’s called 35 And Ticking, an ensemble romantic comedy written and directed by Russ Parr, and starring Nicole Ari Parker, Tamala Jones, Kevin Hart, Keith Robinson, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Meagan Good, Mike Epps and Clifton Powell.

Plot? Victoria (Tamala Jones), Zenobia (Nicole Ari Parker), Cleavon (Kevin Hart), and Phil (Keith Robinson), 4 friends approaching the age of 35, are all struggling to build the families they’ve always dreamed of. While Zenobia is still looking for a man, Victoria is married to a man who doesn’t want children. Clevon, meanwhile, is too geeky to get a woman, and Phil is already married with children, but his wife is not very interested in being a mother.

Looks like Russ Parr won’t be the only national radio personality in the film business soon. Nationally syndicated radio host Big Boy will be joining him in this arena as executive producer of Exit Strategy, a romantic comedy starring Jameel Saleem and Kimelia Weathers.

Synopsis for the film: The romantic comedy centers around a man named James (Jameel Saleem) who is evicted from his apartment and forced to move in with his girlfriend of three months, Kim (Kimelia Weathers) and quickly discovers she’s not his type. When he enlists his friend Carville (Quincy ‘QDeezy’ Harris) and Leona (Noelle Balfour) to help him find an exit out of the relationship, things go haywire, as Kim refuses to let her boyfriend leave peacefully.

“I’m a movie fan — and when QDeezy brought this to me, I thought it’d be something my listeners would be in to,” Big Boy told AllHipHop.

'You can't shape your future if you don't participate,' the president said on the morning of midterm elections.

By Gil Kaufman

President Barack Obama

Photo: Leslie E. Kossoff/Pool/Getty Images

If you were driving around listening to "On-Air With Ryan Seacrest" on Tuesday morning (November 2), and you thought you heard him say he was about to talk to President Obama in between reports on Demi Lovato, the traffic and weather, you weren't mistaken.

In the final push to get out the vote as midterm election balloting got under way across the nation, the president made a number of pre-taped appearances on mainstream morning radio shows, dropping in to chat with "American Idol" host Seacrest as well as popular urban radio personalities Russ Parr and Steve Harvey.

"This is such a critical election, because we're living in a huge moment of change in this country," the president said of the past two years,...

I received this earlier in the week, but almost forgot to post it.

It’s called Something Like A Business, written and directed by Russ Parr, and its DVD dropped on Tuesday.

Quite a few recognizable names and faces in this ensemble comedy, although I can’t say that I’ll be rushing to watch it any time soon. But maybe You will. There’s Kevin Hart, David Alan Grier, Clifton Powell, Keith David, Tasha Smith, Kym Whitley, and a host of others.

It’s available via Netflix’s streaming feature, and Amazon as well (both on disk and streaming).

What’s it about? In short, an aspiring pimp struggles to make a mint after inheriting his late uncle’s escort service and discovering that competition on the streets is fierce. The concept actually sounds like it could work in any number of ways. The execution will tell the tale…...