Obama Speechwriter Pens Memoir About President’s Response to Mother Emanuel Church Massacre (Video)
*The White House speechwriter who helped President Barack Obama craft his response to the Charleston church massacre in June 2015 has penned a memoir about the subject. Cody Keenan’s memoir, “Grace: A President, His Speechwriter, and Ten Days in the Battle for America,” will be published in Fall 2022, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media […]
COVID-19 Memorial: Detroit Nurse Lori Key Helps Nation to Heal With Rendition of ‘Amazing Grace’ (Watch)
*The Michigan nurse whose moving rendition of “Amazing Grace” went viral early in the COVID-19 pandemic sang the hymn for a nation Tuesday night at a COVID-19 memorial in Washington, D.C. attended by President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Lori Marie Key, a 29-year-old registered nurse at Detroit’s St. Mary Mercy Livonia Hospital, […]
How Sweet The Sound: The Most Moving Renditions of ‘Amazing Grace’ [EUR Video Throwback]
Five years ago today, President Barack Obama broke out in a rendition of “Amazing Grace” while delivering the eulogy for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was slaughtered along with eight of his parishioners when a white supremacist gunman opened fire during their Bible study at his church in Charleston, South Carolina. “Grace” was the theme in […]
BHERC Presents 1st Faith Based & Inspirational Film Fest Sat. Oct. 12
*The Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center announces the inaugural Faith Based and Inspirational Film Festival Saturday, October 12th from 11:00 am to 10:00 pm at Los Angeles Center Studios 405 South Bixel Street in Los Angeles. Come see Emanuel (about prayer warriors who lost their lives due to a mass shooting), Let Go and […]
‘Amazing Grace’: A Tribute to Aretha Franklin at Pan African Film Festival – WATCH!
*Sure “Aretha Franklin” may be a household name, but how many know that “Amazing Grace,” the 1972 live album by Franklin that sold over two million copies, causing it to go double platinum, was the most sold album of Franklin’s career? This album also earned Franklin a 1973 Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance. […]
Aretha Franklin’s ‘Amazing Grace’ Set for Pan African Film Festival Opening Night Feb. 7
*The Pan African Film & Arts Festival announced that it will celebrate its 27th Annual Opening Night with a screening of Aretha Franklin’s cherished Amazing Grace concert documentary at the Directors Guild of America. The festival, which presents an impressive slate of over 170 new Black films from the US and around the world and exhibits […]
Telluride Gives Up Attempt to Screen Aretha Franklin Doc ‘Amazing Grace’ – For Now
*For the past two years, organizers at the Telluride Film Festival have been battling Aretha Franklin over their desire to screen “Amazing Grace,” director Sydney Pollack’s 1972 documentary that chronicles the recording of her classic live album of the same name. Officials with the festival now say that they have given up on trying to […]
Aretha Franklin to Give Pope Francis Her Father’s Sermons as a Gift
*The pope will wrap his visit to the U.S. with a two-day stay in Philadelphia, where Aretha Franklin is scheduled to sing for him at Saturday’s Festival of Families concert. And she will come bearing gifts. The Queen of Soul said she’ll present the pope with a box set of sermons by her father, civil […]
Producers Agree Not to Screen Aretha Franklin ‘Amazing Grace’ Doc for 30 Days
*The “Amazing Grace” documentary, featuring footage from Aretha Franklin’s 1972 gospel concert at New Missionary Baptist Church, won’t be shown to the public or to film executives in the next month, according to The Hollywood Reporter. On Tuesday, an attorney for the singer told a Colorado judge that producer Allan Elliott has agreed to a […]
Aretha Franklin Now Suing to Stop Private ‘Amazing Grace’ Screening
*Aretha Franklin really, REALLY doesn’t want you to see “Amazing Grace,” the Sydney Pollack-documentary showing the live recording of her 1972 concert album of the same name. Just one day after its private screening for potential buyers at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the Queen of Soul today filed an amended complaint in federal […]
Aretha Franklin’s ‘Amazing Grace’ Doc Pulled from Toronto Film Festival
*Producers of the Aretha Franklin documentary “Amazing Grace” have withdrawn the film from the Toronto Film Festival following a legal challenge with the singer at Denver’s Telluride Film Festival. As previously reported, a screening of “Amazing Grace” was halted by a federal judge just hours before its scheduled premiere at last week’s Telluride event. Lawyers for […]
Aretha Franklin Sues to Block ‘Amazing Grace’ Screening at Telluride
*The Telluride Film Festival says it will screen the documentary “Amazing Grace” tonight (Sept. 4), despite a last minute lawsuit from Aretha Franklin aiming to stop it, reports TheWrap. According to the lawsuit, the film consists mostly of footage from Franklin’s 1972 concert at the New Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, California. However, the […]
Obama Sings ‘Amazing Grace’ During Eulogy of Rev. Clementa Pinckney (Watch)
*President Barack Obama was moved to sing while eulogizing the Rev. Clementa Pinckney on Friday, suddenly breaking out in the hymn “Amazing Grace.” Rev. Pinckney, the South Carolina state senator and pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, was among nine people gunned down during the church’s Bible study session last week. “Grace” was the central theme of […]
King Family Approves Miniseries and Jackie ‘Moms’ Mabley (Watch)
*In advance of Black History Month, Olive Films will debut on Blu-ray the civil rights-inspired “Amazing Grace“ ($29.95 SRP) and the “astute and compelling” biography “King: The Martin Luther King Story” ($29.95 SRP) on Tues, Jan 27, 2015. Each will also be simultaneously re-released on DVD. “Amazing Grace“ is rated “G” and “King” is not rated. While many […]
