When actress Tessa Thompson met musician Arooj Aftab in London last summer, she felt like they were long-lost sisters. “I honestly can’t remember not listening to Arooj. Can’t be sure how she first came into my ears, but her music was instantly familiar and essential,” Thompson tells Rolling Stone. “Maybe I actually met her in a past life.”
It was only natural, then, that Aftab and Thompson team up for the former’s new video, “Raat Ki Rani,” the actress’s directorial debut and the musician’s first...
It was only natural, then, that Aftab and Thompson team up for the former’s new video, “Raat Ki Rani,” the actress’s directorial debut and the musician’s first...
- 4/18/2024
- by Brenna Ehrlich
- Rollingstone.com
There is much that is lovely to gaze upon in the elegantly tailored documentary “Invisible Beauty,” about fashion maverick Bethann Hardison, whose role in her industry, starting in the late ’60s and continuing into the present, has been remarkable personally and game-changing culturally.
Those five decades — hers and the industry’s — are expertly woven together by co-directors Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng, using a cache of personal photos, a wealth of archival images, clips and interviews sewn together by Hardison’s sharing of recollections and insights. The film is also buoyed by a delicate, sometimes moody piano-led score courtesy of Marc Anthony Thompson, with some additionally vivid musical choices that match the energy of the late, “Black is Beautiful” ’60s and the fashion-fast-forward ’70s.
When there were shifts in how the fashion industry viewed models of color, Hardison was there as participant but more often catalyst. She was one...
Those five decades — hers and the industry’s — are expertly woven together by co-directors Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng, using a cache of personal photos, a wealth of archival images, clips and interviews sewn together by Hardison’s sharing of recollections and insights. The film is also buoyed by a delicate, sometimes moody piano-led score courtesy of Marc Anthony Thompson, with some additionally vivid musical choices that match the energy of the late, “Black is Beautiful” ’60s and the fashion-fast-forward ’70s.
When there were shifts in how the fashion industry viewed models of color, Hardison was there as participant but more often catalyst. She was one...
- 9/15/2023
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
Sundance 2023: ‘Invisible Beauty’ Directed by Bethann Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng
Premieres
How to write and how to make a film about one’s life is an ongoing discussion between Bethann Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng as Bethann’s life reveals itself. She is new to writing and filmmaking but she has the confidence to go forward without putting obstacles in front of herself. Her procrastination or preparation for writing takes a role in the film as well. This immediately allies me to her. Don’t we all procrastinate about the most important things in our lives?
Raised by her mother and grandmother in the South til the age of 12, she then moved in with her father in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Her mother was very social; her father was very intellectual. He was an Iman at the local mosque and was a mentor to Malcolm X himself. He made her aware of things poltically and socially as well as directing her reading about the Moslem religion and the Koran. Raising consciousness was most important to her father. When she turned 18 she yearned for teen freedom and her father returned her to her mother and grandmother. Subsequently she attended NYU.
Bethann Hardison
Over the five decades of her career, from working in New York City’s Garment District, modeling and founding her eponymous modeling agency, she has become an advocate, mentor and muse. To hear her honest and forthwright assessment of the state of her own life is inspirational.
She was a fashion revolutionary, but to her, fashion was merely the vehicle for her revolutionary ideas which changed the fashion industry’s diversity of models to include people of all colors. Her main concern was changing the world. “I always know — because I have lived life long enough — you can change things.”
From walking runway shows alongside Iman to discovering supermodels like Tyson Beckford (that gorgeous black model for Ralph Lauren) and mentoring icons like Naomi Campbell, Hardison has been at the epicenter of major representational shifts in fashion. Catalyzing change requires continuous championing, and as the next generation takes the reins, Hardison reflects on her personal journey and the cost of being a pioneer.
She has received many awards in recognition of her decades of advocacy work .See Naomi Campbell present Bethann with the Founders Award at 2014 Cfda Fashion Awards award and her acceptance speech.
In tandem with Frédéric Tcheng (Halston, Dior and I), the co-directors trace Hardison’s impact on fashion from runway shows in New York and Paris in the ’70s to roundtables about lack of racial diversity in the early 2000s. Hardison’s audaciousness and candor are inspiring and inviting. Interviews with industry speak to the state of fashion, while friends and family attest to Hardison’s rebellious and ambitious spirit. The film is an absorbing record of Hardison’s accomplishments and a rare contemplation on the life of a radical thinker.
The arc of Bethann’s life was easily illustrated through archival and commentary, but the great depth of the film is created by Bethann herself. The film centers on Bethann writing her memoir as much as it does the events of her life. She’s filled with adages and life lessons, “Bethann-isms” as her crew called them. The process of Bethann writing her memoir gives the opportunity to better inject her personality and humor into the film, both through traditional voiceover and with an incredible cache of recorded phone calls between Fred and Bethann. Many of these conversations are the two co-directors discussing how best to tell such an expansive story. They give a genuine sense of an artist in process. Putting together such disparate elements to make a unified whole is not an easy process. For successfully integrating the scenes of reflection and introspection, the feeling of Bethann’s inner thought processes, credit goes to the editing by Chris McNabb. Read his enlightening interview in Filmmaker Magazine.
McNabb in turn also give much credit to the music in the film. His own great muse is music. States he, “I’d say one of my biggest influences is actually music. I grew up playing percussion and carry a lot of that experience with me in the edit room when locating the internal rhythm of footage. I think it helps me build scenes that can affect a viewer on a corporeal level rather than just an intellectual one. In terms of film influences, Paris Is Burning, despite its thorny ethical history, was a formative film for me on a personal and creative level.” About the Invisible Beauty: “And music! Music was very important, and composer Marc Anthony Thompson did a great job capturing the vibe we wanted.”
Frédéric Tcheng is a French-born filmmaker based in Brooklyn. His specialty is fashion. He co-directed Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, and his award-winning directorial debut, Dior and I, premiered at Tribeca in 2014. Halston, with CNN Films and Amazon Studios as executive producers, premiered at Sundance in 2019.
The producer of Invisible Beauty, Lisa Cortés directed another Sundance 2023 film, Little Richard: I Am Everything. After its critical success there, being nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in U.S. Documentary Competition (Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni won) and being picked up by Magnolia for U.S. and international distribution, Cortés entered into a first-look development agreement with the Museum of the City of New York, where she will hone documentary IP based on the museum’s exhibitions. She plans for projects on food, social justice, music, and more. The first being made under the deal is a docuseries based on Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off, an exhibition inviting bakers from every borough to design New York City-inspired gingerbread creations.
Invisible Beauty invites comparison with Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project as both are autobiographical docs about notably important Black women. Bethann is an activist forever aiming to reach objectives and Niki is a poet, looking inward, exposing herself and making changes in the awareness around her. Bethann on the other hand, as she states it, always held her hand close to her chest and rarely let her emotional have free rein.
They make a good pairing though if I were to have to choose one, I would choose Invisible Beauty. The film ranges broadly from the outer world of fashion itself to Bethann’s part in it and to her inner reflections whereas the Nikki Giovanni doc mostly shows her speaking to others. Moreover, and on a strictly personal level, I would rather be in Bethann’s company. Bethann is a positive, strong nurturing woman. Nikki’s inner pain and anger often seem to vent in the doc and I think I would feel uncomfortable in her company. In fact I don’t think she would like me much either. Bethann’s fortitude sets the tone of Invisible Beauty and it is fortitude and love that will propel us forever forward.
FashionMoviesDocumentaryBlack WomenFilm Festivals...
Premieres
How to write and how to make a film about one’s life is an ongoing discussion between Bethann Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng as Bethann’s life reveals itself. She is new to writing and filmmaking but she has the confidence to go forward without putting obstacles in front of herself. Her procrastination or preparation for writing takes a role in the film as well. This immediately allies me to her. Don’t we all procrastinate about the most important things in our lives?
Raised by her mother and grandmother in the South til the age of 12, she then moved in with her father in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Her mother was very social; her father was very intellectual. He was an Iman at the local mosque and was a mentor to Malcolm X himself. He made her aware of things poltically and socially as well as directing her reading about the Moslem religion and the Koran. Raising consciousness was most important to her father. When she turned 18 she yearned for teen freedom and her father returned her to her mother and grandmother. Subsequently she attended NYU.
Bethann Hardison
Over the five decades of her career, from working in New York City’s Garment District, modeling and founding her eponymous modeling agency, she has become an advocate, mentor and muse. To hear her honest and forthwright assessment of the state of her own life is inspirational.
She was a fashion revolutionary, but to her, fashion was merely the vehicle for her revolutionary ideas which changed the fashion industry’s diversity of models to include people of all colors. Her main concern was changing the world. “I always know — because I have lived life long enough — you can change things.”
From walking runway shows alongside Iman to discovering supermodels like Tyson Beckford (that gorgeous black model for Ralph Lauren) and mentoring icons like Naomi Campbell, Hardison has been at the epicenter of major representational shifts in fashion. Catalyzing change requires continuous championing, and as the next generation takes the reins, Hardison reflects on her personal journey and the cost of being a pioneer.
She has received many awards in recognition of her decades of advocacy work .See Naomi Campbell present Bethann with the Founders Award at 2014 Cfda Fashion Awards award and her acceptance speech.
In tandem with Frédéric Tcheng (Halston, Dior and I), the co-directors trace Hardison’s impact on fashion from runway shows in New York and Paris in the ’70s to roundtables about lack of racial diversity in the early 2000s. Hardison’s audaciousness and candor are inspiring and inviting. Interviews with industry speak to the state of fashion, while friends and family attest to Hardison’s rebellious and ambitious spirit. The film is an absorbing record of Hardison’s accomplishments and a rare contemplation on the life of a radical thinker.
The arc of Bethann’s life was easily illustrated through archival and commentary, but the great depth of the film is created by Bethann herself. The film centers on Bethann writing her memoir as much as it does the events of her life. She’s filled with adages and life lessons, “Bethann-isms” as her crew called them. The process of Bethann writing her memoir gives the opportunity to better inject her personality and humor into the film, both through traditional voiceover and with an incredible cache of recorded phone calls between Fred and Bethann. Many of these conversations are the two co-directors discussing how best to tell such an expansive story. They give a genuine sense of an artist in process. Putting together such disparate elements to make a unified whole is not an easy process. For successfully integrating the scenes of reflection and introspection, the feeling of Bethann’s inner thought processes, credit goes to the editing by Chris McNabb. Read his enlightening interview in Filmmaker Magazine.
McNabb in turn also give much credit to the music in the film. His own great muse is music. States he, “I’d say one of my biggest influences is actually music. I grew up playing percussion and carry a lot of that experience with me in the edit room when locating the internal rhythm of footage. I think it helps me build scenes that can affect a viewer on a corporeal level rather than just an intellectual one. In terms of film influences, Paris Is Burning, despite its thorny ethical history, was a formative film for me on a personal and creative level.” About the Invisible Beauty: “And music! Music was very important, and composer Marc Anthony Thompson did a great job capturing the vibe we wanted.”
Frédéric Tcheng is a French-born filmmaker based in Brooklyn. His specialty is fashion. He co-directed Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, and his award-winning directorial debut, Dior and I, premiered at Tribeca in 2014. Halston, with CNN Films and Amazon Studios as executive producers, premiered at Sundance in 2019.
The producer of Invisible Beauty, Lisa Cortés directed another Sundance 2023 film, Little Richard: I Am Everything. After its critical success there, being nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in U.S. Documentary Competition (Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni won) and being picked up by Magnolia for U.S. and international distribution, Cortés entered into a first-look development agreement with the Museum of the City of New York, where she will hone documentary IP based on the museum’s exhibitions. She plans for projects on food, social justice, music, and more. The first being made under the deal is a docuseries based on Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off, an exhibition inviting bakers from every borough to design New York City-inspired gingerbread creations.
Invisible Beauty invites comparison with Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project as both are autobiographical docs about notably important Black women. Bethann is an activist forever aiming to reach objectives and Niki is a poet, looking inward, exposing herself and making changes in the awareness around her. Bethann on the other hand, as she states it, always held her hand close to her chest and rarely let her emotional have free rein.
They make a good pairing though if I were to have to choose one, I would choose Invisible Beauty. The film ranges broadly from the outer world of fashion itself to Bethann’s part in it and to her inner reflections whereas the Nikki Giovanni doc mostly shows her speaking to others. Moreover, and on a strictly personal level, I would rather be in Bethann’s company. Bethann is a positive, strong nurturing woman. Nikki’s inner pain and anger often seem to vent in the doc and I think I would feel uncomfortable in her company. In fact I don’t think she would like me much either. Bethann’s fortitude sets the tone of Invisible Beauty and it is fortitude and love that will propel us forever forward.
FashionMoviesDocumentaryBlack WomenFilm Festivals...
- 2/11/2023
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Update #2 (2/12): Black Pumas, Cage the Elephant and Annie Lennox have been added to the 34th Annual Tibet House Benefit Concert lineup.
“Our team is thrilled, not only to be a part of this esteemed event as the exclusive livestream partner, but also to flex our services as a top-to-bottom producer,” said Mary Kay Huse, CEO of Mandolin, which is co-producing the event. “We have been working around the clock alongside the Tibet House, from concepting creative and running production to managing artist booking and offering fundraising support. This partnership...
“Our team is thrilled, not only to be a part of this esteemed event as the exclusive livestream partner, but also to flex our services as a top-to-bottom producer,” said Mary Kay Huse, CEO of Mandolin, which is co-producing the event. “We have been working around the clock alongside the Tibet House, from concepting creative and running production to managing artist booking and offering fundraising support. This partnership...
- 2/12/2021
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Tony Sokol Nov 8, 2018
Spike Lee will direct his third Roger Guenveur Smith play adaptation with Frederick Douglass Now.
The first act of rebellion Roger Guenveur Smith committed for Spike Lee's camera lens was to put a photograph of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Junior on the Italian Wall of Fame in a pizza parlor in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, in Do The Right Thing. Lee went on, not only to cast Smith in another 10 roles, but to adapt two of his plays to film. Lee's next joint will be lit by Smith's one-man play Frederick Douglass Now, which the director will turn into a biopic about the 19th century abolitionist, author and self-emancipated slave, according to Variety.
Frederick Douglass Now will be produced by Buffalo 8, which produced Rodney King, another Lee movie adapted from a play by Smith, along with Luna Ray Media. Spike who is hot off this year's subversive comedy,...
Spike Lee will direct his third Roger Guenveur Smith play adaptation with Frederick Douglass Now.
The first act of rebellion Roger Guenveur Smith committed for Spike Lee's camera lens was to put a photograph of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Junior on the Italian Wall of Fame in a pizza parlor in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, in Do The Right Thing. Lee went on, not only to cast Smith in another 10 roles, but to adapt two of his plays to film. Lee's next joint will be lit by Smith's one-man play Frederick Douglass Now, which the director will turn into a biopic about the 19th century abolitionist, author and self-emancipated slave, according to Variety.
Frederick Douglass Now will be produced by Buffalo 8, which produced Rodney King, another Lee movie adapted from a play by Smith, along with Luna Ray Media. Spike who is hot off this year's subversive comedy,...
- 11/8/2018
- Den of Geek
BlackKklansman’s Spike Lee has set up his next feature directorial role with his third movie adaptation of a one-man stage show by Roger Guenveur Smith, ‘Frederick Douglass Now’.
The film will be the third time that Lee and Smith have collaborated on a project, the others were ‘A Huey P. Newton Story’ and ‘Rodney King’. Netflix acquired the rights for ‘Rodney King’.
Douglass is one of the most outstanding figures in U.S. history: a self-liberated slave, orator, publisher, and pioneering feminist who pleaded the case for abolition before Abraham Lincoln and made plans with the President for moving freed slaves to the North during the Civil War. Douglass lived from 1818 to 1895.
Also in the news – Ewan McGregor to play villain Black Mask in ‘Birds of Prey’
Smith, who has appeared in at least 10 of Lee’s movies dating back to 1988’s School Daze. His one-man show includes him rapping from his own text,...
The film will be the third time that Lee and Smith have collaborated on a project, the others were ‘A Huey P. Newton Story’ and ‘Rodney King’. Netflix acquired the rights for ‘Rodney King’.
Douglass is one of the most outstanding figures in U.S. history: a self-liberated slave, orator, publisher, and pioneering feminist who pleaded the case for abolition before Abraham Lincoln and made plans with the President for moving freed slaves to the North during the Civil War. Douglass lived from 1818 to 1895.
Also in the news – Ewan McGregor to play villain Black Mask in ‘Birds of Prey’
Smith, who has appeared in at least 10 of Lee’s movies dating back to 1988’s School Daze. His one-man show includes him rapping from his own text,...
- 11/8/2018
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Spike Lee is set to direct Frederick Douglass Now, his third movie adaptation of a one-man stage show by Roger Guenveur Smith, after A Huey P. Newton Story and Rodney King.
The new film is set up at Buffalo 8, which produced “Rodney King” with Luna Ray Media. Netflix acquired “Rodney King” last year. “Frederick Douglass Now” will mark the latest collaboration between Lee and Smith, who has played distinctive roles in 10 of Lee’s movies, stretching back to his second feature, “School Daze” (1988).
Douglass was one of the most extraordinary figures in U.S. history: a self-liberated slave, orator, publisher, and pioneering feminist who pleaded the case for abolition before Abraham Lincoln and made plans with the President for moving freed slaves to the North during the Civil War. Douglass lived from 1818 to 1895.
Smith’s one-man show begins with the actor rapping from his own text, mashing up references...
The new film is set up at Buffalo 8, which produced “Rodney King” with Luna Ray Media. Netflix acquired “Rodney King” last year. “Frederick Douglass Now” will mark the latest collaboration between Lee and Smith, who has played distinctive roles in 10 of Lee’s movies, stretching back to his second feature, “School Daze” (1988).
Douglass was one of the most extraordinary figures in U.S. history: a self-liberated slave, orator, publisher, and pioneering feminist who pleaded the case for abolition before Abraham Lincoln and made plans with the President for moving freed slaves to the North during the Civil War. Douglass lived from 1818 to 1895.
Smith’s one-man show begins with the actor rapping from his own text, mashing up references...
- 11/7/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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