The NAACP Awards were held on Sunday and Monday night – Sunday night was the untelevised part where many winners were announced, and then Monday night was the televised part for all of the bigger awards. I saw that Kathryn Bigelow won a NAACP Image Award for Detroit and I was like “???” Granted, I didn’t see Detroit (because it looked so depressing), but in a year with Get Out, Girls Trip and Mudbound, I just thought those would be the films to sweep. As it turns out, Jordan Peele, Get Out and Girls Trip were heavily awarded – you can see the full list of NAACP Image Award winners here. Bigelow’s Detroit picked up the award for “Outstanding Independent Motion Picture.” Bigelow wasn’t there on Sunday to pick up the award, but she released a statement about the win to draw a line between her film and the a–holery we see everyday from the Trump Administration.
Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow is using her latest film’s victory at Sunday’s NAACP Image Awards to call out Donald Trump’s “racist and xenophobic views.”
“I am so grateful to the NAACP for recognizing Detroit as this year’s Outstanding Independent Motion Picture,” Bigelow said in a Monday statement. “The film tells the story of events which took place at Detroit’s Algiers Motel in 1967 as civil unrest erupted in many of our great American cities. The endemic racism, social inequality, and abuse of power which precipitated this tragedy persist today as real threats to our freedom and the integrity of our social fabric. Given the racist and xenophobic views emanating from The White House this week, largely unchallenged in the halls of power, we must remain vigilant and uncompromising in demanding our leaders reflect our highest ideals as an inclusive democracy.”
Last week, The Washington Post reported that during a meeting with lawmakers to discuss protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries, the president said, “Why are we having all these people from sh–hole countries come here?”
While also acknowledging her crew, writing partner Mark Boal, production company Annapura, and cast, which includes John Boyega and Anthony Mackie, Bigelow concluded her statement with words from the Civil Rights leader whose memory is being celebrated on Monday: “As we honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s life and legacy, I’m reminded of his words in 1963: ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’”
When Detroit was released last summer – the same weekend that neo-Nazis killed a woman in Charlottesville – we talked about whether Bigelow was the right person to tell this particular story. Bigelow wasn’t even sure if she was right, but she felt like it was a story she wanted to tell about race and injustice. The film didn’t go anywhere and it’s not in the conversation for any Oscars, which I’m sure will be used as an excuse by many white filmmakers to not even TRY to address race and injustice in their films. But I admire her for trying, just as I admire anyone in the public sphere willing to come out and speak the truth, that Donald Trump is a racist and xenophobe.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Wow she is so gorgeous ! Shallow I know but that’s why I come here. Escape.
And to really blow your mind? She’s 66 years old! I’m not kidding.
I think escapism was one of the reasons this movie was a no go. Everything is just too ugly right now in real life. I’m sure it’s excellent but I have zero desire to sit through it.
I’m glad it was appreciated somewhere, and a Black “establishment” has commended her for telling the story. I didn’t see it, but if the NAACP says she did a great job, that’s enough proof for me. I think she was also a victim of horrible cultural timing with the Charlottesville tragedy. Nobody wants to “escape” to a movie about the past that hasn’t quite changed.
The movie Mudbound is so good.
Ahhh, the strangely silent Bigelow. No, I’m sure she has nothing to share about sexism in Hollywood.
Like STRANGE DAYS and NEAR DARK, this Bigelow film will probably get more acclaim in the future than now.