August 3, 2025
The Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival will feature a Who’s Who of Black star power.
The Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, which runs through Aug. 9, will feature a virtual who’s who of Black star power, from political heavyweights like former First Lady turned podcast host Michelle Obama and Reps. Jasmine Crockett and Ayanna Pressley to auteurs like Spike Lee. The festival kicked off on July 31.
According to WROR, across the nine days of the festival, film premieres, podcasts, talk shows, fireside chats, and panel discussions are planned, and it is also fitting that on the 23rd annual film festival, a documentary film featuring basketball legend Michael Jordan was among the festival’s opening proceedings.
According to Deadline, “Unraveling George,” a documentary about civil rights leader, entrepreneur, and Hall of Fame coach George Raveling, premiered on Aug. 1.
The film, which was executive produced by another Hall of Famer, TNT Sports analyst Charles Barkley, is narrated by the film’s producer, Marlon Wayans, who portrayed Raveling in the 2023 film “Air.”
That film, a biopic, chronicled how Jordan ended up signing with Nike, a fledgling shoe company, in 1984, and changed the landscape of pop culture as well as the trajectory of Nike in the decades afterward.
As Michael Jeffery Jordan himself says in the trailer for the documentary film, “George Raveling is a mentor, a friend, and a confidant, and I would not be Michael Jordan without him.”
In addition to the film, the film festival will play host to a live episode of Michelle Obama’s podcast, “IMO,” on Aug. 9. Mrs. Obama hosts the podcast alongside her brother, Craig Robinson. Joining the brother and sister for the special episode is multi-hyphenate star Teyana Taylor, whose latest film, “One Battle After Another,” heads to theaters on Sept. 26.
On Aug. 1, Spike Lee presented additional scenes from “Highest 2 Lowest,” his highly anticipated reinterpretation of the classic Akira Kurosawa film “High and Low,” which stars Denzel Washington and A$AP Rocky. Alongside the film’s director, Stars LaChanze, John Douglas Thompson, and Ilfenesh Hadera discussed the film.
On Aug. 5; Warner Brothers will present its keynote event, “Spotlight on Excellence: An EGOT Winner and Daytime Host, Jennifer Hudson,” a 60 minute discussion and Q&A session with Hudson, which will be moderated by People Magazine‘s editor Janine Rubenstein, and will discuss Hudson’s experience while creating “The Jennifer Hudson Show.”
On Aug. 7, U.S. Representatives Ayanna Pressley and Jasmine Crockett will join Rev. Al Sharpton for a fireside chat discussion focusing on “the power of joy as a political act, cultural anchor, and driving force behind justice, storytelling, and community transformation.”
The film festival will close with the second half of a discussion of a two-part documentary, presented by HBO Max, “Seen & Heard Part 2,” which highlights the importance and impact of Black creatives in the TV industry and features interviews with Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Shonda Rhimes.
The discussion will be led by actress and executive producer of the film Issa Rae, its directors Giselle Bailey and Phil Bertelsen, and producer Montrel McKay. Issa Rae premiered the second half of the documentary earlier this year at Austin’s SXSW (South by South West) Conference and Festival where she noted that the dearth of Black-led shows is part of a vicious cycle.
“We wanted to make a comprehensive history and showcase, with evidence, that this is how they built the success of their networks on our backs, and we almost don’t have anything to show for it as a result. It’s tragic, and history repeats itself,” Rae said at SXSW.
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