News

"Kids are getting killed every day out here in these streets over nothing." Quiver has unveiled the trailer for a film titled The Waterboyz, the newest film by filmmaker Coke Daniels. This first premiered at the 2024 American Black Film Festival and will be out in limited theaters starting next month. In the streets of Atl, two young men cross paths. One is trying to make a legit living, the other trying to create mayhem and rule the streets. The Waterboyz takes place in the heat of Atlanta's streets, where Drew's college dreams clash with the gritty reality of street vending, alongside his best friend Dolo, who's got simpler dreams of cars and girls. When their corner hustle draws dangerous attention from both gangs and cops, Drew is faced with a choice: the quick money of the streets or the long game towards a better life. This stars Akili McDowell as...

Sulayman Tahir’s “Peripheral” and Coke Daniels’ “The Waterboyz” were among the winners of this year’s Best of ABFF Awards, presented Saturday at the American Black Film Festival.

Hosted by Dondré Whitfield, the festival presented winners in the official film selection categories: narrative and documentary features, series and the HBO Short Film Award showcase. This year’s festival takes place June 12-16 in Miami Beach, Fla., followed by a virtual segment June 17-24 on ABFF Play.

“Peripheral,” which saw its world premiere at the festival, tells the story of a woman whose husband goes missing after moving into their new home, and strange and paranormal events that start to occur upon his return. Directed by Tahir, the film won best narrative feature. Andria B. Langston, Patrick Walker, Patricia Mizen, D’Kia Anderson and Sami Tortorello star in “Peripheral,” co-written by Tahir and Jordan Tortorello.

Daniels’ “The Waterboyz” follows two young...

The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) has set its lineup of narrative and documentary features for its 28th edition, including Jussie Smollett’s return to acting in “The Lost Holliday,” filmmaker Christine Swanson’s latest drama “Albany Road” and the acclaimed Luther Vandross doc “Never Too Much.”

This year’s festival takes place June 12-16 in Miami Beach, Fla., followed by a virtual segment June 17-24 on ABFF Play. Winners of film festival competition will be announced on June 15, during the “Best of ABFF Awards” hosted by Emmy-nominee Dondré Whitfield.

The 2024 narrative lineup includes “Albany Road,” directed and written by Swanson, starring Renée Elise Goldsberry, Lynn Whitfield and J. Alphonse Nicholson; “The Lost Holliday” directed by, co-written and starring Smollett alongside Vivica A. Fox, produced by Mona Scott-Young; “The Waterboyz,” directed by Coke Daniels and produced by Ben Crump, starring Akil McDowell, Alani “La La” Anthony and Quavo; and “Black Heat,...

Actress Taryn Manning says she’s been “attacked” by white women over her new film “Karen.” The title of film — and the name of her character — has become a catch-all term in recent years for white women that engage in petulant, racist and sometimes outright dangerous behaviors, often directed at people of color.

“I was, kind of, taking it on head first and, like, responding to people, you know, ‘I’m so sorry you feel that way,’” she said in a clip for an interview with Mr. Warburton magazine. “I was attacked a lot by white women who felt that I had betrayed my own race.”

In the BET movie, Manning’s character, the aptly-named Karen White, makes various microaggressions against her Black neighbors and even threatens to call the manager on an innocent restaurant patron.

Despite accusations from some critics that “Karen” was “damaging and irresponsible” and “just a tactic to further divide us,...

Coming soon from director Coke Daniels, Taryn Manning stars in the horror movie Karen, and we’ve learned today that the film is headed to BET on the road to Halloween. Variety reports that Karen will premiere as part of BET’s “Summer of Chills” lineup of original thrillers, arriving on the network on September 14, 2021 at 10pm/9c. Other films […]...

Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to Last Night in Rozzie, a Boston-set drama starring Neil Brown Jr, Nicky Whelan, Jeremy Sisto and Kevin Chapman. Sean Gannet directed the pic, which will now get a day-and-date release beginning September 17.

Written by Ryan McDonough, the plot centers on New York lawyer Ronnie Russo (Brown) who becomes entangled in a complicated web of conflicting loyalties when summoned to his Boston hometown by a dying childhood friend (Sisto). Sent on a mission to fulfill his friend’s final wish – a reunion with his estranged son – Russo is forced to confront his past and a secret childhood trauma he’s kept hidden for more than 25 years.

Joseph Stephans, McDonough, Gannet, Kris Meyer, and Andrew Cahill are producers, and Tim O’Keeffe and Jennifer and Gregory Ezring executive produced. The deal was negotiated by Gravitas’ Sales & Acquisitions Manager David Sullivan and Circus Road Films’ Glen Reynolds.

Taryn Manning is a terrifyingly entitled woman in Karen, the upcoming thriller from Coke Daniels inspired by the real-life "Karens" of the world. Known for her breakout role on Orange Is the New Black, Manning will play a racist woman in the movie similar to some of those witnessed in viral videos calling the police on neighbors for insignificant reasons. The first trailer has just recently been released, and you can take a look at it below.

Coke Daniels directs the movie, which follows Taryn Manning as "Karen Drexler, a racist white woman who makes it her personal mission to displace the new Black family that has just moved in next door to her. Community activist Malik and his wife Imani are the couple who have just moved to the Atlanta suburb, but they won't be backing down without a fight."

Roger Dorman and Gregory Alan Williams also star. Producing...

Exclusive: Ahead of the Cannes virtual market, 13 Films has boarded sales on completed thriller-horror Karen, starring Taryn Manning (Orange Is The New Black), Cory Hardrict (American Sniper), Jasmine Burke (Saints & Sinners), Roger Dorman and Gregory Alan Williams.

Coke Daniels directs the feature about Karen Drexler (Manning), a racist white woman who makes it her personal mission to displace the new Black family that has just moved in next door to her. Community activist Malik (Hardrict) and his wife Imani (Burke) are the couple who have just moved to the Atlanta suburb, but they won’t be backing down without a fight.

Producers are Mary Aloe (Bruised) and Craig Chapman (Honest Thief) along with Gillian Hormel, Autumn Bailey-Ford, Manning and Hardrict. Executive producers are Vanzil and Victor Burke and Anik Decoste.

Also producing are Daniel’s Flixville USA and Aloe’s Aloe Entertainment in association with Hormel’s Ludascripts,...

Cory Hardrict has joined Orange Is The New Black alum Taryn Manning in Karen, the indie suspense thriller from writer and director Coke Daniels. Manning, who is producing the indie, will play Karen White, who believes that races should stick to their “own kind” and carries this belief into her neighborhood. Hardrict will star as Malik, a community activist in Atlanta dedicated to his wife and fighting social injustices. When Malik and his wife, Assata, become Karen’s new neighbor, she makes it her personal mission to remove them from the neighborhood, by any means necessary. However, Assata and Malik don’t have time for this and aren’t going down without a fight.

Manning is producing the pic with Daniels and Craig Chapman. Burke Management Firm founders Vanzil Burke and Victor Burke will serve as executive producers.

Hardrict’s film credits include Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper and Gran Torino...

As of late, the name Karen has been synonymous with entitlement, bigotry and “I want to speak to a manager” energy. What better way to explore this phenomenon than with a suspense thriller appropriately titled Karen starring Taryn Manning as the titular touchstone of privilege?

The Orange Is The New Black alum is set to play Karen White (a suitable name) who believes that races should stick to their “own kind”. She carries this belief into her neighborhood. So when her new Black neighbors Assata and Malik move in, she makes it her personal mission to remove them from the neighborhood, by any means necessary. However, Assata and Malik don’t have time for this. As cardholding Black Lives Matter members they aren’t going down without a fight.

Karen is written and directed by Coke Daniels. The film will be produced by Daniels, Manning and Craig Chapman. Vanzil Burke and Victor Burke,...

“Orange Is the New Black” actress Taryn Manning is set to bring the “Karen” meme to life in a new suspense thriller in which she’ll play a Southern white woman who terrorizes her Black neighbors, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

“Karen” is from writer-director Coke Daniels (“Fruits of the Heart”) and is described as a social commentary with a “powerful message.”

In the film, Manning will play Karen White, an entitled white woman from the South set on ousting her Black neighbors, who are Black Lives Matter supporters, from her neighborhood.

Also Read: Bill Maher Provides a List of Signs to Help White Women Know if They're a 'Karen'

The project comes from Daniels’ Flixville USA and Burke Management. Vanzil and Victor Burke are executive producing “Karen,” and co-executive producers are Kris LeFan and Adrian Miller. The producers are eyeing to begin production in 2020 in...

This was bound to happen because just about anything can become a movie but Orange Is the New Black star, Taryn Manning, is on board to portray a fictional Karen in an upcoming suspense thriller about the unsavory stereotype. Writer and director Coke Daniels sees some story potential in the stereotype and is moving forward with a project that can be best described as the ultimate Karen movie. The film…...

Orange Is the New Black star Taryn Manning will portray a fictional Karen in an upcoming suspense thriller about the infamous stereotype. In recent years, the name "Karen" has been popularly used to describe entitled, middle aged white women complaining at restaurants or retail establishments, often asking to "speak to the manager." It has since been frequently used to refer to women calling the police on their Black neighbors for arbitrary reasons, a trend that often leads to the women suffering from public shaming and losing their jobs. The name has also been used for countless memes and social media posts.

Seeing some story potential, writer and director Coke Daniels is moving forward with a project that can best be described as the ultimate Karen movie, featuring a lead character that appears to be the embodiment of all of the real-life "Karens." Playing a woman named Karen White, Manning's character...

Vanishing Angle, the production studio behind the Sundance film Greener Grass, has upped three of its own to executive positions: Natalie Metzger as VP of Development & Production, Benjamin Wiessner as VP of Sales & Acquisitions, and Jim Cummings as VP of Creative Initiatives. Metzger, who boarded the company as a producer in 2015, is a writer and director whose films have premiered at AFI Docs, Frameline, and Outfest. She also holds the Gold Prize at the Page International Screenwriting Awards. Wiessner, a producer and creative distributor, has worked on seven films with Vanishing Angle. He’s also produced and self-distributed shorts and features with broadcast partners like Canal+ and PBS. Cummings is an independent filmmaker who wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy-drama, Thunder Road, which is being released by Vanishing Angle. The company is also in development on Cummings’ erotic thriller Beta, as well as mystery thriller Buffalo from Keith Powell,...

The Urbanworld VIBE Film Festival will kick off June 21 in New York with the opening-night film Blackout, directed by Jerry LaMothe and starring Melvin Van Peebles, Zoe Saldana, Jeffrey Wright and LaTanya Richardson.

The 11th annual festival, running through June 24, will screen 49 films drawn from independent cinema by and about people of color.

The lineup includes the world premiere of "Who's Your Caddy?" the first release from Robert L. Johnson and Tracy Edmonds' Our Stories Films. The slate also features work from Latino American, Asian American and female directors and features several films with ties to New York.

"This year, the Urbanworld VIBE Film Festival is presenting what is arguably our most diverse slate to date, from the perspective of both filmmakers and subject matter," Urbanworld founder Stacy Spikes said.

Other titles include Mr. Untouchable, directed by Marc Levin and executive produced by Damon Dash, about the life and times of Harlem drug lord Leroy 'Nicky' Barnes; Gangsta Rap: A Glockumentary, directed by Damon 'Coke' Daniels; Faizon Love's Tao of the Golden Mask, directed by Faizon Love; Hellfighters, a documentary about Harlem's only high school football team, directed by John Frankel; August the First, directed by Lanre Olabisi, focussing on an American family confronting its Nigerian past; Divided We Fall, a documentary from Indian American director Sharat Raju that traces hate crimes throughout the U.S.