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In 2015 Ta-Nehisi Coates, a native of Baltimore wrote his bestselling non-fiction book “Between the World and Me” as a letter to his then 15-year-old son. In it, he speaks of the emotions and realities of being Black in America.

“What a shit year it was,” Dave Chappelle said by way of greeting the live audience. “I’m so sorry if you lost someone, or lost something, during this pandemic.

Finnish filmmaker Jenni Kivistö wanted to make a poetic documentary about peace in Colombia with her co-director Jussi Rastas. Kivistö tells HFPA journalist Greet Ramaekers that there was so much hope in the air in 2016 but the peace agreement between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Colombian Government plunged the country into chaos.

 If there's one team sport in the U. S.

With Shadow in the Cloud, New Zealand filmmaker Roseanne Liang has created a fantasy action film with a feminist twist. The year is August 1943, and the film opens at Auckland allied airbase, where Maude Garretts embarks on the B-17 bomber plane called “The Fool’s Errand” on a secret military mission.

There have been many documentaries and films about Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ creative force, widely recognized as genius due to his novel approaches, pop composition, exceptional aptitude and mastery of recording techniques. But most have focused on his 1960s heyday or the difficult times during struggles with mental illness and drug addiction.

Leonard Bernstein was one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history. A renowned conductor and composer, a music educator and author, a humanitarian activist.

Michelle Rodriguez, a fixture of the Fast and Furious franchise since 2001, spoke with HFPA journalists in 2000 about her film debut in Girlfight, written and directed by Karyn Kusama, where she played a teenage boxer. “Karyn made me watch Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, and I was really impressed by his composure, then, later on, I did happen to see, Apocalypse Now and I was like, ‘Wow, this guy is pretty amazing.

Before F9: The Fast Saga speeds up to the domestic box office race this week, Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Salma Hayek’s The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard hit the bullseye in North America and emerged number one.

The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles hosted a conversation about Barry Jenkins’ new 10-part anthology series The Underground Railroad with female lead Thuso Mbedu, cinematographer James Laxton, editor Joi McMillan, costume designer Caroline Eselin, hairstylist Lawrence Davis and makeup artist Doniella Davy. Historically, the Underground Railroad was a network of both, Black and White people who helped enslaved escapees from plantations in the South make their way north by offering transportation, protection, and shelter.