“Onyx Family Dinner” Premieres November 4th on YouTube

“Onyx Family Dinner” Premieres November 4th on YouTube

Blog

“Onyx Family Dinner” Premieres November 4th on YouTube

Emmanuel Acho, Kellie Brown, Diana Chao, Tiana Day, Faith Fennidy, Ron Finley, Nikole Hannah-Jones, And Jemele Hill Come To Dinner For Compelling Conversation

Pocket.watch’s Onyx Family Dinner, produced in association with Shine Global, will begin airing on November 4 on the official Onyx Family Youtube Channel, and joins a slate of shows focused on elevating Black voices.

YouTube Originals, in partnership with pocket.watch, today released the official trailer for “Onyx Family Dinner” – a new eight-episode series from the #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund that gathers the multi-generational family from the incredibly popular Onyx Family YouTube channel, for plenty of fun and open conversations about life and what’s going on in the world over dinner. Weekly guests broaden the conversation with different perspectives, thought provoking stories, subject matter expertise and valuable insights. This “dinner party” made for families debuts November 4 at 9am PT / 12pm ET on the official Onyx Family YouTube channel and the YouTube Kids app. The premiere episode features former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho, host of the Emmy Award-winning “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man,” who will have a conversation with the Onyx family about discussing race with their friends.

“Onyx Family Dinner” follows the Onyx family, a warm, creative and supportive Black family with a robust fanbase (more than 7 million subscribers across their YouTube channels) as they share their passion for learning about the world and encouraging families to engage with each other. A seat at the dinner table with dad Mirthell, mom Rita and kids Shalom, Sinead, Shasha and Shiloh, brings meaningful discussions about what’s going on in their lives and important topics such as mental health, school curriculum bias, Black hair and hair discrimination, social activism in sports, urban gardening and sustainability, body positivity and self-esteem and how to be a changemaker.

The series’ diverse roster of dinner guests including former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho, fashion influencer Kellie Brown, mental health advocate Diana Chao, activist and founder of Youth Advocates for Change Tiana Day, student and hair discrimination activist Faith Fennidy, fashion designer and urban gardener Ron Finley, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, and Emmy Award-winning sports journalist Jemele Hill who help broaden the conversation by offering different perspectives, interesting stories and valuable insight.

“Onyx Family Dinner” is produced by pocket.watch in association with Shine Global and executive produced by Keith Brown, Albie Hecht, the Onyx Family and Chris M. Williams. Susanne Daniels is Global Head of Original Content for YouTube. Nadine Zylstra serves as Head of Family, Learning and Impact for YouTube Originals. Amina Wilson and Daniel Haack oversee “Onyx Family Dinner” for YouTube Originals.


Shine Global is an award-winning non-profit media company that gives voice to children and their families by sharing their stories of resilience to raise awareness, promote action, and inspire change. We produce inspiring films and compelling content about underserved children. Through tailored distribution and outreach, we connect with our audiences in communities, classrooms, museums, and on capitol hill as part of a powerful engagement campaign to encourage social change. Our films have won more than 100 major awards, including an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Short Subject for Inocente, an Academy Award®-nomination for War/Dance, and a Webby-nomination for The Election Effect digital series.

Virtually Free Shortlisted for IDA Documentary Awards

Virtually Free Shortlisted for IDA Documentary Awards

Blog
 

Virtually Free Shortlisted for IDA Documentary Awards

Virtually Free, Shine Global’s latest documentary produced by Susan MacLaury and Alexandra Blaney and Directed by André Robert Lee, has been shortlisted for the IDA Documentary Awards in the Shorts category. The IDA Documentary Awards is “the world’s most prestigious event dedicated to the documentary genre, celebrating the best nonfiction films and programs of the year. It seeks to represent excellence in the documentary field from around the world, by emerging and established documentarians.” Up to ten nominees in each of the feature and short documentary categories will be selected from the shortlist and will be announced on November 24th.

Virtually Free is a documentary about unlikely allies in Richmond, VA who partner to transform the juvenile justice system and stop mass incarceration. In the film, we meet Sid, Tae, and AR, three teens currently being held in a Richmond, VA detention center who are offered the chance to become activists speaking truth to power. Participating in a local arts organizations’ program, Performing Statistics, they are taught by different artists to deliver their powerful, authentic messages to the public, law enforcement, and government officials using their art, including a virtual reality jail cell they’ve helped create.

More information on how to book an exclusive virtual screening and workshop can be found at: https://www.virtuallyfreemovie.com/watch

Watch the trailer:

Shorts Shortlist

Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa (USA / Woman Make Movies. Directors/Producers: Barbara Attie, Mike Attie, Janet Goldwater)

All That Perishes at the Edge of Land (Pakistan. Director/Producer: Hira Nabi. Producer: Till Passow)

Tutwiler (USA / Frontline, PBS, The Marshall Project, American Documentary, WORLD Channel. Director: Elaine McMillion Sheldon. Producer: Alysia Santo)

Call Center Blues (USA, Mexico / TOPIC. Director: Geeta Gandbhir. Producer: Jessica Devaney)

Eddy’s World (USA. Director/Producer: Lyn Goldfarb. Producers: Jannat Gargi, Daniel Zimbaldi)

Huntsville Station (USA / NY Times Op-Docs. Directors/Producers: Chris Filippone, Jamie Meltzer)

Hysterical Girl (USA / NY Times Op-Docs. Director: Kate Novack. Producer: Andrew Rossi)

John Was Trying to Contact Aliens (USA / Netflix. Director/Producer: Matthew Killip)

The Lost Astronaut (USA / NY Times Op-Docs. Director: Ben Proudfoot. Producers: Abby Lynn Kang Davis, Gabriel Berk Godoi)

Mizuko (USA, Japan. Directors/Producers: Kira Dane, Katelyn Rebelo)

Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem (USA. Director/Producer: Robert Greenwald. Producers: Casey Cooper Johnson, Jim Miller)

sống ở đây (USA / University of California, Santa Cruz. Director/Producer: Melanie Ho)

To Calm the Pig Inside (Ang Pagpakalma sa Unos) (Philippines. Director/Producer: Joanna Vasquez Arong) 

Unforgivable (El Salvador. Director/Producer: Marlén Viñayo. Producer: Carlos Martínez)

Virtually Free (USA. Director: André Robert Lee. Producers: Alexandra Blaney, Susan MacLaury)

Features Shortlist

76 Days (USA, China / MTV Documentary Films. Directors: Anonymous, Weixi Chen. Director/Producer: Hao Wu. Producer: Jean Tsien)

Acasă, My Home (Romania, Germany, Finland / Manifest Film, HBO Europe. Director: Radu Ciorniciuc. Producer: Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan)

Boys State (USA / Apple, A24. Directors/Producers: Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss)

City Hall (USA / Zipporah Films, Inc. Director: Frederick Wiseman. Producer: Karen Konicek)

Collective  (Romania / Magnolia Pictures, Participant. Director/Producer: Alexander Nanau. Producer: Bianca Oana)

Crip Camp (USA / Netflix. Directors/Producers: Jim LeBrecht, Nicole Newnham. Producer: Sara Bolder)

Disclosure (USA / Netflix. Director/Producer: Sam Feder. Producer: Amy Scholder)

The Earth is Blue as an Orange (Ukraine, Lithuania / TVP. Director: Iryna Tsilyk. Producers: Anna Kapustina, Giedrė Žickytė)

The Forbidden Reel (Canada / National Film Board of Canada. Director: Ariel Nasr. Producers: Kat Baulu, Sergeo Kirby)

Gunda (Norway, USA / NEON. Director: Victor Kossakovsky. Producer: Anita Rehoff Larsen)

I Walk on Water (USA / Grasshopper Film. Director: Khalik Allah. Producers: Sofian Khan, Vikki Tobak)

Me and the Cult Leader (Japan. Director/Producer: Atsushi Sakahara. Producers: Pearl Chan, Matsuo Etsuko)

A Metamorfose dos Pássaros (Portugal / Portugal Film – Portuguese Film Agency. Director: Catarina Vasconcelos. Producers: Pedro Fernandes Duarte, Joana Gusmão)

MLK/FBI (USA / IFC Films. Director: Sam Pollard. Producer: Benjamin Hedin)

The Mole Agent (Chile, Germany, USA / POV, Hulu, Gravitas Ventures. Director: Maite Alberdi. Producer: Marcela Santibañez)

Notturno (Italy, France, Germany. Director/Producer: Gianfranco Rosi. Producers: Camille Laemlé, Serge Lalou, Orwa Nyrabia, Donatella Palermo, Eva-Maria Weerts)

Once Upon a Time in Venezuela (Venezuela, UK, Brazil / Cargo Film Releasing. Director: Anabel Rodríguez Ríos. Producer: Sepp Brudermann) 

The Reason I Jump (USA, UK / Kino Lorber. Director: Jerry Rothwell. Producers: Jeremy Dear, Stevie Lee, Al Morrow)

Reunited (Denmark. Director: Mira Jargil. Producer: Kirstine Barfod)

Self Portrait (Norway. Directors: Katja Høgset, Margreth Olin, Espen Wallin. Director/Producer: Margreth Olin)

Softie (Kenya / POV. Director/Producer: Sam Soko. Producer: Toni Kamau)

Stray (USA / Magnolia Pictures. Director/Producer: Elizabeth Lo. Producers: Shane Boris, Ceylan Carhoglu, Ina Fichman)

‘Til Kingdom Come (Israel, UK, Norway / IPBC Kan, NDR. Director/Producer: Maya Zinshtein. Producers: John Battsek, Abraham (Abie) Troen)

Time (USA / Amazon Studios, Concordia Studio, The New York Times. Director/Producer: Garrett Bradley. Producers: Lauren Domino, Kellen Quinn) 

To See You Again (Mexico. Director: Carolina Corral Paredes. Producer: Magali Rocha Donnadieu)

The Truffle Hunters (USA / Sony Pictures Classics. Directors/Producers: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw)

Unapologetic (USA. Director/Producer: Ashley O’Shay. Producer: Morgan Elise Johnson)

The Viewing Booth (Israel, USA / ro*co films, Temple University, Channel 8 (Israel). Director/Producer: Ra’anan Alexandrowicz. Producer: Liran Atzmor)

Welcome to Chechnya (USA / HBO. Director/Producer: David France. Producers: Alice Henty and Askold Kurov)

Wintopia (Canada / National Film Board of Canada. Director: Mira Burt-Wintonick. Producers: Annette Clarke, Bob Moore)

Virtually Free Shortlisted for IDA Documentary Awards

Virtually Free Trailer Premiere

Blog
 

Virtually Free Trailer

Hot off winning three film festival awards for Best Documentary Short – we are pleased to share the Virtually Free trailer with you!

And now is the time to book an exclusive virtual screening of the award-winning short documentary along with a workshop with Director and Educator André Robert Lee. You can share the film with your coworkers, classroom, or community.

A documentary about unlikely allies in Richmond, VA who partner to transform the juvenile justice system and stop mass incarceration. 
Directed by André Robert Lee and Produced by Susan MacLaury and Alexandra Blaney of Shine Global

Expand and deepen the way you talk about anti-racism,  policing in America, education, and the power of the arts in your community.

A workshop and screening package includes:

  • Private viewing of the 40-minute film for your community
  • Facilitated conversations and activities tailored to your groups needs and interest
  • Discussion guide and standards-based curriculum to help your community continue the conversations in a constructive way after we leave

Director André Robert Lee

André Robert Lee previously directed and produced The Prep School Negro, served as Producer on the documentary I’m Not Racist… Am I? and partnered with Shine Global (War Dance; Inocente) on an episode of “The Election Effect” for Paramount TV. He has served as a facilitator, reader, and speaker for the National Association of Independent Schools People of Color Conference and The Gates Millennium Scholars Program. André is a recipient of many awards and acknowledgements; he also teaches filmmaking at the Germantown Friends School where he is designing a film program and is a former Professor at Wharton. André leads Civil Rights Tours for students of the Carolina Friends School and with adults for The Nation Magazine.