At the american black film festival
Download 39.55 Kb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Life’s Essentials with Ruby Dee
- THE TEAM Executive Producer
- CELEBRITY PARTICIPANTS Ruby Dee and Alan Alda Angela Bassett Harry Belafonte
- Glynn Turman Dr. Cornel West Sonia Sanchez Malik Yoba TEASER
- Director Muta’Ali
- Producer Jevon “NJ” Frank
- Co-Producer Sonya Denyse
- Ossie and Ruby’s Journey
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LIFE’S ESSENTIALS WITH RUBY DEE TO PREMIERE JUNE 22 AT THE AMERICAN BLACK FILM FESTIVAL Hollywood Royal Couple Share Hard-Won Life’s Lessons on Love, Art and Activism with Grandson, Director Muta’Ali NEW YORK (June 10, 2014)—Life’s Essentials with Ruby Dee, the documentary about the iconic Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee by their grandson Muta’Ali, will have its world premiere at Film Life’s 18th Annual American Black Film Festival on Sunday, June 22 in New York City. The film—part tribute, part history lesson and part coming-of-age story for the filmmaker—give viewers an intimate look into the remarkable lives of the couple many consider the all-time king and queen of Black Hollywood. Stunned by the death of his grandfather, Muta’Ali moves to New York to be able to spend more time with his grandmother and to get answers to some of his burning questions. The film, produced by Jevon “NJ” Frank, follows Muta’Ali as he delves into chapters of their lives that span the 20th and 21st centuries, posing probing questions to his grandmother as well as to celebrity friends, costars and fellow activists of the star couple in his search for his own life’s path. Alan Alda, Angela Bassett, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Hill Harper, Samuel Jackson, Spike Lee, Sonia Sanchez and Dr. Cornel West are among the notables who offer insights into and memories of the couple’s love, art and activism. Davis weighs in, too, speaking to his grandson through never-before-seen footage and memorabilia from the Davis-Dee family archives. Along the way, Muta’Ali lays bare the rich history of Davis and Dee, who played pivotal roles in the civil rights struggle through their social activism, while maintaining illustrious careers in the arts and a full family life. “To admire and speak highly of my grandparents is easy, but to apply their principles in my own life has proven less so. There is self-discovery in the vast space between what I look up to—their 56 year marriage, their socially conscious career choices, and their bravery in the struggle—and what I may be willing to practice,” said Muta’Ali. Life’s Essentials with Ruby Dee will be screened on Sunday, June 22 at 1:50 pm at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) Theatre, 333 West 23 Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues in Manhattan. (Take the A, C, E or 1 to 23rd Street.) Tickets are $12.00 and can be purchased by visiting www.abff.com. For more information on the film, visithttp://rubydee.lifesessentialsdocs.com/. ###
Executive Producer Nora Davis Day Executive Producer Muta’Ali and Jevon “NJ” Frank Director-Writer-Editor-Cinematographer Muta’Ali Producer Jevon “NJ” Frank Co-Producer Sonya Denyse Associate Producers Alvin Bowles and Terri Prettyman-Bowles Production Assistant Jasmine McCullough CELEBRITY PARTICIPANTS Ruby Dee and Alan Alda Angela Bassett Harry Belafonte Danny Glover Hill Harper Samuel Jackson Spike Lee S. Epatha Merkerson Phylicia Rashad Glynn Turman Dr. Cornel West Sonia Sanchez Malik Yoba TEASER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoAzGIPgD8c PHOTOS https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mtw5kbw5c0ssast/AAD2BdgG3PyfIpUXtrIucThNa
SYNOPSIS Oscar-nominated actress Ruby Dee and her late husband, Ossie Davis, are cultural icons heralded for their Hollywood marriage of over 56 years, their socially conscious career choices on stage and screen and their bravery within and beyond the Civil Rights Movement. With such rich lives, the film’s director, their eldest grandson, Muta’Ali, faces deep regret for not knowing enough to deliberately sit down and learn from his grandfather Ossie before his death in 2005. Refusing to make the same mistake twice, Muta’Ali decides to speak with his grandmother Ruby about the critical points in her life. He finds quickly that what is most important to Ruby is lasting love, socially conscious art and undying activism. Unfortunately, as Muta’Ali admits directly to his grandmother in his open-letter-style narration, his modern values directly contradict those of Ms. Dee’s. As Ms. Dee faces an unexpected health emergency in 2012, startling the entire Dee/Davis family, Muta’Ali commits to embarking on a time-sensitive journey, while there’s still time, to learn to honor the values Ms. Dee and Mr. Davis stand for. With the Dee-Davis family archive as his world, a rich supporting cast of Ruby and Ossie’s noteworthy friends and colleagues as his advisers and words of wisdom sent via archival footage from Ossie Davis in heaven, Muta’Ali learns of the love, art, and activism within Ruby and Ossie’s life stories and is forever changed, in both good ways and bad. BIOS Executive Producer Nora Davis Day Nora Davis Day is president & CEO of Dee Davis Enterprises and Emmalyn II Productions Inc. She was executive producer for Grammy Award- winning audiobook With Ossie and Ruby: In this Life Together.” Day also served as associate producer of three seasons of With Ossie & Ruby on PBS. Director Muta’Ali Muta’Ali has produced seven feature-length documentaries for recording artists under international record labels, including: Def Jam Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Atlantic Records. His content has appeared on CBS, BET, VH1 and MTV. Rounding out his range of production experience, Muta’Ali has produced three diverse, pop-culture-focused webseries. He has also produced scripted and/or reality-based productions for clients including The Mo’Nique Show and Ebony/Jet Magazine. Producer Jevon “NJ” Frank Brooklyn-born film producer NJ Frank has an instinctive talent for photography and film. His passionate, notable projects are known for their thought provoking impact. For more than a decade, NJ has established a broad, devoted portfolio of clients including: AAA, The Monique Show, Michael Mauldin’s Fastlife 360, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Universal Music Recording artists Bun B., Atlantic Music Recording artist T.I. and Johnson Publications’ Ebony and Jet Magazines. NJ recently wrapped production on Submit: The Reality of Cyberbullying, a documentary which he hopes will bring awareness to the growing problem of individuals spreading hate and humiliation through social networks and other forms of electronic communications. Co-Producer Sonya Denyse Sonya Denyse is a creatively strategic thinker and an occasional blogger for Huffington Post. Over the last 11 years, through her consultancy Dream Development, she has successfully designed creative strategies taking clients from idea to implementation by raising relationships and resources. Sonya’s career spans the public and private sectors in the areas of entertainment, economic development and private equity finance. She maintains positions on particular non-profit boards. Ossie and Ruby’s Journey through the 20th and 21st Centuries 1934 Ossie hitchhikes from Georgia to Washington, D.C., and enrolls at Howard University. 1942 Ossie enlists in the U.S. Army and is stationed in Liberia with the 25th Station Hospital—the first black medical unit to deploy overseas. 1943 Ruby makes her Broadway debut in South Pacific (no relation to the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical). 1944 Ruby graduates from Hunter College. 1945 Ossie makes his Broadway debut in Jeb where he also meets Ruby. 1948 (December 9) Ossie and Ruby get married.
Ossie introduces a motion calling for Actor’s Equity to support Paul Robeson’s bid to have his passport reinstated.
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun is the first play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. Ruby originates the role of Ruth. Ossie assumes the role of Walter Lee after Sidney Poitier leaves the production. 1961 Purlie Victorious opens on Broadway. runs for 261 performances. 1963 Ossie and Ruby are emcees at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The 16th Street Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, is bombed, killing four girls. Ossie and Ruby—with James Baldwin, John O. Killens, Clarence Jones, Odetta, and others—form the Association of Artists for Freedom, which calls for a Christmas boycott to protest the church bombing, and to make “our Christmas gifts contribution to civil rights organizations.” 1965 Malcolm X is assassinated in Harlem. Ossie delivers the eulogy at his funeral.
The Committee of Concerned Mothers, formed by Ruby, Juanita Poitier, and others, raise funds to buy a house for Betty Shabazz, Malcolm’s widow, and their six daughters. 1966 Ossie and Ruby participate in a “Read-In for Peace in Vietnam.” 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis. Ossie and Ruby attend the Memorial march in Memphis, where Ossie speaks, and then the funeral in Atlanta. 1970 Ossie Davis makes his directing debut with Cotton Comes to Harlem. Ruby wins Obie and Drama Desk awards for her performance in Boesman and Lena. Purlie, the musical based on Ossie’s play, garners five Tony nominations and wins two awards. 1975 Ossie and Ruby begin their weekly radio show, The Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee Story Hour. 1987 Ruby’s My One Good Nerve, a book of poetry and short stories, is published. 1989 Ossie and Ruby co-star in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, for which they both each win an NAACP Image Award. 1991 Ruby wins an Emmy award for her performance in Decoration Day. 1995 Ossie and Ruby receive the National Medal of Art from President Clinton. 1998 Ossie and Ruby celebrate their 50th anniversary with the publication of their joint autobiography, With Ossie & Ruby: In This Life Together. 2001 Ossie and Ruby receive the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement award. Ossie wins a Daytime Emmy award for his performance in Finding Buck McHenry. 2004 Ossie and Ruby receive the Kennedy Center Honors. 2005 (February 4) Ossie dies in Florida. Ruby and (posthumously) Ossie receive the Marian Anderson Award. 2007 Ruby and (posthumously) Ossie win a Grammy® for the audio version of With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together. 2008 Ruby receives her first Oscar nomination for playing Mama Lucas in American Gangster. Download 39.55 Kb. Share with your friends:
|