Hey nerds! Another week, another bevy of treasures to sink our teeth into our diverse ‘verse of creators and content. Let’s jump right in, folks!
Black Twitter is coming (for you, Jon Snow)
The final season of Game of Thrones premiered last Sunday (freaking FINALLY) and there were a lot of opinions. And feels. But mostly opinions. From future Queen of Wakanda Lupita Nyong’o to YouTube Royalty Jackie Aina, Black Twitter had a lot to say. And like Bran, I. Am. Here. For. It.
Source: Watchers on the Wall
Oh, what a Nunderful world
Hold on to your habits, horror fans, New Line Cinema announced that it will be continuing its The Conjuring Universe with a sequel to The Nun, the most successful installment of the franchise, despite being universally panned by audiences and critics alike. According to Deadline, Akela Cooper has been tapped as the screenwriter for The Nun 2 script. Cooper is well acquainted with the horror and sci-fi genres and her writing credits include the Lionsgate/CBS film Hell Fest, Marvel Television’s Luke Cage, and the upcoming A.I. doll thriller M3gan from The Conjuring Godfather James Wan. Though horror has been an overwhelmingly male-dominated part of the genre to date, she joins the growing ranks of womxn who have been shaking up the industry, including Jennifer Kent (The Babadook, The Nightingale), Julia Ducournau (Raw), Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night), Alice Lowe (Prevenge), and Vera Miao (Two Sentence Horror Stories). No plot details or release date has been set yet, but Ms. Cooper appears to to be stoked to be part of the project, saying, “Black girls love horror too!! Happy to be a part of this awesome, terrifying universe!”
Source: Geeks WorldWide
Yes we AfriCAN
Netflix announced on Tuesday that it will be launching its first original African animated series, Mama K’s Team 4. Created by Zambian writer Malenga Mulendema, one of eight winners of a pan-African talent search initiated by Triggerfish Story Lab initiative in 2015, the story will focus on the lives of four teenage girls living in a neo-futuristic version of Lusaka, Zambia after they are recruited by a retired secret agent committed to saving the world. Designed by Cameroonian artist Malcolm Wope, the animation was heavily inspired by retro-’90s R&B and hip hop girl groups, according to the announcement made by Netflix. Mama K’s Team 4 will join a growing slate of original animated programming by Netflix designed for a global audience of kids and families, brought to 190 countries by artists and creators from around the world. Melissa Cobb, Vice President of Original Animation at Netflix, shared, “Mama K’s Team 4 has the potential to give a whole new generation of African children the opportunity to see themselves on-screen in the powerful, aspirational characters they look up to.” Netflix is also putting their money where their mouth by launching a continent-wide search for local female writing talent. Vanessa Ann Sinden, Triggerfish’s Development Producer added, “Female writers from Africa who have had their work produced for either TV, film or theatre can find out more about the Writers Lab and how to apply from the careers page of our website, http://careers.triggerfish.com/.” Animate the change you want to see in the world, friends.
Source: Variety
Telling stories with his hands
ASL advocate and artist, Daniel N. Durant, announced on his social media channels that he will be joining Season Two of the extra creepy (put curtains on your windows, folks), extra addictive Netflix series, You. Durant said, “Looking forward to coming to LA and working with the amazing cast and crew during the first week of May! See you all soon!” He is best known for portraying Moritz in the critically acclaimed 2014 Deaf West production of Spring Awakening and as the recurring character of Matthew on the television series Switched at Birth. In 2015, he was profiled in a The New York Times: Snapshot. Durant talked about what drew him to acting and telling stories with his hands, “In school, I was the only deaf kid with an interpreter, and it was difficult to coordinate my culture with the hearing culture. They shunned me because they were different than I was, and they made fun of me. I created my own worlds because I was in my own world.” Congrats, Daniel!
Source: RIT
It’s my party and I can come out if I want to
Lachlan Watson of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina sits down to talk about a different kind of queer coming out story with MTV on their Twitter account. “What was really, really important for me with this upcoming season was to show a powerful, strong, queer character who never has to be saved. They can, in fact, save other people,” Lachlan says of Part 2 of the series. Watson, who identifies as non-binary, adds in a sit down with io9, that part of why they took this role was to “…start a conversation and to have a conversation, because that’s what the world is missing right now.” While coming out stories in tv, film, or literature are not uncommon–by any means–allowing for nuance and normalization of queer stories along the spectrum of identities is still something desperately needed for all to feel represented.
Source: Out
Drop me a line! Send me leads, tips, announcements, or your favorite horror movie with a strong female lead at paloma@templeofgeek.com.
