The African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) has unveiled the winners of the 14th annual AAFCA Awards honoring outstanding achievement in film. “The Woman King,” “Till,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” each won two AAFCA Awards with “The Woman King” taking Best Picture and Best Director for Gina Prince-Bythewood, “Till” for Best Actress (Danielle Deadwyler) and the Emerging Face award (Jaylin Hall), “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” for Best Supporting Actress (Angela Bassett) and Best Song (Rihanna’s “LIfe Me Up”) and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” for Best Writing (Rian Johnson) and Best Ensemble.
Other winners include Best Supporting Actor Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”), Emerging Filmmaker Carey Williams (“Emergency”), Best Independent Feature (“Nanny”), Best Animated Feature (“Wendell & Wild”), Best Documentary (“Sidney”) and Best International Feature (“Saint Omer”). Best Live Action Short went to Kendrick Lamar’s “We Cry Together” and Best Animated Short went to Colman and Raul Domingo’s “New Moon.”
AAFCA also announced honorees for several special achievement awards including “Till” for the Impact Award, Composer, Michael Abels (“Nope”) for the Innovator Award – presented by Nissan, Production Designer Hannah Beachler (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) for the Building Change Award presented by Lowes, Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith (“Emancipation”) for the Beacon Award and Producer Nate Moore (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) for the Ashley Boone Award.
Winners and special honorees will be celebrated at the 14th Annual AAFCA Awards on March 1st at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills. “AAFCA is deeply honored to recognize some of the most captivating films and performances of the year,” said AAFCA president and co-founder Gil Robertson. “These thought-provoking stories of strength, determination and courage lift us and entertain us. It’s an honor to recognize the incredible, visionary work both in front of and behind the camera of this year’s AAFCA Award winners.”
WINNERS | 14TH ANNUAL AAFCA AWARDS
- Best Picture: “The Woman King”
- Best Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Woman King”)
- Best Actor: Jeremy Pope (“The Inspection”)
- Best Actress: Danielle Deadwyler (“Till”)
- Best Supporting Actor: Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”)
- Best Supporting Actress: Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)
- Emerging Face: Jaylin Hall (“Till” & “Bruiser”)
- Emerging Filmmaker: Carey Williams (“Emergency”)
- Best Independent Feature: “Nanny”
- Best Animated Feature: “Wendell & Wild”
- Best Documentary: “Sidney”
- Best Ensemble: “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”
- Best Writing: Rian Johnson (“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”)
- Best International Feature: “Saint Omer”
- Best Song: “Lift Me Up” (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)
- Best Live Action Short: “We Cry Together”
- Best Animated Short: “New Moon”
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT HONOREES | 14TH ANNUAL AAFCA AWARDS
- Impact Award: “Till”
- The Innovator Award, presented by Nissan: Composer, Michael Abels (“Nope”)
- Building Change Award, presented by Lowes: Production Designer, Hannah Beachler (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)
- The Beacon Award: Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith (“Emancipation”)
- The Ashley Boone Award: Producer, Nate Moore (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)
Winners are voted on by AAFCA’s 100+ members. The organization, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2023 will be announcing additional special events and programming in the coming months.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More