AVA DUVERNAY

The world knows the city of Selma, Alabama, as a historic beacon in the struggle for voting rights.

As we all know, February is Black History Month, so it’s a great time to brush up on Black history and educate yourself.

The renowned Black scholar Adolph Reed opposes the politics of anti-racism, describing it as a cover for capitalism.

Will Smith wouldn’t seem an obvious candidate for a mid-life crisis.

In this world, there’s a book for everybody.

Kaepernick described how pro hopefuls are treated at the combine, where prospects undergo physical and mental tests in front of team coaches and executives.

This week’s new entertainment releases include new albums from Ed Sheeran and The War on Drugs as well as “Army of Thieves,” a prequel to Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead,” which invites viewers to join a Europe-trotting heist.

An 11th-hour deal has been reached and a strike that would have shut down film and television productions across the U.S. was averted.

A major Hollywood strike could be on the horizon for some 60,000 behind-the-scenes workers in the entertainment industry.

It's premiere time for the film academy's long-awaited museum.

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., questioned Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about the agency's mask guidance that was released on Thursday for people who are vaccinated for COVID-19.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Oprah Winfrey, Ava DuVernay, Riz Ahmed, Dua Lipa, Andra Day and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson all won honors Tuesday at the Webby Awards, which recognize the best internet content and creators.

The historic nomination of two female directors signals that Hollywood is changing. A look at 13 women who are making waves in the film industry.

Inspired by the racial justice protests of 2020, Jahm Najafi is ready to shed his normally low profile to make some headlines for his partnerships and philanthropy.

Director Haile Gerima appears at the 65th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Sept. 2, 2008, left, and Sophia Loren arrives at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles on Oct. 27, 2019. Loren and independent filmmaker Haile Gerima will be honored with special awards by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. (Photos by Andrew Medichini/AP, left, and Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is assembling a star-studded cast for its opening gala in September. Italian screen legend Sophia Loren and independent filmmaker Haile Gerima will be honored with special awards, and Tom Hanks, Annette Bening and Bob Iger are being saluted for their efforts to raise $388 million for the long gestating museum, the organization said Monday. Designed by architect Renzo Piano, The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is located at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in the historic Saban Building.

She’s only the second woman in the history of the Globes to win, and the first since Barbra Streisand won for “Yentl” in 1984. Its star, guerilla comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, also won best actor in a comedy. “The Queen's Gambit” won best limited series, and best actress in the category for Anya Taylor-Joy. “Schitt's Creek,” the Pop TV series that found a wider audience on Netflix, won best comedy series for its final season. Catherine O'Hara also took best actress in a comedy series.

As we all know, February is Black History Month, so it’s a great time to brush up on Black history and educate yourself.

Bruce Springsteen, left, appears with former President Barack Obama during their podcast of conversations recorded at Springsteen's home studio in New Jersey. The eight-episode series covers their upbringings, racism, fatherhood and even recall a White House singalong around a piano. (Rob DeMartin/Spotify via AP)NEW YORK – Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen are teaming up for an eight-episode Spotify podcast series, swapping stories about their upbringings and even a White House singalong around a piano. The seemingly offbeat relationship between the former president and rock star began when Springsteen performed benefits for Obama during his presidential campaigns. Springsteen uses a few of those guitars during the course of the podcast.

Ava DuVernay talks inclusion initiative in Hollywood, "Queen Sugar," and remembering Cicely Tyson Filmmaker Ava DuVernay is expressing her commitment to a more inclusive Hollywood with a brand-new database called "Array Crew." DuVernay discusses why she built the database to connect hiring managers and talented crew members in film and TV who are women and people of color. She also remembers actress Cicely Tyson.

FILE - In this May 1, 2019, file photo, actress Carol Sutton arrives at the World Premiere of "Poms" in Los Angeles. Sutton, a fixture on stages in her native New Orleans who built a steady career on the big and small screens, including roles in the 1989 comedy Steel Magnolias and the TV series Queen Sugar, has died Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, from complications from COVID-19, according to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. Sutton was 76. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)NEW YORK – Actor Carol Sutton, a fixture on stages in her native New Orleans who built a steady career on the big and small screens, including roles in the 1989 comedy “Steel Magnolias” and the TV series “Queen Sugar,” has died from complications from COVID-19, according to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. Sutton was 76.

NEW YORK – Former President Barack Obama, already a million-selling author, is also a prize-winning author. During the ceremony, Obama and historian Ron Chernow, a former PEN board president, will discuss freedom of expression and the importance of truth in a world of misinformation. Obama’s previous books include “Dreams from My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.”“As an organization of writers, we have always seen President Obama not just as a leader, but as one of us: an author. His probing and evocative narratives helped introduce the world to his unique background, and the power of his life experience as a prompt toward a more pluralistic and encompassing society,” PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement. PEN presented its first Voice of Influence Award in 2019 to filmmaker Ava DuVernay.

NEW YORK – One of the five teens wrongly imprisoned for the assault on a Central Park jogger has a memoir coming out in the spring. The five Black and Latino teens were coerced into confessing to a rape they didn’t commit in 1989. Ken Burns made a documentary about them and Ava DuVernay directed a Netflix series. “One of the most powerful lessons I learned while being wrongfully incarcerated was that instead of going through something, I was going to grow through something," Salaam said in a statement. “Punching the Air,” co-written by Ibi Zoboi, came out in September.

NEW YORK – Filmmaker Ava DuVernay will be honored next month by MacDowell, which is presenting its inaugural Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award to her media company and arts collective ARRAY. The award is named for the co-founder of MacDowell, the century-old artist residency in Peterborough, New Hampshire, where James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein and many others have been visiting fellows. DuVernay, known for such acclaimed movies as “Selma” and “13th," founded ARRAY in 2012 as a way of amplifying the work of women and people of color. “I am touched that our narrative change collective ARRAY, which is built upon a mission to articulate and amplify stories from the widest range of art makers, is being honored in Ms. MacDowell’s name,” DuVernay said in a statement Sunday. Actress and former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, Jane Alexander, will present the award.

I want to commend them for trying and for putting together a criteria because we know criteria is a way to counter bias, said Smith. Five years ago, the film academy endeavored to significantly diversify its own membership. The best picture adjustment is just one of the effort. Others include implementing a set 10 best picture nominees starting at the 94th Oscars and mandatory unconscious bias training for academy members. The best picture standards were specifically designed to be flexible and give latitude to filmmakers.

This image released by BBC America shows Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in a scene from "Planet Earth: A Celebration." The special debuts at 8 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 31, on BBC America, AMC, SundanceTV and IFC. (BBC Studios/BBC America via AP)

Heres a collection curated by The Associated Press entertainment journalists of whats arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week. Infused with a hip-hop energy and a solidly anarchic spirit, Get Duked! is the directorial debut of music video director Ninian Doff. Katy Perry says shes been on a real emotional, psychological and spiritual journey... to find my smile in the last three years since releasing her Witness album. AP Music Editor Mesfin FekaduTELEVISIONWhether the new season of CBS Love Island includes any version of love remains to be seen, but its definitely not on an island. Love Island, with host Arielle Vandenberg and narrator Matthew Hoffman, debuts 8 p.m. EDT Monday with a two-hour episode, followed by nightly episodes at 9 p.m. EDT.

And on Tuesday, Winfrey announced she had chosen Isabel Wilkerson's exploration of race and hierarchy in the U.S., Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, as her latest book club pick. Wilkerson's book, Winfrey said in a telephone interview, could change the way we see each other, how we see our humanity and the structure of our world." Caste continues Winfrey's book club partnership with Apple that began last fall and includes such previous picks as Ta-Nehisi Coates' novel The Water Dancer and the nonfiction Hidden Valley Road, by Robert Kolker. Winfrey said many details in Caste were revelatory for her, such as the Nazis' admiration for the Jim Crow system. She read Caste a few months ago, before bound, printed copies were available.

LOS ANGELES Colin Kaepernick is joining with Emmy-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay on a Netflix drama series about the teenage roots of the former NFL players activism. Colin in Black & White will examine Kaepernick's high school years to illuminate the experiences that shaped his advocacy, Netflix said Monday. Too often we see race and Black stories portrayed through a white lens, Kaepernick said in a statement. Writing by on the six-episode series was completed in May, the streaming service said. Kaepernick will appear as himself as the limited series' narrator, Netflix said.

In this image released by NBC, Jason Beghe portrays Hank Voight, left, in a scene from the crime series "Chicago PD." The divide between crime fiction and real life dates back to the genre's origins, more than 200 years ago. Law enforcement violence and corruption were extreme in the mid-19th century and some police forces were rooted in the patrols that used to chase down runaway slaves. Meanwhile, The police in early crime fiction were depicted as good, courageous, and brilliant, says Otto Penzler, the crime fiction publisher and bookseller. Over the past 50 years, the image of law enforcement has sometimes mirrored debates between liberals and conservatives.

LOS ANGELES Filmmaker Ava DuVernay has been elected to the film academys Board of Governors for the first time. The academy has increased the number of women and people of color on the board. Incumbent governors reelected include Whoopi Goldberg, Dolemite Is My Name screenwriter Larry Karaszewski and Participant Media CEO David Linde among others. The organization that puts on the Oscars said that the number of women on the board has gone from 25 to 26 and people of color from 11 to 12. The Board of Governors represent each of the academys 17 branches and work to set the organizations strategy, finances and fulfillment of its mission.

Netflix‘13th’Directed by Ava DuVernay (she’ll come up again in this list), the documentary shows you how America changed after the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, but also kickstarted the prison boom in America. ‘Moonlight’This Oscar-winning picture tells the story of a young black gay man living in Miami. chronicles the Central Park Five, a group of young black teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of a crime they didn’t commit. The documentary tells the story of the days of protests, unrest and riots that followed. It’s a great film that shows how two different groups of people can react to fatal police shootings.

FILE - In this Jan. 17, 2014, file photo, director Lynn Shelton poses at the premiere of the film "Laggies" during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah. Shelton, an independent filmmaker who directed Humpday and Little Fires Everywhere, has died at age 54. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP, File)LOS ANGELES Lynn Shelton, an independent filmmaker who directed Humpday and Little Fires Everywhere, has died. Sheltons publicist, Adam Kersh, said in a statement Saturday that she died Friday in Los Angeles from an unidentified blood disorder. He was a frequent collaborator with Shelton, starring in her 2009 film Humpday, which was a depiction of male sexuality through a female lens.

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Betty Gilpin in a scene from "The Hunt." (Patti Perret/Universal Pictures via AP)NEW YORK, N.Y. – Last fall, the violent satire “The Hunt” became ensnarled by some of the very politics it so playfully parodies. Universal Pictures pulled “The Hunt” from release after a series of deadly shootings and wave of right-wing criticism, including from President Trump. It’s a heightened, bipartisan farce that puts the red-vs-blue vitriol of social media into a bloody action-movie blender. “We were living through a version of what happens in ‘The Hunt,’ in a way,” says Zobel.

"Selma" scene filmed on bridge named for KKK leader Filming on Alabama's Edmund Pettus Bridge offered director Ava DuVernay a way to anger the ghosts of racism. Watch Bob Simon's report on the film "Selma" Sunday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

"Selma" director Ava DuVernay on debate over movie's historical accuracy The acclaimed and controversial film "Selma" shows the struggle leading up to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It's the first major film to focus on Martin Luther King Jr. The film's director, Ava DuVernay, joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss the debate over the film's historical accuracy.