While the excitement of last night’s Grammy Awards is still fresh, the 2021 Oscar nominations landed this morning, with the prolific Nine Inch Nails duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross nabbing nominations for their work on David Fincher’s Mank and Pixar’s Soul. A pair of music films — Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The United States vs. Billie Holiday — received Best Actress in a Leading Role nods for their stars, Viola Davis and Andra Day, respectively. Late actor Chadwick Boseman was nominated for Best Actor in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. <!– // Brid Player Singles. var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ “div”: “Brid_10143537”, “obj”: {“id”:”25115″,”width”:”480″,”...
The Pitch: Recorded in 1939, Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” brought attention to the atrocious practice of lynching, specifically in America’s southernmost states. Its lyrics were created as a response to an infamous, horrific photo of a lynching taken by photographer Lawrence Beitler almost 10 years prior. It’s a magnificent song concentrated on an ugly truth. In some ways, Holiday’s life was similar — all her outer beauty paling in comparison to the pain and suffering that existed beneath the surface of her life. Directed by Lee Daniels and written by Suzan-Lori Parks, The United States vs. Billie Holiday focuses on the final decade of the jazz singer’s life — specifically, 1947 to 1959. Based on a chapter of Johan Hari’s 2015 book, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the Wa...