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Prime Video's Brothers is accompanied by a unique soundtrack that perfectly matches its own quirky story. The film, directed by Max Barbakow (Palm Springs) and starring Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Josh Brolin (Avengers), Glenn Close (Dangerous Liaisons), and more, is a buddy road trip and heist crime comedy all in one. Naturally, this would require an equally interesting mix of songs to set the moodfrom artists like Jane's Addiction and Poison to Hal Leonard Jazz Band and Seor Soul. The various songs of the Brothers soundtrack brought the outrageous comedy easily to life.

Brothers follows a pair of twin brothers who have been partners in crimes since they were children. However, as adults, one was sent to prison while the other did all he could to get a clean start. Everything falls apart for the latter brother, Moke, when the former, Jady, gets out of prison under the terms...

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem soundtrack features a collection of songs that reflect the turtles' history and New York City setting, including classic East Coast hip-hop tracks. The movie includes songs by Dmx, A Tribe Called Quest, and more, as well as Vanilla Ice's "Ninja Rap" from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. Audiences can listen to a Tmnt: Mutant Mayhem soundtrack of music that inspired the movie and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score on music streaming platforms.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem soundtrack is filled with songs that connect to the turtles' history and updated story. The animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is the latest attempt from Paramount to bring the iconic quartet of heroes in a half-shell to the big screen. It features an all-star cast of voice actors, including actual teenagers to voice Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo,...

Nelson Mandela, the iconic anti-apartheid leader who went from 27 years as a political prisoner to eventually becoming the first president of a free South Africa, will be the subject of the 30-hour scripted TV series “Mandela.” The project is currently the works at writer/producer Josh Wakely’s Grace: A Storytelling Company shingle.

Wakely has secured the TV series life rights to the late Mandela via House of Mandela Entertainment, the media arm of the Mandela estate. Wakely will executive produce and write “Mandela,” along with South African writer/director Kagiso Lediga (“Queen Sono”) and producer Kweku Mandela (who is also Nelson Mandela’s grandson).

The project, which Wakely compares to a multi-season saga in the vein of Netflix’s “The Crown,” will center on Mandela’s life as he was sent to prison while aiming to end apartheid, the system of institutional racism and segregation that was administered in South Africa for generations.

Mbongeni Ngema, a distinguished South African musician and creator of the musical “Sarafina!,” died on Wednesday in a car accident. He was 68.

“Ngema was killed in a head-on car accident while returning from a funeral he was attending in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape this evening,” his family said in a statement to the Associated Press. It is understood that he was a passenger in the car.

A playwright, producer and composer, he is best known for creating the 1987 stage musical “Sarafina!,” which tells the tale of a student woman who sees her teacher sent to jail and inspires other to fight against the racial segregation system known as apartheid. In 1981, he also created “Woza Albert,” a satirical stage drama in which Jesus Christ returns to Earth as a black South African.

“Sarafina!,” with lyrics co-written by Hugh Masekela, first opened at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg with Leleti Khumalo in the title role.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and music go together like the Ninja Turtles and pizza; the two are intrinsically linked. From the iconic theme song of the 1987 animated series, to Vanilla Ice’s tie-in “Ninja Rap” for 1991’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, and even their semi-forgotten 1990 stage rock and roll musical Coming Out of Their Shells, no matter the genre, these green teens are always rocking big tunes.

With music playing such a big role in the Turtles’ history, director Jeff Rowe and executive producer Seth Rogen had to be extra thoughtful when selecting the songs for the soundtrack of the Turtles’ latest film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. With its distinctive animation style, the feature film finds our pizza-loving Turtles escaping their sheltered existence in the sewers as they seek to be accepted as normal teenagers through acts of heroism.

What would...

Betty Davis, a soul and funk singer of the 1960s whose growling, raspy vocal style and unapologetically explicit lyrics would influence future performers from Prince and Erykah Badu to Outkast, died today of natural causes at her home in Homestead, Pennsylvania. She was 77.

Her death was announced by lifelong friend Connie Portis, who said in a statement, “It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of Betty Davis, a multi-talented music influencer and pioneer rock star, singer, songwriter, and fashion icon. Most of all, Betty was a friend, aunt, niece, and beloved member of her community of Homestead, Pennsylvania, and of the worldwide community of friends and fans.”

Born Betty Mabry, the North Carolina native moved to New York City at 16 to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology. Modeling for such magazines as Glamour and Seventeen, she was drawn to the burgeoning music scene of Greenwich Village,...

George Ferencz, a longtime mainstay of the Off Broadway scene who directed premieres and revivals of plays by Sam Shepard, Aishah Rahman and Amiri Baraka, died Sept. 14 following a long illness. He was 74.

Showbiz & Media Figures We’ve Lost In 2021 – Photo Gallery

His death was announced today by the three-time Emmy-winning costumer designer Sally Lesser, his wife of 35 years and collaborator on more than 65 theater productions.

Among the other then-new playwrights directed by Ferencz in significant stagings were Jean-Claude van Itallie, Mac Wellman and Yasmine Rana. Ferencz also directed established works by playwrights including Eugene O’Neill, Bertolt Brecht, Tennessee Williams, Sean O’Casey and Agatha Christie.

“We would regularly run into his colleagues and former students on the street,” actor Jenne Vath, who worked in numerous Ferencz productions, said in a statement. “They would invariably say that George changed their life. George was a great spirit and a rock star...

It has not been an easy year for theater lovers, who have mostly made do with well-filmed performances of shows like “Hamilton” and “David Byrne’s American Utopia.”

In contrast to those projects, Liesl Tommy’s Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect” was created as an original film, but it works best when envisioned as a Broadway-style jukebox musical.

Tommy and writer Tracey Scott Wilson are making their cinematic debuts with this sturdy retelling of Franklin’s early life and career. However, they come to the project with impressive stage backgrounds, which inform every aspect of their approach. Any stage, of course, needs a star who can command the space. That the story intermittently recedes into the background might be problematic, were it not for the fact that the spotlight remains resolutely focused on a captivating Jennifer Hudson, who was chosen for the role by Franklin herself, before she passed away in...

It is remarkable how few people know that the same person produced Bob Dylan’s three defining early albums (as well as “Like a Rolling Stone”), the first two Velvet Underground albums, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention’s debut “Freak Out” and pivotal music by jazz legends Sun Ra and Cecil Taylor (including tracks with John Coltrane), among many others.

It was Tom Wilson, a visionary music producer who died in 1978 at the age of 47.

He was even the man who in 1965 overdubbed a folk-rock backing onto a song he’d recorded the previous year by an acoustic duo who had already split up and were living on different continents — that would be Simon & Garfunkel — resulting in the smash hit that ignited their career, “Sounds of Silence” (the duo quickly reunited and hastily recorded a new album). He also produced key songs by the Animals (the classic “Don’t Bring Me Down”), Nico,...

One of the biggest sensations to emerge out of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival was the documentary feature debut of music virtuoso Questlove, “Summer of Soul.” This joyous chronicle of the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 — known as “the Black Woodstock” — won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in the festival’s Documentary section. It was quickly scooped up by Searchlight Pictures, which will release the film in theaters and simultaneously on Hulu on July 2. As Questlove served as the music producer for the 93rd Academy Awards this year, it was fitting the studio dropped the first trailer during the ceremony. Check it out below.

The debut from Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, who has been the drummer of hip-hop band The Roots for over three decades, serves up a different slice of music history in the pivotal year of 1969. During the same summer as Woodstock, a different music festival took place 100 miles away.

In 2016, I devoted months shooting the rise of counterculture in Soweto, South Africa, and documenting Tcyif, a punk band largely responsible for spearheading the movement. Our shared mornings would begin at a small residential house infamously known as “The Dogg Pound” in Dube, Soweto. The hours that passed would take us on meaningless adventures from the garage (where jam sessions were held) into the nooks and crannies of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest township. Tciyf’s relationship with the pulse of the township is tightly tethered to their belief in celebrating Black counterculture.

“Summer of Soul,” Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s acclaimed documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, has been acquired by the Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures in a deal that also will bring the film to Hulu.

The documentary, which won both the Grand Jury prize and Audience award at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, served as the directorial debut for Thompson, who has been the drummer of hip-hop band The Roots for over three decades. “Summer of Soul” will have a theatrical release, will stream in the United States on Hulu, and will stream internationally on Star and Star+. Premiere dates have not been announced.

“I’m so honored to be allowed to manifest my dreams after all this time,” Thompson said in a statement. “This is truly an honor. ‘Summer Of Soul’ is a passion project and to have it resonate with so many people on so many levels has been incredibly rewarding.

Premiering tonight at the semi-virtual Sundance Film Festival, Summer Of Soul is both an exhilarating and chastising experience.

Unearthing a cultural sarcophagus of 1969 Black America, the dexterous directorial debut about 1969’s Harlem Cultural Festival by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is full of triumphal performances from some of the greatest musicians of that era and any other.

This is living hidden history that you need to hear and know, as Gladys Knight says in the documentary: “It wasn’t just about the music.”

Completed during the Covid-19 crisis, the nearly two-hour Summer of Soul moves through time and memory with sit-down interviews with people who were in the 300,000 strong crowd or up on-stage. Yet, like a previous Sundance opening night documentary, 2015’s What Happened Miss Simone? (which actually contains about 30-seconds of the 1969 footage), the brutal reality of how much of the oppression and...

A pulsating panorama of “Black, beautiful, proud” people, “Summer of Soul,” is . But this one, which marks the directorial debut of The Roots drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, comes with a most unfortunate history: Its film reels were buried in a basement for 50 years, largely unseen, until now.

The “Questlove Jawn,” as it’s introduced in opening credits, covers the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, aka “The Black Woodstock.” The name stuck over the years not only because the concerts coincided with that other big rock festival upstate. The idea for the event flowered from the ashes of the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X, as well as the Civil Rights movement, and was created to celebrate African-American music, culture and politics, and to promote Black pride and unity.

It wasn’t the first time. The initial Harlem Cultural Festival took place in 1967, when a thirtysomething Harlemite singer named...

There are seven episodes in “Lost Notes: 1980,” the latest season of the Kcrw podcast series looking at the stories behind songs and artists that range from household names to less familiar figures and moments in the music world. All seven of these latest chapters, hosted by writer and poet Hanif Abdurraqib, were released at the same time.

Aside from giving the chance for listeners of the show to experience these stories from four decades past in full, Abdurraqib explains that dropping the whole season at once came from a desire for the season to have a rhythm and shape akin to an album.

“We kind of agonized over the order,” Abdurraqib told IndieWire. “I assume people will listen to the whatever one interests them first. But there are some that create bridges between each other. The Minnie Riperton one flows kind of seamlessly with the Grace Jones one — Disco Demolition...

Tony Allen performs songs from his final record Rejoice in the new short film, Tony Allen Live in London.

Shot last March, the clip documents two performances from the late Nigerian drum legend, who died in April at the age of 79. The shows were in support Rejoice — released that same month — which features contributions from trumpet player Hugh Masekela.

The short film features bassist Mutale Chashi and South African trumpet player Claude Deppa sitting beside Allen before a performance at London’s Church of Sound. Deppa stepped in for Masekela,...

Julie Dash (“Daughters of the Dust”) is in pre-production on a feature documentary about the life and works of writer, culinary anthropologist, actor, and broadcast journalist, Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor. Titled “Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl,” the project has been awarded a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities (Neh), as part of the Neh’s mission to preserve American history and cultural heritage. It marks Dash’s first feature film since 2002’s TV movie “The Rosa Parks Story.”

Smart-Grosvenor, who died in 2016 at the age of 79, enjoyed a multifaceted career that locates her at the heart of five twentieth century movements: the Beat Literary Arts Movement, the Black Power/Black Arts Movement, New Black Cinema, and Food as Cultural Memory. She first gained attention with her 1970 book, “Vibration Cooking, or the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl,” referred to as an autobiographical cookbook, using her rural Allendale County, S.

Today, we celebrate the birthday of Hugh Masekela, popularly known as Father of South African Jazz. He was also one of the leading personalities not only in the field of music but also in politics too. He was a leading activist during his country?s rule under the repressive apartheid government. Hugh was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and singer.?

His main inspiration for taking up the trump came from the film?Young Man With a Horn. Later encouraged by activist Father Trevor Huddleston

Unfortunately, the legend left us on 23 January 2018?at the age of 78. Masekela was born in the town of Witbank on April 4 1939. He was associated with various artist like Miriam Makeba, Paul Simo, Selema?Masekela, Barbara Maskela, Earl Sweatshirt.

Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for writing well-known anti-apartheid songs such as "Soweto Blues" and "Bring him back home". He also had a number one Us?...

Kim Sledge, one of the members of “We Are Family” hit maker Sister Sledge, is working on bringing the iconic band’s story to the big screen. Sledge is developing “Life Song,” a feature film about the rise to international stardom of the four musical sisters from Philadelphia.

Kim, Debbie, Joni, and Kathy Sledge achieved worldwide fame with a discography that spans jazz, soul, gospel, disco, and R&B. Their hits include “Lost in Music,” “He’s the Greatest Dancer,” and “Thinking of You,” all of which are all cleared for use in “Life Song,” Kim Sledge told Variety. The film will be based on her soon-to-be-published memoirs and has the blessing of her family.

“Music will be a great part of it, because that’s what our lives have been about,” said Sledge. The film will cover the band’s experiences rubbing shoulders with musical greats such as James Brown,...

Mark E. Smith, frontman of the English post-punk act The Fall, has died. He was 60 years old.

“It is with deep regret that we announce the passing of Mark E. Smith,” the band’s manager posted in a statement on Facebook Wednesday. “He passed this morning at home. A more detailed statement will follow in the next few days. In the meantime, Pam & Mark’s family request privacy at this sad time.”

A Manchester, England, native, Smith launched The Fall in 1976. Over the years the band released 32 studio albums, most recently July 2017’s New Facts Emerge, on which Smith was the sole remaining founding member.

Criterion lavishes a major upgrade to its older box set celebrating the first major rock concert event, the ‘California Dreamin’ idyll that some say marked the beginning of the Summer of Love. Get ready to hear and see some history-making performances from Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and The Who. Plus two more features and a bundle of ‘extra’ music sets . . . including Tiny Tim.

The Complete Monterey Pop Festival

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 167

1968 / Color / 1:33 flat / 79 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 12, 2017 / 69.95

Cinematography: James Desmond, Barry Feinstein, Richard Leacock, Albert Maysles, Roger Murphy, D.A. Pennebaker

Film Editor: Nina Schulman

Original Music: The Animals, The Association, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Byrds, Canned Heat, Country Joe and the Fish, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Al Kooper, Hugh Masekela, Jefferson Airplane, The Mamas and the Papas, Laura Nyro, Otis Redding, The Quicksilver Messenger Service,...

The Criterion Collection has unveiled its holiday slate, with “Election” leading the list of titles being released this December. Joining Alexander Payne’s classic in the Collection are a new digital transfer of Barbet Schroeder’s documentary “General Idi Amin Dada: A Self-Portrait,” “The Complete Monterey Pop Festival,” and the previously announced “100 Years of Olympic Films 1912-2012.” More information — and, just as importantly, cover art — below:

Read More:Criterion Collection Announces November Titles, Including Seminal Lesbian Drama ‘Desert Hearts’ and ‘The Philadelphia Story’

“Election”

“Perky, overachieving Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) gets on the nerves of history teacher Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) to begin with, but after she launches her campaign for high-school president and his personal life starts to fall apart, things spiral out of control. In Alexander Payne’s satire ‘Election,’ the teacher becomes unhealthily obsessed with cutting his student down to size, covertly backing a spoiler candidate to...

NBC’s Red Bull Signature Series host Sal Masekela will be playing a different tune on Sunday when his band’s new song plays during the premiere of Showtime’s “House of Lies.”

Masekela and his musical partner, Sunny Levine — who make up the band Alekesam — released their single “All Is Forgiven” on iTunes on Friday, and it will feature on the comedy-drama on Jan. 11 at 10 p.m.

See photos: Not Quite America’s Pastime: 10 Obscure Sports That Made it To the Big Screen (Photos)

Masekela launched his career by becoming the face and voice of action sports as a...

New York -- Pianist Herbie Hancock will celebrate the special connection between Turkey and jazz music forged decades ago when the Turkish ambassador opened his residence to white and black musicians at a time when segregation held sway in the U.S. capital.

Hancock, a Unesco Goodwill Ambassador, is organizing a gala concert with jazz stars from around the world on April 30 at the famed Hagia Irene in the outer courtyard of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, which has been designated the host city for the second annual U.N.-sanctioned International Jazz Day.

"There's an amazing history of the relationship between Turkey and jazz," Hancock told The Associated Press in a telephone interview ahead of Tuesday's official announcement of the 2013 International Jazz Day program.

It began in the `30s and `40s when the two sons of Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Munir Ertegun pursued their passion for jazz by frequenting the capital's...

The 55th Grammy Awards have arrived, and music's biggest night promises a ton of trophies, and hopefully some great live performances by today's hottest acts. Who has the best record of 2012? How about the year's best new artist? Stick with Zap2it throughout the night, as we continue updating the list of this year's winners!

All of the award categories are below, with the winners in bold.

Record of the Year"Lonely Boy" by The Black Keys"Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" by Kelly Clarkson"We Are Young" by Fun., featuring Janelle Monáe"Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye, featuring Kimbra"Thinkin Bout You" by Frank Ocean"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" by Taylor Swift

Album of the Year"El Camino" by The Black Keys"Some Nights" by Fun."Babel" by Mumford & Sons"Channel Orange" by Frank Ocean"Blunderbuss" by Jack White

Song of the Year...

The 1974 Zaire concert became a powerful documentary: its producers recall three magical days

Stewart Levine, festival promoter

I had been making records with Hugh Masekela since the early 1960s. We'd got this African-American hybrid going, and were always looking for ways to get more western exposure to African music: it really was the dark ages in awareness terms. When I saw George Foreman was fighting Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight boxing title in Zaire in 1974, my mind went boom: let's do a music festival and a film.

Hugh and I weren't just into soul, and we cast our net wide. We had the Fania All-Stars with Celia Cruz, and Miriam Makeba, as well as Bb King, James Brown, Bill Withers and the Spinners. The Spinners' manager was this funny little cat out of Philadelphia, a real sweetheart, and he said to me: "I've three girls who are gonna be great.

African jazz legend Hugh Masekela is getting a biopic—or, rather, a father/son biopic with his son, Espn commentator Selema “Sal” Masekela. The project focuses on the elder’s role as a South African apartheid activist exiled for more than 30 years, as well as his son’s struggle to step out of the shadow of his father. The project will be produced by Olympus Pictures and Paul Haggis’ Hwy 61 and is still untitled. South African filmmaker Mukunda Michael Dewil has been hired to write and direct the movie that will apparently also feature a lot of surfing ...

Interesting.  Following the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of the short documentary film that followed notable South African musician/activist Hugh Masekela's attempt to reconnect with his son Selema Mabena Masekela (better known as a TV personality and Espn X Games host), comes news that Paul Haggis (via his Hwy 61 production company), in a collab with Olympus Pictures are developing a scripted feature film based on pretty much that same story; the longer version goes... exiled from his family and native South Africa for over 30 years, thanks to Apartheid, father Masekela would find musical success in the USA, where he would also...

Olympus Pictures and Paul Haggis’ Hwy 61 announced today it is moving forward with a father-son project inspired by the relationship between Espn sports commentator Selema “Sal” Masekela and his father Hugh Masekela, the jazz musician featured on Paul Simon’s Graceland album and South African apartheid activist who was exiled for more than 30 years. South African filmmaker Mukunda Michael Dewil has been hired to write and direct the film. The project follows a son emerging out of the shadow of his successful but troubled father set against a backdrop of music, surfing, and South Africa’s racism. The untitled Masekela project will be produced by Leslie Urdang and Dean Vanech of Olympus Pictures, Haggis and Michael Nozik of Hwy 61 Films, and Selema Masekela. “I first met Sal when he was a teenager working with his father on the Graceland tour,” said Urdang. “We met again many years later and the...

At 35 minutes, "Alekesam" is a short documentary with a subject that could probably fill a Ken Burns-style PBS miniseries, full of political unrest, social uprisings, and jazz music: Hugh Masekela, a musician and activist who fought against apartheid (he was exiled from South Africa for more than 30 years), struggles to reconnect with his son Sal Masekela, a current Espn commentator who is just now embarking on his own musical career. But while the doc tries to focus on the tenuous emotional connection between a distant father and a resistant son, it ends up coming across more as a fluffy promotional piece for Sal's new album than anything genuinely probing or insightful.

Hugh Masekela has had an amazing life and an even more amazing career. A jazz trumpet player who incorporated African rhythms, he was exiled from South Africa for standing up to apartheid but found himself accepted by artists...

From a feel-good rom-com to a tear-jerking documentary, this year's festival has a variety of films we can't wait to see.

By Kevin P. Sullivan

Robert DeNiro

Photo: MTV News

The Tribeca Film Festival is now upon us, and with so many films playing this year, it can be hard to parse what's worth checking out.

As festival founder Robert De Niro told MTV News, his goal each year is to fill the lineup with quality films. "The goals are the movies. Have good movies and good choices," he said. "You can't always get what you want, but we try to get the best things that are out there."

We've looked through the lineup and awarded superlatives to some of this year's most talked-about movies at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Most Promising Short Film: "Pitch Black Heist"

Here's a movie that features Michael Fassbender and Liam Cunningham, who play thieves...

From a feel-good rom-com to a tear-jerking documentary, this year's festival has a variety of films we can't wait to see.

By Kevin P. Sullivan

Robert DeNiro

Photo: MTV News

The Tribeca Film Festival is now upon us, and with so many films playing this year, it can be hard to parse what's worth checking out.

As festival founder Robert De Niro told MTV News, his goal each year is to fill the lineup with quality films. "The goals are the movies. Have good movies and good choices," he said. "You can't always get what you want, but we try to get the best things that are out there."

We've looked through the lineup and awarded superlatives to some of this year's most talked-about movies at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Most Promising Short Film: "Pitch Black Heist"

Here's a movie that features Michael Fassbender and Liam Cunningham, who play thieves...

Singer to play in Hyde Park as part of anniversary celebrations likely to revive row over 1985 visit to South Africa

It was one of the most divisive shows in British pop history. On 7 April 1987, Paul Simon brought his best-selling Graceland project to the Royal Albert Hall in London for the first of six sold-out concerts.

On stage, he was joined by the cream of South African musicians, including Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, but outside, leading British musicians joined people protesting that Simon had broken the Anc's cultural boycott of apartheid-era South Africa.

They included Billy Bragg, Paul Weller and Jerry Dammers, famous for writing one of the great anti-apartheid anthems, Nelson Mandela. They had delivered an angry letter to Simon, asking him to apologise.

Now, 25 years on, the Guardian can reveal that Paul Simon is reviving Graceland and returning to London for a concert in Hyde...

Bff, a short film from writer/director Neil Labute, will have its world premiere at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. The fest, which runs from April 18-29, has scheduled a program of 60 short films from 25 countries that includes 26 world premieres. Photos: 'Francophenia,' James Franco's 'General Hospital' Movie, Production Stills The 2012 slate will be presented in nine thematic programs (five narrative, three documentary and one experimental). Performers and interview subjects in the films include Jamie Lee Curtis, Rachel Dratch, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Fassbender, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Rachael Harris, Hugh Masekela, Sting and Lily Tomlin. In addition

read more...

2012 Tribeca Film Festival Announces Short Film Selections

The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by founding sponsor American Express, today announced its lineup of 60 short films, 26 of which are world premieres.

For the second year running, the recipient of the Tribeca Film Festival.s Best Narrative Short award will qualify for consideration in the Short Films category of the annual Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules. The 2011 Tff Narrative Short Pentecost was nominated for Best Live Action Short at this year.s annual Academy Awards®, while last year.s award-winning Tff documentary short Incident in New Baghdad was nominated for Best Documentary Short.

Tff.s shorts programs chart a wide range of cultural perspectives and geographic coordinates. Drawn from more than 2,800 submissions, the 2012 roster represents 25 countries and territories, including Australia, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Egypt, France, Germany, Haiti, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan,...

HollywoodNews.com: The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by founding sponsor American Express, today announced its lineup of 60 short films, 26 of which are world premieres.

For the second year running, the recipient of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Best Narrative Short award will qualify for consideration in the Short Films category of the annual Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules. The 2011 Tff Narrative Short Pentecost was nominated for Best Live Action Short at this year’s annual Academy Awards®, while last year?s award-winning Tff documentary short Incident in New Baghdad was nominated for Best Documentary Short.

Tff’s shorts programs chart a wide range of cultural perspectives and geographic coordinates. Drawn from more than 2,800 submissions, the 2012 roster represents 25 countries and territories, including Australia, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Egypt, France, Germany, Haiti, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Palestine, Puerto Rico,...

Alfre Woodard, Deborah Santana, Sharon Gelman, Kitsaun King, Marlene Saritzky and noted guests will attend an afternoon of food, drink, enjoyment and a special program on October 30, where Artists for a New South Africa pays tribute from afar to Desmond Tutu.

The event will celebrate the publication of Tutu: Authorized, an extraordinary new book, celebrating eighty years of Archbishop Tutu’s life,

The book features interviews with President Barack Obama, Kofi Annan, Aung San Suu Kyi and Ansa supporters Harry Belafonte, Jackson Browne, Samuel L. Jackson, Quincy Jones, Latanya Richardson Jackson, Hugh Masekela, Deborah Santana, Blair Underwood, Alfre Woodard and many more.

Read more...

1959: Number 17 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of world and folk music

The feisty township singer Miriam Makeba was already a star in her native South Africa when she played a brief cameo in a controversial Us anti-apartheid film called Come Back, Africa. The docudrama was covertly filmed by the American director Lionel Rogosin under the noses of hostile authorities before being smuggled abroad, where it served as an early document of the iniquities of apartheid.

Makeba was both victim and beneficiary of this clandestine film. Furious South African authorities revoked her passport, forcing her to seek asylum in the Us, where Makeba quickly became a huge celebrity. She appeared on the Steve Allen show in November 1959, performed for the likes of Duke Ellington and Miles Davis at the Village Vanguard, hobnobbed with Marlon Brando, Harry Belafonte and Sammy Davis Jr and was even...

R. Kelly officially kicked off the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa on Friday, June 11 with a rousing performance of the tournament's anthem "Sign of Victory". More than 84,000 soccer fans sang along at Soweto's Soccer City before the opening game between host nation South Africa and Mexico. Kelly headlined the pre-game spectacular with the Soweto Spiritual Singers.

South Africa's former leader Nelson Mandela, who was expected to be a big part of the concert, had to miss the celebrations following the death of his 13-year-old great-granddaughter. The teenager was killed in a car crash on her way home from Thursday's Kick-Off Concert party in Johannesburg.

Thandiswa Mazwai kicked off the music and dance spectacular before the opening game, and was followed by Algerian musician Khlaed, Nigeria's Femi Kuti and African music legend Hugh Masekela, among others, on a revolving stage in the middle of the pitch.

A man selling South African flags and vuvuzelas on a street in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the morning of Friday, June 11, 2010. Photograph by Austin Merrill. By the time I landed in Johannesburg early yesterday evening—among a planeload of soccer fans, mostly Mexico supporters, many wearing sombreros—it was too late to make it to Soweto for the big pre-World Cup concert. Lockjaw traffic ringed the city, and I was lucky to arrive at my guesthouse from the airport in less than two hours. No matter. I headed for 7th Street in Melville, known as the bohemian heart of Johannesburg’s artistic and writerly scene, and settled in for a meal with three Canadian friends I’d just made on the walk over. We chose the Melville Café, which had a large and boisterous crowd and several crackling fireplaces to take the edge off the night’s chill. Sepp Blatter...

Johannesburg (AP) — The world came to Soweto on Thursday for a celebration of soccer, music and unity on the eve of Africa's first World Cup, with a concert featuring international headliners Shakira, the Black Eyed Peas and Alicia Keys. Warm-up acts played for hours before the internationally televised portion of the concert at Orlando Stadium began at 8 p.m. with a frenzy of flag waving, drumming and African-inspired dancing. Veteran South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela took the stage with "Grazin' in the Grass" a No. 1 international hit in 1968. He was quickly joined by a new South African star,...

The big World Cup concert is Thursday in Soweto, South Africa. Stars like the Black Eyed Peas, Shakira, John Legend and Alicia Keys performed, some of whom are photographed below. Keys recently announced she is pregnant with her first child and is sporting a visible bump. Below the photos is an AP article on the concert. From the AP: Johannesburg — The world came to Soweto on Thursday for a celebration of soccer, music and unity on the eve of Africa's first World Cup, with a concert featuring international headliners Shakira, the Black Eyed Peas and Alicia Keys. Warm-up acts played for hours before the internationally televised portion of the concert at Orlando Stadium began at 8 p.m. with a frenzy of flag waving, drumming and African-inspired dancing. Veteran South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela took the stage with "Grazin' in the Grass" a No. 1 international...

Saving the best for last, Shakira closed out the FIFA World Cup Kick-off Celebration Concert in Soweto, South Africa on Thursday night (June 10).

Getting quite the applause from the packed 40,000 seat Orlando Stadium crowd, the Colombian beauty took the stage with a local group called Freshlyground to perform an array of tunes including the World Cup official song, "Waka Waka".

During the course of the festive evening, other acts taking the stage included South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, blind duo Amadou & Mariam, Alicia Keys and John Legend.

On the eve of the first day of the 2010 World Cup tournament, Archbishop Desmond Tutu rallied the crowd, proudly stating, "We welcome you all. For Africa is the cradle of humanity, so we welcome you home."...

Stars from across the globe gather in South Africa to kick off the 2010 FIFA World Cup with a massive concert.

By Mawuse Ziegbe

Fergie performs with the Black Eyed Peas at the World Cup Concert Thursday

Photo: Getty Images

On Thursday (June 10), many of the world's biggest entertainers helped kick off what is arguably the world's biggest sporting event, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, with a massive concert at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. As the soccer/football competition pits nations against each other in the game, the concert highlighted Africa's singular talent while setting the stage for some international collaborations.

A legion of dancers and drummers heralded South African trumpet legend Hugh Masekela, who opened the event with singer Lira. Following an address by FIFA president Sepp Blatter and South African president Jacob Zuma, the Black Eyed Peas rocked the stage. The Peas got the party started with their...

The final line-up of artists to perform at the FIFA World Cup Kick-Off Celebration Concert in South Africa has been announced.

Five-time Sama winners Freshlyground, legendary South African trumpeter and flugelhorn player Hugh Masekela, Soweto-based Mzansi Youth Choir, two-time Grammy Award winners and three-time Sama winners Soweto Gospel Choir, and acclaimed African Hip Hop artist K’Naan – who recently recorded the uplifting “Wavin’ Flag (The Celebration Mix)” song that serves as the anthem for the entire Coca-Cola FIFA campaign – will perform alongside previously announced African and international artists including Alicia Keys (U.S.), Amadou & Mariam (Mali), Angélique Kidjo (Benin), Black Eyed Peas (U.S.), Blk Jks (South Africa), John Legend (U.S.), Juanes (Colombia), Shakira (Colombia), The Parlotones (South Africa), Tinariwen (Mali), Vieux Farka Touré (Mali) and Vusi Mahlasela (South Africa) – at the historic event taking place the night before the first match at 8 p.m. local time (GMT+2) on...

Espn will present a 10-part series "Umlando . Through My Father.s Eyes" during the 2010 FIFA World Cup: Hugh and Sal Masekela explore South Africa. Espn.s coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will feature a 10-part series that offers an introspective look at the country of South Africa through the eyes of one of the host nation.s renowned ambassadors. In Umlando (Zulu for .Through My Father.s Eyes.), jazz music legend and anti-Apartheid activist Hugh Masekela and his American-born son, Salema, an Espn reporter for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, explore together the people, culture and inspiring landscapes of South Africa, and the nation.s history. The series captures aspects of the elder Masekela.s life, from memories...

The Alamo Guide

for February 12th, 2010

February! You Are Still Rainy And Cold! I Hate It! Where’s the sun? This is like, the most unromantic weather, February. Why don’t you live up to the holiday you’re known for and show us some freaking love! Nevermind… we’ll just stay inside. Suck it.First of all, we’re opening The Wolfman this Friday at The Ritz! If you wanna see a really hairy, muscley Benicio Del Toro, then this movie is for you! All of our Valentine’s Day Feasts are Sold Out! And if you hate love, even our Love Bites Sing-Along on Valentine’s Day is sold out too. All the more reason for you to proclaim that you “don’t believe in Valentine’s Day because you should love your partner all the time!” and “it’s just a holiday created by Hallmark!” and...

Chicago – What can you say about a documentary that lands in theaters thirty-five years too late? “Soul Power” consists of footage from the historic three-night music festival in Zaire, meant to coincide with the heavily hyped “Rumble in the Jungle” between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The events took place in 1974, and were filmed in order to spread African culture to the masses.

Footage from the epic match was assembled into 1996’s Oscar-winning documentary, “When We Were Kings,” which was a vital historical record that didn’t devote enough of its screen time to the actual fight. “Kings” editor Jeffrey Levy-Hinte took the directorial reigns of “Soul Power,” another vital historical record that doesn’t devote enough screen time to its central subject: the actual concert. But the music it does include is so good that it makes the film essential viewing regardless of its shortcomings.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

To his credit,...

Chicago – The Criterion Collection recently released a timeless document of one of the most important events in music history, The Monterey Pop Festival of 1967. Not only does this legendary fest include some seminal visuals, including Jimi Hendrix lighting his guitar on fire and Pete Townshend smashing his, but it captures a nation on the cusp of something amazing, not just musically but socially.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0

At the height of the Summer of Love, during a June weekend in 1967, history was made at the Monterey International Pop Festival near San Francisco, arguably the epicenter of the counter-culture movement in the late ’60s. Monterey launched the careers of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding, but they were just a few of the acts who performed that weekend, one that saw The Mamas and the Papas introduce Simon and Garfunkel, and The Who, The Byrds, Hugh Masekela, Ravi Shankar, and more take the stage.

When Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider said in May that DreamWorks planned to make a biopic on Martin Luther King Jr., it took less than 24 hours for the project to hit a speed bump.

Two of King's children disputed a third's authority to speak for the estate, and soon enough King's own words came to mind: "All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem."

Granted, putting someone's life story on film hardly compares to the struggle for civil rights. But the biographical movie is a uniquely frustrating beast. Discovering a fascinating life story is the easy part, but acquiring the appropriate life/film/art/music rights, appeasing relatives' and audiences' expectations, persuading financiers to ante up and actually making money on the project can be as arduous a task as universal equality.

This is why, despite their undeniable magnetism at awards time,...