INDEPENDENT LENS I Am Not Your Negro Receives Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary Feature Film
(San Francisco, CA) — JANUARY 24, 2017—Independent Lens is pleased to announce that I Am Not Your Negro has been nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
A film by Raoul Peck, I Am Not Your Negro envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, a radical narration about race in America, using the writer’s original words, as read by actor Samuel L. Jackson. The film draws upon James Baldwin’s notes on the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. to explore and bring a fresh perspective to the current racial narrative in America. The film will premiere on Independent Lens in the upcoming season.
"We are exceptionally proud to have funded I Am Not Your Negro four years ago when Raoul began active production on his masterpiece," said Lois Vossen, Independent Lens Executive Producer, who worked with Peck throughout the making of his film. "He has given us a completely original film that brings James Baldwin's words to life."
The Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 26, 2017.
About Independent Lens
Independent Lens Is an Emmy® Award-winning weekly series airing on PBS Monday nights at 10:00 PM. The acclaimed series, with Lois Vossen as executive producer, features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers. Presented by ITVS, the series is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, with additional funding from PBS, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more visit pbs.org/independentlens. Join the conversation: facebook.com/independentlens and on Twitter @IndependentLens.
###