INDEPENDENT

ACTING/WRITING/DIRECTING

TELEVISION

STUDIO

DOCUMENTARY

BROADWAY

 

MSNBC FILMS PRESENTS “Serving in Secret: Love, Country and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

now streaming on peacock

“Serving in Secret,” the latest installment of “The Turning Point'' documentary series from Executive Producer Trevor Noah, traces the U.S. military’s long history of discrimination against the gay community and one couple’s personal journey for acceptance. Streaming on Peacock.

 
 
 
The end of DADT was predictably messy and the film, in fast succession, explains how the politics of the moment demanded urgent repeal of it before Democrats lost power after the 2010 election. But for those 17 years, the military essentially demanded its membership from top to bottom to conceal a piece of themselves...

As much as Serving in Secret is about the fight for one piece of LGBTQ history, it’s a broader work that cuts at how Washington really works, and it’s not always as easy to find heroes as most would think.
— TIME

Read the full brief here.

 
 
 
 
 
Two other [interviews] featured in the film are retired Army Col. Stewart Bornhoft and retired Navy Capt. April Heinze. While on active duty, Bornhoft was featured in a centerfold with several other LGBTQ+ military officers in a 2007 issue of The Advocate. Heinze read that issue, which inspired her to come out and get involved in the equality movement.

Bornhoft and Heinze ended up working together on the repeal effort with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, along with Carpenter, who emphasizes at the end of the film that while equality was realized, the struggle isn’t finished. “Always be prepared to fight,” Carpenter warns. “Because it’s never over.”
— Advocate

Read the full release here.

 
The film showing, which was organized by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, took place at the auditorium of the recently opened John Hopkins University Bloomberg Center at 555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.

Two of the leading figures in the film’s production, U.S. Naval Academy graduate and former Marine Corps fighter pilot Thomas Carpenter, and his nephew, filmmaker Jonathan Baker, who served as producer and director of the film, appeared as guest speakers on stage following the showing of the film.

A discussion with the two, which included questions from the audience, was moderated by Ryan Bos, executive director of D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance.

Moving and sometimes highly emotional on-camera interviews with Carpenter make up a significant part of the film, which focuses on his personal story as a gay man who had to hide his sexual orientation during his distinguished tenure as a military officer.
— BLADE Washington

Read the full release here.

 

 
 
EXCLUSIVE: Aldis Hodge (Black Adam) and Lauren E. Banks (City on a Hill) are the latest additions to the cast of The Dutchman, the psychological thriller based on the Obie Award-winning play by Amiri Baraka, which began filming under a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement in September.

The actors join an ensemble that includes André Holland, Kate Mara, Zazie Beetz and Stephen McKinley Henderson, as we were first to tell you. Emmy nominee Andre Gaines (The One and Only Dick Gregory) is directing from his screenplay written with filmmaker Qasim Basir.

The Dutchman‘s producers are Gaines and Emmy nominee Jonathan T. Baker (Sylvie’s Love, The Banker). The film is financed by Gaines’ multi-platform media company, Cinemation Studios, and E.O.A Productions, which previously collaborated on the soundtrack for Gaines’ Showtime doc The One and Only Dick Gregory. Nicole A. Parke and Enoch K. Osei-Acheampong, co-founders and executive board members of E.O.A. Productions, are serving as exec producers. Kyle Townsend and Matt Rachamkin are also exec producing, alongside Joshua Blum and Han West for Washington Square Films, with UTA Independent Film Group repping sales.
— DEADLINE

EXCLUSIVE: André Holland (Passing), Kate Mara (Black Mirror), Zazie Beetz (The Harder They Fall) and Stephen McKinley Henderson (Beau Is Afraid) are set to star in The Dutchman, a psychological thriller based on the Obie Award-winning play by Amiri Baraka that has landed a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement.
— Deadline
 

VOGUE: At The Public, The Harder They Come Sings Its Way to the Stage

If the film’s original songs are still the best potted history of the Jamaican music of the era, the added numbers—whether mined from the same rich musical terrain of the time (it’s my long-held contention that, measured by either population or square mile, Jamaica’s musical contribution to the world is rivaled by no other country on earth) or conjured by Parks—only build on that accolade, and they’re rendered in a spectrum that ranges only from breathtaking to awe-inspiring.
— Vogue

“THE ONE AND ONLY DICK GREGORY” NOMINATED FOR AN EMMY

Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary NOMINEE

 

iAm21 Announces new feature film, “The Knife”

 
 

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award winner Melissa Leo (The FighterI Know This Much I True), Aja Naomi King (Sylvie’s LoveHow to Get Away with Murder), Manny Jacinto (Nine Perfect StrangersThe Good Place) and newcomers Amari Price and Aiden Price will star alongside Nnamdi Asomugha in his feature directorial debut, The Knife, which recently completed production in Los Angeles.

The film written by Asomugha and Mark Duplass is a psychological thriller that follows a family over the course of one night, after a frightening event threatens to dismantle their household and uncover the illusions of their lives.

Asomugha is producing under his iAm21 Productions banner, alongside Jonathan T. Baker and Ami Werges, with Mark and Jay Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, Chijioke Asomugha and Rao Meka serving as executive producers.

Deadline


IAM21 INKS FIRST-LOOK DEAL WITH AMAZON STUDIOS

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Sylvie’s Love star and producer Nnamdi Asomugha has entered into an exclusive first-look deal with Amazon Studios via his iAm21 Entertainment. Under the pact, Asomugha will develop and produce projects to premiere in theatres and on Amazon Prime in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. The deal follows Asomugha’s recent Emmy nomination for outstanding television movie for the Amazon Original movie, Sylvie’s Love.

Former All-Pro NFL player-turned-actor and producer Asomugha stars opposite Tessa Thompson in Sylvie’s Love. In addition to his Emmy nomination, the film has received numerous honors and multiple nominations, including “Best Movie” by the African American Film Critics Association.

 
I’m thrilled to be joining forces with Jennifer Salke and the entire Amazon team. Since Crown Heights, Amazon has been an inspiring and rewarding creative home for me and they’ve consistently supported my desire to tell compelling and authentic stories. I couldn’t be more excited to continue our collaboration.
— Nnamdi Asomugha
 

In 2015, Asomugha founded his production company iAm21 Entertainment and partnered with producer, Jonathan T. Baker, to bring inclusive and diverse stories with mass appeal to a global audience.

As a producer, Asomugha has been behind projects such as the award-winning films, Beasts of No Nation, The Banker and Harriet, as well as the Broadway stage production of American Son.

Deadline

 

‘SYLVIE’S LOVE’ NOMINATED FOR PRIMETIME EMMY AWARD


THE ONE AND ONLY DICK GREGORY

Premiered on Showtime July 4th, 2021

An official Tribeca Film Festival Selection

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SYLVIE’S LOVE NOMINATED FOR TWO CRITIC’S CHOICE AWARDS

“sylvie’s love” nominated for best movie made for television

tessa thompson nominated for best actress in a limited series or movie made for television

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