The Black Reel Awards will celebrate Black excellence in Hollywood this winter, and the list of films competing at this ceremony has finally been unveiled. The musical take on Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple is leading the way with 19 nods, followed by Rustin with 10.
The Color Purple is one of the main contenders for the outstanding film award, and it’s in pretty good company. Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, Ava DuVernay’s Origin, George C. Wolfe’s Rustin, and the animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse have also been nominated for this prestigious accolade.
The star-studded cast of The Color Purple received a nomination for the best ensemble, where the list of contenders also includes American Fiction, The Blackening, Rustin, and They Cloned Tyrone. Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, and Phylicia Pearl Mpasi also received nods for their respective performances in several individual acting categories.
As for Rustin, the biopic of Bayard Rustin, the civil rights activist and Martin Luther King Jr’s right-hand man, will come into the night with ten nominations. Its leading man Colman Domingo will also receive the inaugural Chadwick Boseman Vanguard Award.
The Black Reel Awards winners will be announced on January 16, 2024.
FULL LIST OF NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2024 BLACK REEL AWARDS:
OUTSTANDING FILM
American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios) | Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson & Jermaine Johnson, producers
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders & Quincy Jones, producers
Origin (Neon) | Ava DuVernay & Paul Garnes, producers
Rustin (Netflix) | Bruce Cohen, Tonia Davis & George C. Wolfe, producers
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures Releasing) | Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal & Avi Arad, producers
OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMANCE
Fantasia Barrino | The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
John Boyega | They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix)
Colman Domingo | Rustin (Netflix)
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor | Origin (Neon)
Jamie Foxx | The Burial (Amazon Prime Video)
Kelvin Harrison Jr. | Chevalier (Searchlight Pictures)
Michael B. Jordan | Creed III (MGM)
Teyana Taylor | A Thousand and One (Focus Features)
Sophie Wilde | Talk to Me (Maslow Entertainment / Umbrella Entertainment / Ahi Films)
Jeffrey Wright | American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR
Blitz Bazawule | The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Ava DuVernay | Origin (Neon)
Cord Jefferson | American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios)
Michael B. Jordan | Creed III (MGM)
A.V. Rockwell | A Thousand and One (Focus Features)
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Erika Alexander | American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios)
Danielle Brooks | The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Sterling K. Brown | American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios)
Viola Davis | Air (Amazon Studios)
Colman Domingo | The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Jamie Foxx | They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix)
Taraji P. Henson | The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Jonathan Majors | Creed III (MGM)
Da’Vine Joy Randolph | The Holdovers (Focus Features)
Jurnee Smollett | The Burial (Amazon Prime Video)
OUTSTANDING SCREENPLAY
A Thousand and One (Focus Features) | A.V. Rockwell
American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios) | Cord Jefferson
Origin (Neon) | Ava DuVernay
Rustin (Netflix) | Julian Breece & Dustin Lance Black
They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix) | Tony Rettenmaier & Juel Taylor
OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY
(awarded to the director)
American Symphony (Netflix) | Matthew Heineman, director
Kokomo City (Magnolia Pictures) | D. Smith, director
Little Richard: I Am Everything (Magnolia Pictures) | Lisa Cortés, director
Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé (AMC) | Beyoncé, director
Stamped From the Beginning (Netflix) | Roger Ross Williams, director
OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL FILM
(awarded to the director)
Brother (Canada) | Clement Virgo, director
Rye Lane (UK) | Raine Allen-Miller, director
Our Father, the Devil (Cameroon) | Ellie Foumbi, director
OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE
(awarded to the casting director)
American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios) | Jennifer Euston, casting director
The Blackening (Lionsgate) | Leah Daniels Butler, casting director
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Tiffany Little Canfield, Destiny Lilly & Bernard Telsey, casting directors
Rustin (Netflix) | Cherelle Cargill & Avy Kaufman, casting directors
They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix) | Kim Coleman, casting director
OUTSTANDING VOICE PERFORMANCE
Ariana DeBose | Wish (Walt Disney Studios)
Ayo Edebiri | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount Pictures)
Brian Tyree Henry | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Daniel Kaluuya | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Shameik Moore | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures Releasing)
OUTSTANDING INDEPENDENT FILM
(awarded to the director)
A Thousand and One (Focus Features) | A.V. Rockwell, director
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (A24) | Raven Jackson, director
Earth Mama (A24) | Savanah Leaf, director
How I Learned to Fly (Film Movement) | Simon Steuri, director
Rye Lane (Searchlight Pictures) | Raine Allen-Miller, director
OUTSTANDING SHORT FILM
(awarded to the director)
ALIVE IN BRONZE: Huey P. Newton | A.K. Sandhu, director
Birthing A Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney (MTV Documentary Films) | Nazenet Habtezghi, director
Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games (ESPN Films) | Joe Brewster & Michéle Stephenson, directors
The Dads (Netflix) | Luchina Fisher, director
The Last Repair Shop (Searchlight Pictures) | Kris Bowers & Ben Proudfoot, directors
OUTSTANDING SCORE
(awarded to the composer)
American Symphony (Netflix) | Jon Batiste, composer
Chevalier (Searchlight Pictures) | Kris Bowers, composer
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Kris Bowers, composer
Rustin (Netflix) | Brandford Marsalias, composer
They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix) | Desmond Murray & Pierre Charles, composers
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG
(awarded to the performers & writers)
“Am I Dreaming” (From Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) | Metro Boomin, A$AP Rocky & Roisee performers; Leland Tyler Wayne, Roisee, Rakim Mayers, Mike Dean, Peter Lee Johnson and Landon “Script” Wayne, writers
“It Never Went Away” (From American Symphony) | Jon Batiste, writer & performer
“Keep It Moving” (From The Color Purple) | Halle Bailey & Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, performers; Halle Bailey, Denisia Andrews, Brittany Coney & Morten Ristorp, writers
“My House” (Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé) | Beyoncé, performer; Beyoncé Knowles & Terius “The-Dream” Adamu Ya Gesteelde-Diamant, writers
“Road to Freedom” (Rustin) | Lenny Kravitz, writer & performer
OUTSTANDING SOUNDTRACK
The Color Purple
Creed III
The Little Mermaid
Rustin
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
OUTSTANDING EMERGING DIRECTOR
Blitz Bazawule | The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Raven Jackson | All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (A24)
Cord Jefferson | American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios)
A.V. Rockwell | A Thousand and One (Focus Features)
Juel Taylor | They Cloned Tryone (Netflix)
OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Archie Madekwe | Grand Turismo (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Halle Bailey | The Little Mermaid (Walt Disney Studios)
Fantasia Barrino | The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Danielle Brooks | The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Jerrod Carmichael | Poor Things (Searchlight Pictures)
Phylicia Pearl Mpasi | The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Tia Nomore | Earth Mama (A24)
Vivian Oparah | Rye Lane (Searchlight Pictures)
Dewayne Perkins | The Blackening (Lionsgate)
Teyana Taylor | A Thousand and One (Focus Features)
OUTSTANDING FIRST SCREENPLAY
A Thousand and One (Focus Features) | A.V. Rockwell
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (A24) | Raven Jackson
American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios) | Cord Jefferson
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Marcus Gardley
Earth Mama (A24) | Savanah Leaf
OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (A24) | Jomo Fray, cinematographer
Earth Mama (A24) | Jody Lee Lipes, cinematographer
Kokomo City (Magnolia Pictures) | D. Smith, cinematographer
Rye Lane (Searchlight Pictures) | Olan Collardy, cinematographer
Silver Dollar Road (Amazon MGM Studios) | Henry Adebonojo & Antonio Rossi, cinematographers
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN
Air (Amazon Studios) | Charlese Antoinette Jones, costume designer
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Francine Jamison-Tanchuck, costume designer
Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé (AMC) | Beyoncé & Shiona Turini, costume designers
Rustin (Netflix) | Toni-Leslie James, costume designer
They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix) | Francine Jamison-Tanchuck, costume designer
OUTSTANDING EDITING
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Jon Poll, editor
Kokomo City (Magnolia Pictures) | D. Smith, editor
Origin (Neon) | Spencer Averick, editor
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures) | Michael Andrews, editor
They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix) | Saira Haider, editor
OUTSTANDING HAIRSTYLING & MAKEUP
A Thousand and One (Focus Features) | Craig Carter, hair department head
Air (Amazon Studios) | Carla Farmer, hair department head
Bottoms (Amazon Studios) | Shandrea Williams, hair department head
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Carol Rasheed, makeup department head & Lawrence Davis, hair department head
Rustin (Netflix) | Melissa Forney, hair department head & Beverly Jo Pryor, makeup department head
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN
Chevalier (Searchlight Pictures) | Karen Murphy, production designer
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Paul D. Austerberry, production designer
Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé (AMC) | Hannah Beachler, production designer
Rustin (Netflix) | Mark Ricker, production designer
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures Releasing) | Patrick O’Keefe, production designer
