The Spotlight Award honors a creative artist who has significantly broadened the range of voices, perspectives and stories told through the cinematic arts. The award is designed to acknowledge the accomplishments of an artist who has succeeded in generating equity, inclusion and diversity in the film industry. Godfrey Peoples will be the inaugural recipient of the Spotlight Award.

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Peoples studied theater at Baylor University then enrolled in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Godfrey Peoples was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2018. Her debut feature film Miss Juneteenth filmed in Fort Worth in 2019 with support from the Fort Worth Film Commission. The critically acclaimed film premiered at Sundance 2020 and was released on Juneteenth of that year. The National Board of Review awarded Godfrey Peoples with Best Directorial Debut of 2020. Godfrey Peoples’ short film Doretha’s Blues, which debuted at SXSW in 2021 also filmed in Fort Worth in 2019. Channing is developing a Miss Juneteenth TV Series under her first-look deal with UCP.

Photo courtesy of Variety Magazine

“We are thrilled to honor Channing Godfrey Peoples for her contributions to the film industry,” said Chad Mathews, director of the Lone Star Film Society. “Her powerful writing and directorial style is an inspiration for filmmakers.”

This year’s gala will also honor Texans Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke with the inaugural Larry McMurtry Award. Linklater and Hawke will attend the gala in person and participate in a conversation led by Krys Boyd, host of KERA’s Think.

Tickets are now available for the Lone Star Film Festival Gala After Party. The After Party will be held at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth on Saturday, November 13, from 9:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Tickets are $75 and include beer, wine and entertainment from Disko Cowboy of Vinyl Ranch.

The Fort Worth Film Commission, a division of Visit Fort Worth, is partnering with Lone Star to produce the sold-out 2021 gala. All proceeds from the gala support the Lone Star Film Society’s Johnny Langdon Film Education Initiative.

For more information about the Lone Star Film Festival, visit www.lonestarfilmfestival.com. Approved media image here.

The post Shining a Spotlight on Channing Godfrey Peoples first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

On July 4, 1776, what ultimately became the United States of America declared her independence from England. While America was free, there were countless Blacks in America who remained enslaved. In the depths of the Civil War, fought over the right to own another human, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring an end to slavery. Eighty-seven years after the Founding Fathers held “these truths to be self-evident, that all men were created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…” enslaved Black Americans were finally free.  

First page of the Emancipation Proclamation

If a tree falls in the forest, and there’s no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? If enslaved people were free, and no one told them, were they really free? President Lincoln’s Emancipation proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863. However, slaves in Texas were not made aware of their freedom until more than two years later on June 19, 1865.  

Welcome to Juneteenth – a day of remembrance and celebration. For many Blacks in Texas, it’s as important, if not more so, as the Fourth of July. Like the Fourth of July, Juneteenth a day of barbecues, parades, songs, and picnics. Unlike the Fourth of July, Juneteenth is not recognized as a federal holiday.  

Juneteenth Celebration at Houston’s Emancipation Park, 1880

Fort Worth’s own Opal Lee wants to change that.  

For the past 40 years, Ms. Lee and her family have celebrated Juneteenth just like they celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 2016, at 89 years old, she drew national attention when she walked from her home in Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., to bring awareness to the holiday and advocate for Juneteenth to be recognized as a federal holiday. Her passion for Juneteenth hasn’t subsided, and the now–94–year-old activist’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. Ms. Lee’s online petition to get Juneteenth recognized as a federal holiday has received over a million signatures to date. 

The recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday is a national movement, but Ms. Lee works just as hard here in Fort Worth to ensure that all Fort Worthians recognize, honor, and celebrate Juneteenth. Every year, she marshals “Opal’s Walk,” an annual Juneteenth caravan and parade where she leads parade goers and participants in a 2.5 mile walk to commemorate her 2016 walk to our nation’s capital.  

Opal Lee is not the only Fort Worthian putting Juneteenth on the map, though. Channing Godfrey Peoples, another Fort Worth native, is the writer and director of the critically acclaimed Miss Juneteenth, a coming-of-age story about Kai, a teenage girl from the southside of Fort Worth, competing to win the coveted “Miss Juneteenth” pageant title and crown.  

As a child, Ms. Godfrey Peoples also regularly celebrated Juneteenth and, through her film, hopes to amplify the meaning of the holiday as well as its historical and current significance to the Black community. 

Miss Juneteenth

Toni Harrison-Kelly, a Sherman, Texas native, says of Juneteenth: “Juneteenth was my absolute favorite holiday growing up. I got a new outfit every year. My entire family walked in the parade. There was music and dancing and so many people just having a great time celebrating freedom. It seemed like every Black person in our town came out to the Juneteenth celebration. It was always so vibrant and so inspiring. I remember looking forward to it every single year.”  

So how do we celebrate Juneteenth in Texas? Well, in short, we celebrate big. Really big. In addition to the annual Opal’s Walk caravan and parade here in Fort Worth, there are numerous events on and around June 19 across the state marked by eating and drinking, singing and dancing, reflecting and remembering. It’s a time for families and neighborhoods to gather and celebrate their heritage and continued community. Opal Lee calls Juneteenth a “unifier” and believes that it is a holiday that all Americans – not just African Americans – should celebrate. And she’s right. 

So, how will you celebrate Juneteenth this year? 

• Annual Juneteenth Flag Raising to honor and remember past and present Black military personnel 
• Annual Opal’s Walk Caravan and Parade 
• Annual Juneteenth Prayer Breakfast and Ecumenical Service 
• Annual Miss Juneteenth Fort Worth Scholarship Pageant  
• Annual Erma Johnson Hadley Juneteenth Honors Banquet 

For more formation on how to celebrate Juneteenth, go to www.juneteenthftw.com 

Dr. Sharla Horton-Williams has a 20-year career in early childhood and pre-kindergarten through 12th grade education. She is committed to achieving educational excellence and equity for all students – especially Black and Hispanic students who have historically been underserved in education. She has served as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal in private, public charter, and traditional public schools. Sharla earned a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Texas A&M University, where her research focused on the role of school leadership in closing the opportunity-achievement gap.

The post A Celebration So Vibrant, So Inspiring first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

Channing Godfrey Peoples
Photo courtesy of the Kimbell Art Museum

Filmed in her hometown of Fort Worth, Peoples’ critically acclaimed film “Miss Juneteenth” explores the hopes and deferred dreams of young Black women and the importance of family, culture and community. Join the award-winning filmmaker as she turns her cinematic eye toward selected works in the Kimbell’s permanent collection and delivers a stimulating conversation about art, creativity and connection. Katherine Stephens, curatorial assistant, will moderate this free program.

The first in an impressive roster for the fall/winter season, Peoples is a Master of Fine Arts graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” for 2018. As an African American woman, she makes films with character-driven stories that focus on the resilience of the human spirit and often feature black women at a turning point in their lives. She is a Sundance Fellow, Austin Film Society Fellow, SFFILM/Westridge Foundation Fellow and King Family Foundation Recipient and has served as a Time Warner Artist-in-Residence. Her short films include the award-winning “Red” and “Doretha’s Blues,” and she wrote two episodes of “Queen Sugar” (OWN). Her directorial debut, “Miss Juneteenth,” premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and won the Louis Black “Lone Star” Award at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival and Best Narrative Feature at the 2020 BlackStar Film Festival.

Miss Juneteenth, 2020 Image by Rambo

“The Artist’s Eye” online program invites artists and architects to discuss works in the Kimbell’s permanent collection or elements and features of its buildings. These practicing professionals share their special insights and relate older art or architecture to contemporary artistic concerns, including their own. To participate in this free event, register on kimbellart.org.

November 7
Linda Ridgway, artist, Dallas
Moderated by Claire Barry, director of conservation

January 16
Matt Kleberg, painter, New York
Moderated by George T. M. Shackelford, deputy director

February 20
Matt Clark, artist, Dallas
Moderated by Jennifer Casler Price, curator of Asian, African and Ancient American art

The post Acclaimed Ft. Worth Filmmaker Launches “The Artist’s Eye” at the Kimbell first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.