InfiniteBody Honor Roll 2021
Eva Yaa Asantewaa
As always, this is not a Best-Of list, certainly, but a kind of memory palace of remarkable arts events and resources I connected with in 2021 during the continued pandemic. Given how things went this year, it was not a very dance-focused time for me, except where dancing was streamable, but it was great for catching up with streaming series I might have missed otherwise or books I now had more time to read.
2022 looks like it will start out pretty much the same. I send you, your loved ones, and your community best wishes for a safe, healthy, artful, and wonderful New Year!
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| Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You (HBO) |
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| Omar Sy starring in Lupin (Netflix) |
I Hate It Here: Stories from the End of the Old World, written and directed by Ike Holter, world premiere, Studio Theatre, streaming from December 10, 2020 through March 7, 2021
Lupin (Part 1), directed by Marcela Said, Ludovic Bernard and Louis Leterrier, starring Omar Sy, Netflix, streaming from January 8
New Sounds Presents: ETHEL with John Schaefer, The Greene Space and WNYC and WQXR, YouTube, from January 14
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| Regina King, director, One Night in Miami (photo: Evan Agostini) |
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| Regina King in The Harder They Fall (photo: YouTube) |
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| One Night in Miami (Amazon Prime Video) |
One Night in Miami, directed by Regina King, Amazon Prime Video, streaming from January 15
I May Destroy You, created by and starring Michaela Coel, directed by Sam Miller and Michaela Coel, HBO Max, streaming from June 7, 2020
Kapaemahu, directed by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson; animation director, Daniel Sousa; 2020; viewed February 2021
Black Art: In the Absence of Light, directed by Sam Pollard, HBO Max, streaming from February 13
Nomadland, directed by Chloé Zhao, Hulu, streaming from February 19
Mr. SOUL!, directed by Melissa Haizlip and Sam Pollard, released August 28, 2020; streaming on PBS from February 28
I Care A Lot, directed by J Blakeman, Netflix, streaming from September 12, 2020
Mank, directed by David Fincher, Netflix, streaming from December 4, 2020
Sound of Metal, directed by Darius Marder, Amazon Prime Video, streaming from December 4, 2020
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| Megan Thee Stallion on Legendary (HBO Max) |
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| Cast of HBO Max's A Black Lady Sketch Show |
Radiant Rest: Yoga Nidra for Deep Relaxation and Awakened Clarity, by Tracee Stanley, Shambala, 2021
Tina, directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin, HBO Max, streaming from March 27
Twyla Moves, directed by Steve Cantor, American Masters, PBS, streaming from March 26
All In: The Fight for Democracy, directed by Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés, Amazon Prime Video, streaming from September 9, 2020
All the Rage, by Rosamond S. King, Nightboat Books, 2021
Chasing Magic, by Ayodele Casel, streaming on The Joyce Theater website, beginning April 8
Conversation without Walls: Alice Sheppard and iele paloumpis, YouTube, April 9
Legendary (Season 1), directed by Rik Reinholdtsen, HBO Max, streaming from May 27, 2020
Legendary (Season 2), directed by Rik Reinholdtsen, HBO Max, streaming from May 6, 2021
Romeo and Juliet, National Theatre, directed by Simon Godwin, PBS Great Performances, April 23-May 21
A Black Lady Sketch Show, created by Robin Thede, directors Dime Davis (Season 1); Lacey Duke and Brittany Scott Smith (Season 2) HBO Max, streaming from 2019-2021
A Body in Fukushima, by Eiko Otake and William Johnston, Wesleyan University Press, May 2021
DanceAfrica 2021, BAM, streaming May 29 through June 10
In Treatment (all four seasons), various directors, HBO Max
The Flight Attendant, HBO Max, streaming from November 26, 2020
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| Author Clint Smith (photo: Carletta Girma) |
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| Author Annette Gordon-Reed (photo: Stephanie Mitchell) |
Culture Strike: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest, by Laura Raicovich, 2021
How the Word is Passed, by Clint Smith, Little, Brown & Co., 2021
Naomi Osaka, directed by Garrett Bradley, Netflix, streaming from July 16
In Our Mothers' Gardens, directed by Shantrelle P. Lewis, Netflix, streaming from 2020
Transcendant Kingdom, by Yaa Gyasi, Alfred A. Knopf, 2021
Mary J. Blige's My Life, directed by Vanessa Roth, Amazon Prime Video, 2021
Poet Warrior: A Memoir, by Joy Harjo, 2021
Surrealism Beyond Borders, Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 11, 2021 through January 30, 2022
The Harder They Fall, directed by Jeymes Samuel, Netflix, streaming from November 3
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| Bo Burnham in Inside (Netflix) |
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| Cast of Call My Agent! (Netflix) |
King Richard, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, HBO Max, streaming from November 19
Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature, by Farah Jasmine Griffin, W.W. Norton & Company, 2021
Succession, created by Jesse Armstrong, HBO Max, streaming from 2018
Inside, by Bo Burnham, Netflix, streaming from May 2021
On Juneteenth, by Annette Gordon-Reed, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2021
Call My Agent!, Netflix, streaming from 2015
