InfiniteBody Honor Roll 2023
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| Fantasia Barrino-Taylor as Celie in The Color Purple |
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| Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project |
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Welcome to my annual end-of-year round-up of cultural moments--not so much a Best-Of. More of a Here's What Meant A Lot to Me!
As always, you'll find some Better-Late-Than-Never items I've caught up with--like the first one, Justin Kurzel's 2015 film, Macbeth, with its searing performances and cinematography.
I also want to acknowledge and give huge thanks for the contributions of my guest speakers for Body and Soul podcast--Lisa La Touche, devynn emory, Maxine Montilus, george emilio sanchez, Samar Haddad King, and Vicky Shick, and so many more. Catch up with this series on Spotify here.
Clearly, the 2020s continue to compete with one another for which year will be voted the most challenging. But even as our times become more dire, the arts continue to testify for human qualities and contributions still worthy of celebration and emulation.
As we approach the New Year, I wish you the clarity, strength, and courage to envision, create, and make a meaningful difference in 2024 and beyond.
Ceasefire now. Free Palestine.
-- Eva Yaa Asantewaa
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| Justin Kurzel's Macbeth |
Macbeth (2015), directed by Justin Kurzel (Netflix)
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), directed by Edward Berger (Netflix)
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (2022), directed by Joe Brewster and Michéle Stephenson (Sundance Film Festival 2023)
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| Danielle Deadwyler, star of Till |
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| Roberta Flack |
Till (2022), directed by Chinonye Chukwu (Amazon Prime Video)
American Masters: Roberta Flack, directed by Antonino D'Ambrosio (PBS)
The 1619 Project, various directors; executive produced by Nikole Hannah-Jones (Hulu)
Empire of Light, directed by Sam Mendes (HBO Max)
The Yanomami Struggle, curated by Thyago Nogueira, The Shed (February 3-April 16)
The Heisenberg Variations: Imagination, Invention, and Uncertainty, by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Julia S. Phelps Annual Lecture in the Arts and Humanities, Harvard Radcliffe Institute, February 16
Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes, directed by Peter Schnall (PBS)
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| Still from Women Talking |
We Are the Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth, editors: Dahr Jamail and Stan Rushworth (The New Press, 2022)
The Elephant Whisperers, directed by Kartiki Gonsalves (Netflix)
Women Talking, directed by Sarah Polley (2022)
Remember This, directed by Jeff Hutchens and Derek Goldman (PBS Great Performances)
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| left-to-right: Deepika Padukone, Shah Rukh Khan, and John Abraham, Pathaan, Yash Raj Films |
Pathaan, directed by Siddarth Anand (Amazon Prime Video)
Reggie, directed by Alexandria Stapleton (Amazon Prime Video)
Te Wheke, Atamira Dance Company, The Joyce Theater, March 29-April 2
A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, The Joyce Theater, April 4-9
Next at The Kennedy Center: Ballet Hispánico’s Doña Perón, PBS, streaming April 14-May 12
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, directed by Laura Poitras, streaming on HBO Max
Trisha Brown Dance Company, The Joyce Theater, May 2-7
No Bears, directed by Jafar Panahi, streaming on The Criterion Channel
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| Author Robert Caro and editor Robert Gottlieb in Turn Every Page |
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| Jeremy Strong, at left, and Brian Cox in Succession |
Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb, directed by Lizzie Gottlieb on Amazon Prime Video (2022)
John Mulaney: Baby J, directed by Alex Timbers, streaming on Netflix
Mother by Eiko Otake, Green-Wood Cemetery, May 7
Kazunori Kumagai: Tap Into The Light, Gibney, May 11-13
The Light We Carry: Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey, directed by Linda Mendoza, streaming on Netflix
Top Gun: Maverick, directed by Joseph Kosinski (2022), streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Cette maison, directed by Miryam Charles (2022), streaming on The Criterion Channel
DanceAfrica 2023: Golden Ghana: Adinkra, Ananse, and Abusua, BAM, Artistic Director Abdel R. Salaam, May 26-29
Succession, created by Jesse Armstrong, streaming on HBO Max
ear for eye, directed by debbie tucker green (2021), streaming on The Criterion Channel
SciGirls Stories: Black Women in STEM, directed by Adja Gildersleve, Maya Washington, and Bianca Rhodes, streaming on PBS, June 1-29
Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, directed by James House, streaming on PBS, June 2-30
Jury Duty, directed by Jake Szymanski, streaming on Amazon Prime Video
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| L-r: Jean Millington, June Darling, and June Millington of Fanny (photo: Marita Madeloni) |
Fanny: The Right to Rock, directed by Bobbi Jo Hart, streaming on PBS, May 22-June 19
Assembly: Center for Dialogue and Exchange in the Arts, Danspace Project, June 9-10
Purple, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances, Lincoln Center's Summer for the City, June 9-25
Open Working Rehearsal, The Met Orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin with Angel Blue and Russell Thomas, Carnegie Hall, June 22
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| The film Nimona, adapted from ND Stevenson's 2015 graphic novel |
Vir Das: Landing, directed by Vir Das, streaming on Netflix
Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, streaming on Max
Call Me Kate, directed by Lorna Tucker, streaming on Netflix
Nimona, directed by Troy Quane and Nick Bruno, streaming on Netflix
Not My Enemy, directed by Kehinde Ishangi (2022), streaming on Vimeo
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| Authors Anita Kopacz (above) and Viola Davis |
Shallow Waters by Anita Kopacz (Simon & Schuster, 2022)
Finding Me by Viola Davis (Harper Collins, 2022)
Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan
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| Kit Conner (left) and Joe Locke of Heartstopper |
Heartstopper Season 2, streaming on Netflix
The Lincoln Lawyer, Seasons 1-2, streaming on Netflix
Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig (2023)
The Half-God of Rainfall, by Inua Ellams, directed by Taibi Magar, at New York Theatre Workshop, July 14-August 20
Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity, directed by Dorsay Alavi, streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Tree and Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India 200 BCE-400 CE., Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 21 -November 13
Pepón Osorio: My Beating Heart/ Mi corazón latiente, The New Museum, June 29-September 17
María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Behold, Brooklyn Museum, September 15, 2023–January 14, 2024
The Blue Caftan, directed by Miryam Touzani (2022), streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel
Lupin (Season 3), streaming on Netflix
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| David Byrne of Talking Heads in Stop Making Sense |
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| Edisa Weeks in 3 Rites: Liberty |
Stop Making Sense (Restored), directed by Jonathan Demme
3 Rites: Liberty, by Delirious Dances/Edisa Weeks, October 12-15
Silver Dollar Road, directed by Raoul Peck, streaming on Amazon Prime Video
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| Performer Ty Defoe |
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| Author Héctor Tobar |
Embracing Duality: Modern Indigenous Culture (starring Halluci Nation, Martha Redbone, and Ty Defoe), Next at The Kennedy Center, PBS
Deadloch, written by Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Mythsd of "Latino," by Héctor Tobar (MCD Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023)
Nyad, directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, streaming on Netflix
The Bear (Season 2), streaming on Hulu
Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin in Rustin, streaming on Netflix
Stamped from the Beginning, directed by Roger Ross Williams, streaming on Netflix
Community of Parting, directed by Jane Jin Kaisen (2019), Vimeo
South to Black Power, directed by Sam Pollard and Llewellyn M. Smith (2023), Max
Maestro, directed by Bradley Cooper (2023)
Danzantes del Alba, Teatro Línea de Sombra, NYU Skirball Center, December 3
Lesbian Poetic Traditions: Judy Grahn, Julie R. Enszer, JP Howard, and Alicia Mountain, Live from NYPL, December 6
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| Beyoncé |
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| Park Eun-bin of Extraordinary Attorney Woo |
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| Teo Yoo and Greta Lee of Past Lives |
Renaissance, directed by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (2003)
Leave the World Behind, directed by Sam Esmail (2023), steaming on Netflix
She Said, directed by Maria Schrader (2022), streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Julian (2022) and Moth (2023), films by Kate Weare and Jack Flame Sorokin
Past Lives, directed by Celine Song (2023), streaming on Amazon Prime Video
The Color Purple, directed by Blitz Bazawule (2023)
Extraordinary Attorney Woo, directed by Yoo In-shik, streaming on Netflix from 2022
Visible Mending, directed by Samantha Moore, The New York Times, Op-Docs. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/26/opinion/knitting-healing.html
American Fiction, directed by Cord Jefferson (2023)
