Following Paramount's first official awards consideration screening for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.-centered historical drama Selma on Friday, November 28, star David Oyelowo and director Ava DuVernay (the latter in the midst of an especially busy day, her distribution company AFFRM also running a free day-long marathon of film and community discussion as part of #BlackoutBlackFriday), appeared in person for a talk moderated by awards season staple Pete Hammond. While there was some question and content overlap with the Q&A that took place after the film's world premiere at AFI Fest a couple of weeks ago, as one can witness in the complete video below, with the raw, genuine emotion surrounding the day--and, more specifically, the sobering events of the week that led up to it--what by design was to be another PR/campaign stop ended up becoming something far more valuable, powerful, and profound for all in attendance.
Selma opens in limited release on Thursday, December 25, and expands to cinemas nationwide on Friday, January 9 from Paramount Pictures.
(Special thanks to Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo)
Paramount's original plan for their special preview event for Selma at this year's AFI Fest presented by Audi was to screen the not-yet-finished Martin Luther King historical drama's first 30 minutes, followed by a discussion with director Ava DuVernay, star David Oyelowo, and co-star/producer Oprah Winfrey. But after a marathon final lap of post-production, Tuesday, November 11 ended up marking the unofficial world premiere of the film, with DuVernay unveiling the complete but still-not-entirely-done film to a wildly enthusiastic reception from a capacity crowd. This energy made for an all the more lively post-screening discussion with DuVernay, Oyelowo, Winfrey, co-star Common, and producers Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, moderated by Alfre Woodard--which one can watch in its entirety below.
Selma opens in limited release on Thursday, December 25, and expands to cinemas nationwide on Friday, January 9 from Paramount Pictures.
I WILL FOLLOW DEBUTS TO STRONG INDIE BOX-OFFICE AND EXPANDS TO 22 SCREENS IN 15 CITIES FOR SECOND WEEK
Marks First-Ever Simultaneous National Theatrical Release Powered Solely By Grassroots Organizations
Los Angeles, CA (March 15, 2011) –The critically-acclaimed drama I Will Follow, hailed by Roger Ebert as "one of the best films I've seen about the loss of a loved one," tallied the third highest reported grosses among the weekend’s ten new independent specialty releases with a $11,428 per screen average. The film was distributed on five screens in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Seattle by the new African-American film distribution collective, AFFRM, in concert with AMC Independent. Chronicling a day in the life of a black woman at a personal crossroads, I Will Follow doubled the reported per-screen average of the sole studio offering with an African-American cast this year to date, Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son.
AFFRM will capitalize on the success of the film's opening weekend with an aggressive expansion from five screens in five cities to 22 screens in 15 cities beginning Friday, March 18. The additional cities include Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Oakland, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Charlotte and Jersey City. The initial five markets will continue into second week.
"The success of AFFRM's first theatrical release is a victory for those who believe in the necessity of diverse cinematic images," explained I Will Follow director and AFFRM founder Ava DuVernay. "I Will Follow marks the first-ever simultaneous national theatrical release by grassroots organizations, and I’m proud to stand with our partners at BronzeLens in Atlanta, Imagenation and Urbanworld in New York, ReelBlack in Philadelphia and Langston Hughes African-American Film Festival in Seattle as we celebrate this milestone in black film."
An official selection of AFI Fest and Chicago International Film Festival and winner of Urbanworld, Pan-African and BronzeLens Film Festivals, I Will Follow stars Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Omari Hardwick, Michole White and Dijon Talton, with Blair Underwood and Beverly Todd. In addition to a "thumbs up" from Roger Ebert, the film has garnered praise from critics at Village Voice, LA Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, Philadelphia Inquirer, Seattle Times, BET, New York Daily News and more.
