In the quote heard ’round the world, Terrance Howard thanked his lucky stars that he was able to “make out with Oprah and to have love scenes with her and those tig ol’ bitties.” Those much-talked about love scenes will appear in their upcoming film, “The Butler,” which also stars Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey and was directed by Lee Daniel.

The highly-anticipated film follows Cecil Gaines (Whitaker), an African-American White House butler through multiple presidencies. Cecil is married to Gloria Gaines (Winfrey) and his character is based on the true story of Eugene Allen who served in the White House as head butler for 34 years. Lenny Kravitz, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo and Mariah Carey also appear in the film.

Check out the trailer:

Will you watch when it hit theaters on October 18?

The post First Look: Oprah, Forest Whitaker in “The Butler” (Trailer) — Will You Go See It? appeared first on Clutch Magazine.

It looks like Oprah is continuing to fill her network’s airways with content for and about black folks. Though OWN struggled to find its footing early on, since Oprah took a more visible role on the air and incorporated a more diverse lineup, the network’s ratings have continued to rise.

Yesterday, One Village Entertainment announced that its critically acclaimed documentary, Dark Girls, will premiere on OWN this summer.

The film investigates colorism, self-esteem, and the complicated relationship some black women have with their complexion.

Bill Duke, co-director of the film, said making the film came out of his personal experience:

It came out of an idea I had based upon my childhood, what I’d gone through and seen, and what I’d seen people that I loved go through, like my sister, my niece, and other children in my family, and in my life, and I wanted to really give a voice to the voiceless. I brought the idea to Channsin Berry, my co-executive producer and director. We’d tried to get some investment dollars and we couldn’t find them, so we invested our own money — which is not painless. And why now? Colorism is unfortunately still an issue today. Dark skin is considered less than light skin in the in the minds of many in our community and in the media. We thought that finally it should be addressed, to give a voice to the voiceless.

Dark Girls has been a hit on the film festival circuit since its debut in 2011, but it’s OWN premiere in June will be the first time the doc will appear on TV.

The post ‘Dark Girls’ to Premiere on OWN in June – Will You Be Tuning In? appeared first on Clutch Magazine.

Nicki Minaj’s music may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the rapper has certainly proven she’s marketable. Her lipstick for MAC is reportedly the best-selling of all time, she has settled into her role as a judge on “American Idol,” and now, the Young Money artist is hitting the silver screen.

Nicki has been cast alongside Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton in the upcoming comedy, “The Other Woman.” The movie follows Cameron as she learns she’s the other woman in her relationship. The women, who have all been hurt by the man who plays the lead, band together against him to get revenge. Nicki will play Diaz’s assistant at her law firm who is on her third marriage.

This movie has the requisite cast and entertaining premise to be a real hit. I’m most happy for Minaj who has a background in drama and always seems to be acting anyway. It’s about time her theatrical antics are given the proper channel.

What do you think about this career move for Nicki Minaj, Clutchettes? Would you see the film?

The post Nicki Minaj Lands Role in Comedy “The Other Woman” with Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton appeared first on Clutch Magazine.

Oscar winners Jennifer Hudson and Octavia Spencer are teaming up for a powerful Lifetime original movie about mental illness. “Call Me Crazy: A Five Film” will delve into the stigmas often associated with mental illness as it “brings together an all-star ensemble cast with five interwoven stories about how everlasting bonds of love and family can overcome life’s most challenging hurdles.”

Jennifer Aniston serves as executive producer on the film and believes it’s necessary to erase some of the shame associated with mental illness: “When we started researching this topic, we were all surprised to learn that one in four adults lives with some sort of mental illness. With so many people dealing with this in their private lives, there is still so much stigma and shame. It’s time we bring it out of the closet and into the light of day.”

Nowhere is that more evident than in the black community, where mental illness is not always discussed or addressed in ways that are productive and healthy. Aniston, Hudson and Spencer are lending their names and expertise to “Call Me Crazy” to help get people talking about mental illness and the impact it has on our families.

The movie will make its TV debut on Saturday, April 20, at 8:00pm ET/PT on Lifetime. Will you tune in, Clutchettes?

The post Jennifer Hudson and Octavia Spencer To Star in Lifetime Movie About Mental Illness appeared first on Clutch Magazine.

Netflix for women? Possibly. Women and Girls Lead, a media campaign to empower and activate women in their communities, has launched #SheDocs, an online film festival for women. The fest offers 10 acclaimed women-centric documentaries, including “MAKERS: Women Who Make America.” All of the independently produced documentaries are available to viewers for free in honor of Women’s History Month and feature women conquering obstacles to achieve their dreams.

Losci Ferra, campaign manager for Women and Girls Lead told Ms. that she hopes the documentaries stimulate a legion of girls and women to embrace activism and leadership.

“We want to provide inspiring content about girls and women who are rising into leadership and defying odds. We’re hoping the people watching these films will see these amazing women reflected in themselves,” she said.

#SheDocs is using OVEE, a multimedia platform to promote social screenings similar to live-tweeting. This is crucial to reaching women.

“We can leverage the power of social media to spread the word and expand our reach to new audiences,” Ferra explained.

All the documentaries are being streamed online and Ferra hopes this will fuel women to host screening parties and use social media to spread the world.

“We want people to share these films, talk about them and see how they themselves can contribute to society and take on these leadership capacities,” she told Ms.

Click here to view all of the #SheDocs documentaries.

The post Online Film Festival for Women Launches appeared first on Clutch Magazine.

“The Powerbroker: Whitney Young’s Fight for Civil Rights” documents Young’s boldness during the 1960s as he evolved from freedom fighting in Kentucky to life as a diplomat on the national stage. The documentary chronicles his infiltration into corporate boardrooms and even the White House through three presidential administrations. He attempted to use the master’s tools to dismantle the house, which led to aggressive criticism from those within the movement.

“The Powerbroker,” narrated by Georgia congressman John Lewis, also recounts the overlooking of Young’s achievements in the shadow of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ph.D., and his role as executive director of the National Urban League, which he led from 1961 to 1971.

Young died in Nigeria in 1971 at age 49. Since his death, several schools and facilities have been named in his honor, including First Lady Michelle Obama’s Chicago high school. But Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, doesn’t think Young has received adequate credit for his work, including his instrumental role in developing Job Corps and Head Start.

Morial expressed the importance of Young’s legacy to the Associated Press. “He was one of the earliest voices who said to corporate America … that business leaders and the business community had a stake in the development and rebuilding of urban America, but also in the success of civil rights,” he said.

“The Powerbroker: Whitney Young’s Fight for Civil Rights” is airing on PBS and is being screened in several community theaters. For a list of airings, visit the official website.

Check out the trailer below.

The post A New Film Details Whitney Young’s Life and Legacy appeared first on Clutch Magazine.

Actress Kerry Washington continues to impress with a diverse portfolio, moving seamlessly from playing no-nonsense fixer Olivia Pope in the hit series “Scandal” to troubled slave in need of rescuing Broomhilda in “Django Unchained.” Though her latest role as the star of a romantic comedy is a complete diversion from her last two gritty, serious characters, it promises to be just as compelling.

She will star in “Tyler Perry Presents Peeples,” a big screen adaptation of Tina Gordon Chism’s “We The Peeples.”

Entertainment Weekly reports:

After a year and a half, it’s probably time for your parents to meet your boyfriend. But for the Type A Grace Peeples (Kerry Washington), she’d rather delay it just a little longer. In Tyler Perry Presents Peeples, Grace tells her boyfriend Wade (Craig Robinson) not to accompany her on her trip home to Sag Harbor for Moby Dick Day – a Peeples family tradition.

“Grace hasn’t told her family a lot about [Wade] at all,” Washington told EW. “She loves Wade very, very much and fears that he won’t accept them and they won’t accept him, and it makes her want to avoid the immersion. If she can just hold it off longer, maybe she’ll figure out how to do it perfectly. Or maybe Wade will suddenly become more successful.”

Wade decides to crash anyway.

Director Tina Gordon Chism said, for Wade “it just reached that weird point in the relationship where [he’s] like, ‘I need to meet somebody [in the fam] or I can’t feel good about myself.’” Chism adds: “And his brother pumps him up, saying ,‘You should go! You’re an awesome guy! Kids love you!’ And so he thinks, ‘I’m going to crash, and my girlfriend will see that they’re going to love me because all people love me.’”

Though the class difference is becoming predictable for Perry, the movie’s premise and the dynamic actors including Diahann Carroll and David Alan Grier could make it a must-see film.

Craig Robinson, S. Epatha Merkerson, Melvin Van Peebles and Kali Hawk also appear in the film, which hits theaters on May 10th.

Will you go see it, Clutchettes?

The post First Look at Kerry Washington in “Tyler Perry Presents Peeples” — Will You Watch? appeared first on Clutch Magazine.

Miu Miu is blowing us away! The Italian fashion brand enlisted award-winning director Ava Duvernay to shoot “The Door,” the fifth part of their Musings short series.

The nine minute film features some of our favorites: Gabrielle Union, Alfre Woodard, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Adepero Oduye and Goapele.

The short muses fashion with themes of sisterhood and resilience. It zeroes in on a literal door in the home of the main character (Gabrielle Union) and shows friends coming in through the door to comfort her after a breakup until she finds the strength to move on. Ava Duvernay says: “The door in the film represents a pathway to who we are.”

What do you think of Miu Miu’s “The Door,” Clutchettes?

The post Miu Miu Taps Gabrielle Union, Alfre Woodard, Goapele and More for “The Door” appeared first on Clutch Magazine.

Last year I proudly blogged about Octavia Spencer’s Supporting Actress Oscar win for The Help. Happily, this is the year of milestones and giving major props to the women of color actresses on film in 2012. Making history as the youngest Best Actress Academy Award nominee, newcomer Quvenzhane Wallis has charmed audiences and critics as “Hushpuppy” in Beast of the Southern Wild. At 14 years old, actress Amandla Stenberg is a seasoned veteran of television and film. Amandla broke the color barrier winning the role of “Rue” in The Hunger Games. Starring as the lovely “Bronhilda” in Django Unchained, Kerry Washington turned a milestone with the lead in the ABC hit show, Scandal as the first African-American actress to star in a network drama series in 39 years.

Emayatzy Corinealdi’s feature film debut in Middle of Nowhere earned her a Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. Honored by Women In Film as a Trailblazer, Viola Davis co-starred with Maggie Gyhllenhall in Won’t Back Down. Triple threatTamara Tunie must be the hardest workingwoman in show business. Tamara continued her role as “Melinda Warner” on Law and Order SVU and a film role opposite Oscar nominee Denzel Washington in“Flight”. Ms. Tunie added directing a feature film, See You in September, to a resume that includes Tony Awards for producing Broadway hits, Spring Awakenings and Radio Golf.

Queen Latifah provided the voice of in “Ellie” in Ice Age: Continental Drift, co-starred in A Joyful Noiseand produced the TV remake of Steel Magnolias. Her production company, Flavor Unit Entertainment, hasstruck a deal with Netflix for a multiyear licensing deal.

Playing six unique characters in a ring cycle plot about soul reincarnation; Halle Berry joined an A-list actor ensemble in Cloud Atlas directed by Tom Twyker, Lana Wachowski and Andy Wachowski. Octavia Spencer followed up her Best Supporting Oscar win with roles in independent films Smashed and Blues for Willadean. S. Epatha Merkerson played a pivotal role in Best Film Oscar nominee Lincoln and co-produced and directed a documentary film, Contradictions of Fair Hope.

Fierce are these black women in the entertainment industry who have empowered themselves and self-actualize success in front and behind the camera. According to the AFL-CIO, as of July 2012 there were 3,350 black-female actors employed. The next generation of triple threat talents will have to seize every opportunity. For aspiring producers, writers and directors, there is the CBS Diversity Institute, Project Involve, Sundance Producers Lab, ABC Talent Development, NBC Diversity Initiative, Independent Lens and Withoutabox. As Black History Month begins, let’s celebrate the women of color on film who embraced the challenges of directing, producing and diverse on camera roles in milestone achievements of a year past.

“Beloved, you are my sister, you are my daughter, you are my face; you are me.” Toni Morrison

Follow Yvonna Russell on Twitter: www.twitter.com/StilettoFilms

This post originally appeared on Huffington Post. Republished with permission.

The post A Celebration of Black Women on Film in 2012 appeared first on Clutch Magazine.

Jennifer Hudson blew us away as Effie in “Dreamgirls” but we haven’t seen the Academy Award-winning actress in as dramatic a role since. A new film, “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete,” requires that Hudson play a darker, more sinister character. In the drama, which premieres tomorrow at Sundance Film Festival, the audience meets “a deglamorized Hudson displays dramatic chops that have been underused since Dreamgirls, landing some moving moments,” says The Hollywood Reporter.

Co-produced by Alicia Keys and written by Micheal Starrbury, “Mister and Pete” follows two young boys, who are abandoned when their mother is taken to prison, as they fight to survive in dangerous, crime-ridden Brooklyn projects.

Catch a sneak peek of the film below that also stars Jordin Sparks and Anthony Mackie:

Source/Source

The post Sneak Peek: Jennifer Hudson’s Gutsy Role in New Film ‘The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete.’ appeared first on Clutch Magazine.