Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom | One Night in Miami…

By Parminder Vir OBE

April 22, 2021

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Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, directed by George C. Wolfe: The film is based on the play of the same name by August Wilson. Set in 1927 in Chicago, the film dramatizes a tense recording session with the influential “Mother of the Blues” singer Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (played by Viola Davis), her ambitious horn player, Levee (played by Chadwick Boseman) with big plans for his own career, her musicians, and the white management determined to control the increasingly recalcitrant star. The film has received five Academy Award nominations at the 93rd Academy Awards. It received two Golden Globe nominations, including Best Actor for Boseman, with the latter winning the award posthumously, and won Best Costume Design and Best Make Up & Hair at the 2021 BAFTAs held on 11th April, 2021. Watch the trailer here and watch the film on Netflix here.

One Night in Miami…, directed by Regina King: The film is actress Regina King’s feature film directorial debut, based on a stage play of the same name by Kemp Powers. The film portrays a fictional meeting of four friends and icons of sports, music and activism – Cassius Clay, soon to be called Muhammad Ali (played by Eli Goree), Jim Brown (played by Aldis Hodge), Sam Cooke (played by Leslie Odom Jr.) and Malcolm X (played by Kingsley Ben-Adir). The four men gather in a room at the Hampton House in February 1964 to celebrate Clay’s win over Sonny Liston to claim the World Heavyweight Boxing Title, and to debate and argue, unafraid to challenge each other’s views on the present and future of Black America. Watch the trailer here and get the film here.

About Parminder Vir OBE

Parminder Vir OBE has dedicated herself to positively impacting and transforming lives through a professional career spanning 40 years in philanthropy, entrepreneurship, film and television production, arts and culture, and investment funding. She is the co-founder of the Support4AfricaSMEs campaign and The African Farmers Stories, launched in 2020. She served as the CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, based in Lagos, Nigeria from April 2014 to April 2019. Prior to joining the Foundation, Parminder has enjoyed a distinguished career as an awarding winning film and television producer and private equity investor in film and media.