The nominations for the 24th Annual Black Reel Awards are in. After close inspection, the black and gold Bolt award might seem to have a touch of purple on it as the classic Alice Walker novel, The Color Purple reclaims its heritage by dominating the awards this year.
The film adaptation of the acclaimed musical, The Color Purple danced and sang its way to nineteen nominations, almost double the number of the nearest competitor, Rustin, and setting the mark for the most nominations for a musical. Blitz Bazawule’s stylish feature gathered him nominations for Outstanding Film, Outstanding Director and Outstanding Emerging Director. The cast received one Outstanding Lead Performance nomination for Fantasia Barrino, three Outstanding Supporting Performance nominations and three Outstanding Breakthrough Performance nominations. Purple also swept the musical and technical categories, receiving nominations in every one, except Outstanding Cinematography. Fantasia Barrino became the second American Idol contestant to receive a nomination for acting (Jennifer Hudson).
With being recognized for his supporting work in The Color Purple, Colman Domingo received his second nomination for his lead performance in Netflix’s civil rights story, Rustin, which received ten Black Reel Award nominations. Domingo is the thirteenth person to be nominated in both lead and supporting categories in the same year. Jamie Foxx also achieved the feat this year (The Burial, They Cloned Tyrone) and became the first person to achieve it twice.
Cord Jefferson stood out this year by grabbing five nominations of his own, tying for the largest number of nominations by any one person with fellow writer/director A.V. Rockwell. Rockwell and Jefferson mirrored each other in nominations being both writer and director of their respective films. Both were nominated for Outstanding First Screenplay, Outstanding Screenplay, Outstanding Emerging Director and Outstanding Director. Rockwell’s film, A Thousand and One was nominated for Best Independent film while Jefferson’s film is in the Outstanding Film race.
The Outstanding Film field is filled with quality and is destined to be the most interesting category of the Black Reel Awards this year. Joining The Color Purple and Rustin are Ava DuVernay’s powerhouse film, Origin, first-time director Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction and the visually stunning, animated feature Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the third animated feature to be entered into the Outstanding Film category. Spider-Verse set itself apart from the others by being the first animated film to also receive nominations for Outstanding Editing and Outstanding Production Design.
Congratulations to Quincy Jones and Francine Jamison-Tanchuck. Quincy Jones became the oldest person to receive a nomination as a producer of a film. At ninety years old Mr. Jones continues to excel. Jamison-Tanchuck is the first costume designer to receive nominations for two movies in the same year. She worked with Jones on The Color Purple and outfitted Jamie Foxx and company in They Cloned Tyrone.
Also of note: Beyoncé grabbed her seventh nomination for Outstanding Original Song for “My House” from her nominated documentary Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé. Beyoncé’s film became the first documentary to be nominated for Outstanding Production and Outstanding Costume Design and Beyoncé became the first person to be nominated in documentary, musical and professional categories in the same year.
What’s in store for this season? Who will walk away with the prestigious Bolt trophy this year? Tune in to the combined 24th Annual Black Reel Movie Awards and 7th Annual Black Reel TV Awards ceremonies presented together in one show on Tuesday, January 16, 2024.
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