Honoring film and television writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way, the Humanitas Prizes were awarded on Friday (9/9) during a ceremony emceed by comedian Larry Wilmore at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Topping the Comedy and Feature Film categories, respectively, were writers Adam McKay for Don’t Look Up and Matt Harris for The Starling. Winning for best family feature film were writers Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush for Encanto.
On the TV front, the “If A Black Man Cries in the Woods…” episode of black-ish–penned by Robb Chavis–took the comedy series honor while the “Chapter One” episode of Pachinko written by Soo Hugh won for best drama teleplay.
Winning screenwriters took home awards and $10,000 cash prizes across 10 categories. Here’s a category-by-category rundown of the 46th annual Humanitas Prize winners:
46TH ANNUAL HUMANITAS PRIZE WINNERS:
Children’s Teleplay
El Deafo: Written by Cece Bell and Will McRobb
Comedy Feature Film
Don’t Look Up: Written by Adam McKay
Comedy Teleplay
black-ish: “If A Black Man Cries in the Woods…” – Written by Robb Chavis
Documentary
In the Same Breath: Nanfu Wang
Drama Feature Film
The Starling: Written by Matt Harris
Drama Teleplay
Pachinko: “Chapter One” – Written by Soo Hugh
Family Feature Film
Encanto: Written by Charise Castro Smith & Jared Bush
Limited Series, TV Movie, or Special
Women of the Movement: “Mother and Son” – Written by Marissa Jo Cerar
Short Film
Girls Are Strong Here: Written by Scott Burkhardt
Web Series
The Disappointments: Written by Rich Burns
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More