AAFCA Celebrates Black Storytelling
The organization will honor films including ‘American Fiction,’ ‘The Color Purple’ and ‘Origin’ during its annual awards ceremony
Hollywood is often criticized about the amount of follow through there is on promises for diversity and inclusivity. Yet there is much to celebrate about the films that are being made about Black life, and the 15th annual awards by the African American Film Critics Assn. will do just that on Feb. 21.
“American Fiction,” “The Color Purple” and “Origin” — named best comedy, musical and drama, respectively — all scored multiple film honors and inclusion on AAFCA’S list of top 10 films of the year. Performers including Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis-taylor, Lily Gladstone, Da’vine Joy Randolph and Danielle Brooks will also be celebrated during the ceremony, hosted once again by Roy Wood Jr. AAFCA will follow up that event with a March 3 special achievement ceremony honoring industry figures including Jamie Foxx and Datari Turner for their work producing films such as “The Burial,” choreographer Fatima Robinson for her work on “The Color Purple” and the late Michael Latt for amplifying underrepresented stories.
“AAFCA serves as the window of exposure to artists that very often go unrecognized by mainstream organizations, and our mission is to make sure that stories that are by or about African descendant people receive the recognition they deserve,” AAFCA co-founder and president Gil Robertson tells Variety.
“American Fiction” writer and director Cord Jefferson, recipient of this year’s emerging filmmaker award from AAFCA, deeply connected with Percival Everett’s 2001 novel “Erasure,” upon which his Oscar-nominated film is based, because he was passionate about its sociopolitical themes and related to the subplot of Black siblings reuniting to care for a dying parent.
“The conversations the book was having were ones I’ve been having with my friends and colleagues for decades: the limitations people put on Black writers and stories,” Jefferson adds, noting that getting the film made was not easy. “The reality is that
when we shopped ‘American Fiction’ around for distribution, 98% of the people that we took this film to turned it away and said, ‘It’s not for us.’”
Although Jefferson doesn’t know exactly why his film was turned down, most people were “incredibly diffusive” about its creative elements but declined to back it financially. While the film’s accomplishments mean the world to him, he ultimately hopes it paves the way for more Black stories to be told.
“Every year, we talk about how stories about queer, Black people, other minorities, and women are undervalued and underrepresented in this industry and frequently left out in the cold when it comes to awards. So, to be acknowledged by AAFCA, who understands and honors Black stories, means so much.”
Gina Prince-bythewood, whose film “The Woman King” earned her best picture and director honors from the organization last year, has also seen the fruit of AAFCA’S vital work in Hollywood.
“‘The Woman King’ was a watershed moment, and I wanted our community to be proud of the film first and foremost,” says Prince-bythewood, whose film starring Viola Davis did not receive any Oscar nominations, although some other organizations in addition to AAFCA did celebrate it. “But it is a maddening reality that there is a consistent chasm between
Black excellence and recognition in Hollywood and beyond.”
AAFCA’S work has meant a great deal to Black actors being praised for their craft by Black critics and audiences. Randolph and Brooks, both up for supporting actress trophy at the Academy Awards, share the AAFCA honors for their work in “The Holdovers” and “The Color Purple,” respectively.
“It’s amazing to be celebrated by your people, and for AAFCA to recognize my work in this historic piece of art, ‘The Color Purple,’ is huge. So many talented people this season graced our silver screens, and I’m super humbled for people to acknowledge my work,” Brooks tells Variety. “I’m going to continue to keep doing the work, staying focused on the mission, which is opening and expanding the possibilities for dark-skinned, plus-size women in this industry and letting Hollywood know that we are so much more than this very small box that we keep being put in.”
Domingo, who will receive the actor award for his performance in “Rustin,” is grateful “to be recognized by critics from our community.” According to Domingo, this recognition is especially significant because Bayard Rustin was an unsung civil and human rights hero who was openly gay.
“The way Black critics are deeply interested in the work from their lens means a lot, to be honored especially for ‘Rustin,’ because when you honor me, you’re also honoring him,” Domingo says. “It’s important because we want to be seen by the masses; of course, we also want to know that we are affecting our communities, and people see us in all of our intersections. So that’s very important to me; being honored by AAFCA is something I don’t take lightly. I’m very grateful.”
According to Robertson, empowering Black creatives and talent above and below the line to believe that their voices matter and that they’re seen and respected continues to fuel AAFCA’S work since the organization was founded in 2003.
“It feels great that we have been able to uplift and embrace so many amazing and wonderful people, not just African American, not just Black, really across the spectrum. If you look at our winners, they represent every race or ethnicity on this planet. But certainly, our core audience and our reason for being are to shine a light on stories about African descendant people,” Robertson says.
At its 7th annual special achievement awards luncheon, for example, AAFCA will bestow “Killers of the Flower Moon” with the Stanley & Karen Kramer Social Justice Award for spotlighting the true story of the Osage Nation murders. “I think that what sets the AAFCA Special Achievement Awards apart is the incredible intimacy of the event — we keep the guest list very tight,” Robertson says. “With a limited amount of honorees, it really allows us to take deep dives into the totality of our honorees’ careers and accomplishments.
As for the core of AAFCA’S mission for Black film in the grand scheme of Hollywood, it’s simple — to honor and amplify the work. Robertson puts it best: “We see you, we hear you.”