Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith also earned “The Beacon Award” for their Apple film “Emancipation,” which premiered last year.
“The Woman King,” “Till,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” are among the top winners from the 14th Annual African American Critics Association Awards.
The acclaimed epic “The Woman King” earned the top honor the night, Best Picture and also Best Director for Gina Prince-Bythewood’s work. Best Actress went to Danielle Deadwyler for her powerful performance in “Till,” which is seen as one of the biggest Oscars snubs this awards season.
Best Supporting Actress went to Angela Bassett for her performance in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” while the MCU box-office smash also took home Best Song for Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up.” Netflix’s hit film “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” also took home two awards, including Best Writing and Best Ensemble.
Other big wins include Jeremy Pope taking home Best Actor for his performance in “The Inspection,” Brian Tyree Henry’s Best Supporting Actor win for “Causeway” and Jalyn Hall scoring the Emerging Face award for his work in the films “Till” and “Bruiser.”
Another major moment of the night was when director Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith were honored with The Beacon Award for their work on the film, “Emancipation.” As theGrio previously reported, “Emancipation” was Smith’s first film release since “King Richard,” which earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor.
In his first speech since the infamous Oscars where he struck Chris Rock onstage, he went on to describe “Emancipation” as the “most difficult” project of his career. He continued, “I want to thank Gil and AAFCA. I want to thank all of you in this room for doing what you do, keeping our stories alive.”
For 20 years, the AAFCA has reviewed and highlighted cinema, with “particular emphasis on film and TV highlighting the Black experience.” Check out the full list of winners on the official AAFCA site, here.
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