Film / TVVideos

watch lupita nyong’o in ava duvernay’s ‘august 28’ short film

August 29, 2018
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August 28th is an important day in Black and African American history, owing to the prominent events that took place on the day over the course of time. Ava DuVernay was tapped by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington D.C., to create a project that reflected on the historically significant date.

DuVernay created a short film called ‘August 28: A Day in the Life of a People’ to commemorate events like the abolition of slavery in the U.K on August 28, 1833; the lynching of Emmett Till on August 28, 1955; Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech on August 28, 1963; the tragic landfall of Hurricane Katrina on August 28, 2005; and Barack Obama’s acceptance of the Democratic nomination for President on August 28, 2008.

Was commissioned to create an installation about Black people in America by Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture. So, I called a bunch of friends to make a film about a day that I’ve long held dear. August 28. We use words of black poets as dialogue to frame interactions of uncentered African-Americans colliding with key moments in history. Tonight, AUGUST 28 airs for the first time anywhere outside of the @NMAAHC only on @OWNTV. Thanks to Angela Bassett, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o, Don Cheadle, Glynn Turman, Michael Ealy, Gugu Mbatha Raw and Regina King for coming along for this journey. Plus, cinematographer Malik Sayeed, composer Meshell Ndegeocello, producer Paul Garnes and editor Spencer Averick. It was an honor through and through.

A post shared by Ava DuVernay (@ava) on Aug 28, 2018 at 2:40pm PDT

Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o stars in the film, alongside other Black Hollywood royalty like Angela Basset, Regina King, Don Cheadle, David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Andre Holland and Michael Ealy. The film was previously only available for viewing inside the National Museum as a cinematic installation but the film also made a television debut yesterday on August 28th, on OWN.

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