Mitchell Beaupre
The Critics Choice Association has announced additional honorees and presenters for their Third Annual Celebration of Black Cinema. This year’s ceremony will be virtual and is to be hosted by Bevy Smith on February 2nd, 2021. It will then be broadcast on KTLA in Los Angeles on February 6th.
The late Chadwick Boseman will receive their Performance of the Year Award for his breathtaking work in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Boseman’s death in August of this year was a surprise to many, but he left us one final performance, arguably his very best, and the CCA will honor him with one of their biggest awards.
They’re also honoring the actor by giving a donation in his name to the Academy Gold Program, set up by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Scientists to provide students scholarship opportunities to join this development, diversity, and inclusion initiative that focuses on underrepresented communities.
Another pair of newly announced honorees is Zendaya and John David Washington, who will be given the NextGen Award for their work in the Netflix release Malcolm & Marie. While most of us are waiting until February 5th to be able to see the film, it’s already generated plenty of awards buzz from those who have seen it, particularly for the performances of its two leads. Zendaya is fresh off of her first Emmy win, for her work in the HBO series Euphoria, and Washington has taken the world by storm with his leading roles in Spike Lee’s 2018 award winner BlacKkKlansman and one of the biggest films of this year, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. It’s hard to imagine any two actors better representing the future of cinema than these two.
Judas and the Black Messiah is another film general audiences are anxiously waiting for their opportunity to see, as it’s built up a groundswell of buzz from critics who have witnessed this historical retelling of events leading up to the death of Black Panther chairman Fred Hampton in 1969. Our own Joey Magidson is a huge fan of the film and I’m sure agrees with the CCA’s decision to award director Shaka King with their Director Award.
Finally, Olympic gold medalist Tommie Smith will be given the Social Justice Award in recognition of the new film With Drawn Arms, an intimate conversation with the athlete and activist reflecting on the iconic moment at the 1968 Olympic Games where he raised his fist while accepting his medal in protest of racial inequality.
These honorees will join the previously announced Delroy Lindo (Career Achievement Award), John Legend and Mike Jackson (the Producers Award), Tessa Thompson (the Actor Award), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (the Breakthrough Award), Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom, Jr. (the Ensemble Award),and Andra Day (Special Honoree Award) to receive these awards from the Critics Choice Association.
Presenters for the ceremony will include Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Jonathan Majors, Taraji P. Henson, Aaron Sorkin, Lee Daniels, Dominique Fishback, and many more.
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