The African-American Film Critics Association’s annual awards (AAFCA) ceremony, in its 14th year, held at the Beverly Wilshire hotel, Beverly Hills, CA., was attended by notable black actors and film producers.
The AAFCA Award ceremony gives honor to Black excellence as depicted on screen, along with those behind the camera. Will Smith’s Emancipation, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever , Till, and The Woman King were among the top winners at Wednesday’s event. The event was hosted by Roy Wood Jr. and it marked Will Smith’s first return to an awards stage following his scandal at the 2022 Academy Awards.
According to Smith, when accepting the Beacon Award for Emancipation, “Emancipation was the individual most difficult film of my entire career.… It’s really difficult to transport a modern mind to that time period. It’s difficult to imagine that level of inhumanity.” After recalling filming a tense scene in the summer on set, Smith continued: “In this room are people who really suffer for the art, to bring these stories to the screen — and to deliver them in a way that has an emotional impact for the telling of our stories and hopefully just the subtle possibility to change a heart, or a mind.”
Sidney, which was Apple TV film on the legendary black actor, Sidney Poitier, won an award for best documentary. The award was accepted by director Reginald Hudlin’s daughter, alongside two of Poitier’s daughters, Anika and Sidney Poitier. The Poitier daughters thanked the team behind the doc for “the deep care and respect” with which they treated their father’s story, and for “allowing him to tell it in his own words to the best of their abilities.”
When receiving the award for best actress for her portrayal of Mamie Till-Mobley in Till, Danielle Deadwyler spoke about the significance of “the act of looking,” an act which encapsulates the story of Till-Mobley’s advocacy for her slain son. “The act of looking, the act of witnessing, is presently a dire choice for the Black experience, being of it or in proximity to it. And it can’t be iterated enough that those forces that seek to exclude our work and the fingerprints of our handprint on this place persist,” she said. “Mamie taught the country, the world and especially herself to look intently and carefully and lovingly.”
Veteran black actress, Angela Bassett, invoked the names of the Black female artists, Ruby Dee, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, before her and according to her, on whose “broad and bold ancestral shoulders” she stands on, thanking them for their sacrifice.
When accepting her award for her character Queen Ramonda: “Every role that I have taken on has been to break through those perceptions of us as Black women, to show our humanity, to tell the diversity of our stories and to share the complexities of what it means to be Black, and woman.”
For her work with The Woman King, Gina Prince-Bythewood took home the best director. According to her, “The Woman King” was such a profound experience.… It was absolutely the hardest shoot of my career, but also the most beautiful,” she said. “I truly loved making this film. And what amplified the love is that we got to reframe history, our history, which has been so bombarded with historically inaccurate information. For so many of us, our history is talked about as enslavement and victimization and savagery. Being able to do The Woman King and tell our story the right way machetes that.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever crew were well represented with notable names such as; director Ryan Coogler, producer Nate Morris, actress Angela Bassett and production designer Hannah Beachler.
Other notable recipients include producer Nate Morris (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) – who was awarded the Ashley Boone Award. Morris said. “Because unless our stories are told, the next generation of filmmakers doesn’t get to see themselves on screen. And as our history is under attack, it’s more important than ever that our stories are out there.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ‘s production designer Hannah Beachler won the Building Change Award. According to her, “Change is healing. It’s a belief like faith, it’s a belief in the human condition, that it can be restored and made better.”
Jordan Peele and two of his collaborators won the Innovator Award. He thanked the AAFCA voting body for acknowledging “those of us behind the camera…all of us who are also contributing to film, telling our stories in our own ways, with our own gifts”
Independent filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu, was named best independent feature for her film Nanny. She shared that a central focus of her work as a first-generation American born to parents from Sierra Leone is to bridge the gap that often divides the Black diaspora, saying: “We are so much stronger together than we are fractured.”
