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The executive producer behind Netflix's seven-part documentary sat down with Black Film Wire to talk about the freedom fighter the world loved to hate, the twelve years it took to earn her trust, and why he refuses to let anyone turn her into either a saint or a devil. The Trials of Winnie Mandela, streaming on Netflix across Africa. Image courtesy of Netflix. A quick note before you dive in: this is a long one, longer than our usual interviews. It earns it. Twelve years, thr

Mike Tyson in his own words, Omar Sy on the run, Mahershala Ali as a religious hitman, Club Eden's last dance, a whole lot of home, and some very good news from Hillman. Here is everything Black and African worth your remote this October. October said, "spooky season who?" Yes, the pumpkins are out and everybody is doing horror marathons, but look a little closer, and this month is stacked with Black stories on just about every screen you own. Across the water, the UK is cele

The Zimbabwean filmmaker's feature directorial debut, a whodunnit set inside a traditional marriage negotiation, lands global representation four days before its Silicon Valley bow. Deborah Kabongo plays Hanayashe in Rusambo | Photographer: Angela Zivo Gapa, Safrilens Rushlake Media has acquired Rusambo, the feature directorial debut of Zimbabwean filmmaker Angela Zivo Gapa, for international distribution and global representation, Black Film Wire can exclusively reveal. The

A Shondaland directing mentorship, a $60,000 short film grant, a free trip to Sundance and more. Here is what is open right now for Black storytellers across the diaspora. I'm almost three weeks into my writers' season with the AuthenticA Series Lab, where I was accepted to develop my TV series. Being on this side of a development program has reminded me how much these opportunities can change a career, and I wanted to make time to talk about them. This list is for the young

Four writers from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Cameroon are a week into a six-month program turning original series ideas into pilot scripts, with a pitch at Series Mania waiting at the finish line. Official AuthenticA 2026 cohort photo | From L-R Lindsey Addawoo, Sahndra Fon Dufe,Phumi Morare, Lateefah Mayaki | Black Film Wire The Realness Institute has named the four screenwriters selected for the 2026 AuthenticA Series Lab, and for the first time since the program laun

The cast and director of the short film First Fruit sat down with Black Film Wire to talk silence, grief, community, and why choosing quiet is its own kind of resistance. Darrin Dewitt Henson on set from First Fruit. Photo credit: First Fruit official BTS. First Fruit is a short film that trusts its audience. It does not raise its voice to be heard. So when Black Film Wire sat down with its writer, director, and producer Beverly "BJ" Rouse, lead actor Darrin Dewitt Henson, a

The 2026 Caine Prize shortlisted writers Credit: The Caine Prize for African Writing A member of the Black Film Wire family is having a major literary moment. Akinwande Remilekun Jordan, a Jr. EIC Fellow at Black Film Wire, has been shortlisted for the 2026 Caine Prize for African Writing, one of the most prestigious honors in African literature. His story, "So Long Now It's Starting To Look Like Eternity," published by Naira Books in February 2026, is one of just five stori

From a bee with Chris Rock's wit to Riri's road trip to Michael B. Jordan's gloves, here's what's leaving Netflix in the next few days, where you can still catch them after, and the licensing deals that decide when our favorites come and go. CREED, HOME, BLACK LIGHTNING, BEE MOVIE LEAVING NETFLIX SEPTEMBER 2026 Every so often, a recommendation lands from the last place you expect it. Mine came from an investor who, by his own admission, barely has time to watch movies. I aske

Christopher Nolan's $1.3 billion epic is breaking records with a cast at the peak of its power, from Nyong'o's dual role as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra to Zendaya's Athena, and the ensemble's collective payday is just as historic as the box office. Lupita Nyong’o as Clytemnestra in The Odyssey | Lupita Nyong’o attends the world premiere of “The Odyssey” at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on July 06, 2026. Karwai Tang/WireImage Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey [IMDB] has crossed

Nearly three hours, shot entirely on IMAX 70mm, and built on a poem composed roughly 2,700 years ago. Here's what actually lands, what doesn't, and why the sound alone is worth the ticket. Matt Damon and Zendaya in ‘The Odyssey.' Credit : Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Studios Somewhere, presumably, Homer is watching his own 2,700-year-old poem cross $1.3 billion at the global box office, get a Travis Scott cameo, and spawn a Spider-Man salary comparison, and he hasn't seen a

Chike Nwoffiah, founder of the Silicon Valley African Film Festival (SVAFF), drew his Nigerian and African community to San Jose to celebrate a work years in the making, one that carries his advocacy for African storytelling from the screen to the page. Chike Nwoffiah (Founder and Executive Director, Silicon Valley African Film Festival; director, A Killing in Choctaw, Sabar, and Life Is a Dance, IMDb) has spent over a decade building platforms for African filmmakers to tell

From Shadow to Set moves into the festival's Sunday closing slot, while Beyond the Screen shifts to Saturday afternoon, alongside the UK first look at Gina Prince-Bythewood's Children of Blood and Bone, as the UK's leading Black British film festival finalizes programming for its eighth edition. Beyond the Screen .Credit : S.O.U.L. Fest x ABFF London] S.O.U.L. Fest x ABFF London has issued an updated schedule for its two Sony Pictures Entertainment-presented industry conversa

After six years building a life in Montecito, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are heading home, and the timing says as much as the move itself. Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at a public engagement in London before their 2020 departure | Image- Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, are relocating back to the United Kingdom, ending a six-year chapter in Southern California that began the same month they stepped back as senior working royals. King Char

After three heartbreaking final losses across two decades, Cameroon's Indomitable Lionesses finally have a trophy of their own. We break down the win and use the moment to ask a harder question: where are the films about women like them? AFCON | Picture by CAF/Instagram On August 16, in Rabat, Morocco, Cameroon's women's national football team beat Malawi 3-0 to win the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations. It is the first WAFCON title in the history of the program, and it did

TRADE JOURNAL EXCLUSIVE | INDUSTRY NEWS & PRODUCTION A year after Black Film Wire called Georgia the new creative capital, the follow-up numbers are in, an 83% surge in independent film is quietly changing who gets to make movies in the state, and Tyler Perry Studios keeps building one of the most concrete Black-ownership stories in American production. Here's what's actually new. Written and directed by Atlanta native and Morehouse alum David Fortune, the independent film "C

A day after the trailer dropped, the author said she left her own film's set "hyperventilating and sobbing" and is still being antagonized behind the scenes. She still won't say by whom. Tomi Adeyemi with 'Children of Blood and Bone'.Credit : Sam Vibes Three weeks ago, we asked what Tomi Adeyemi's decision to publicly disown Paramount's "Children of Blood and Bone" adaptation meant for Black fantasy's next decade. This week, she answered a question we didn't ask: how bad it a

A DMV artist Dez designed a one-of-one boot, an architect built the pitch deck that helped land the funding, and Antonio Rüdiger spent his post-World Cup window turning both into real money for Sierra Leone's kids. Here's the creative work behind the Antonio Rüdiger Foundation Grand Gala. By Sahndra Fon Dufe, Editor-in-Chief, Black Film Wire Antonio Rüdiger hosts inaugural Antonio Rüdiger Foundation Grand Gala, Washington D.C., July 21, 2026 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Most players wh

House of David's Michael Iskander as David, alongside King Saul, Queen Ahinoam, and the House of Saul in the Prime Video series. By Sahndra Fon Dufe Michael Iskander as David and…. On House of David Prime Video announced Friday that House of David, its sweeping biblical drama from Wonder Project and Amazon MGM Studios, has been renewed for a third season. Creators Jon Erwin and Jon Gunn confirmed the news in a statement, saying they're "incredibly grateful to fans around the

Six months before Children of Blood and Bone opens in theaters, its author tells the world she won't be watching it By Sahndra Fon Dufe Author Tomi Adeyemi and actress Amandla Stenberg appear alongside the cover of Children of Blood and Bone, which is being adapted by Paramount Pictures. On July 4, Tomi Adeyemi, the Nigerian-American writer whose 2018 debut spent 175 combined weeks on the New York Times bestseller list across its trilogy posted a TikTok that split her fandom

A category restructure promised African artists more paths to win at the 2026 BET Awards. Instead, it produced the first total shutout since the modern era began and the numbers say the loss wasn't for lack of firepower. By Sahndra Fon Dufe Tems delivers a live performance of "What You Need" at the 2026 BET Awards, one of three categories she'd lose by the end of the night. The 26th annual BET Awards were held Sunday, June 28, 2026, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, host