The 5th Annual MACRO Lodge at Sundance Film Festival has unveiled its virtual programming which will take place January 21-23.
Hosted by MACRO Founder & CEO Charles D. King (Judas and the Black Messiah, Mudbound) and his wife Stacey Walker King, Chief Brand Officer of the company, this year’s lodge will offer Sundance attendees and the genreal public a lineup that will be available at www.MACROLodge.com. Scheduled to appear are Regina Hall, Sterling K. Brown, Eva Longoria, Rosie Perez, Glynn Turman, Keke Palmer, Sinqua Walls, Anna Diop, Coodie & Chike, Krystin Ver Linden, Nikyatu Jusu, Channing Dungey, Tonya Lewis Lee and more.
Programming at the lodge continues MACRO’s mission to amplify creators and voices of color. It will feature events with ABC, Color of Change, DAZN, Lionsgate, Netflix, Vertical Entertainment and Roadside Attractions; and Warner Bros. Television; and social justice organizations The Culture Change Fund and The BIG We.
Below is a partial listing of the events.
Friday, January 21, 2022
12pm PST
La Guerra Civil: A Conversation with Director/Producer Eva Longoria Bastón. Moderated by Rosie Perez. Presented by DAZN.
Detailed archival footage and enthusiastic interviews are featured in La Guerra Civil with Oscar De La Hoya, the charismatic golden boy from East LA and Mexican-born boxing legend Julio César Chávez to illuminate a story that transcends language, heritage and interests. Director Eva Longoria Bastón talks to Rosie Perez about her high-energy DAZN original documentary directorial debut that digs deep into the cultural significance of one of the biggest sports moments of the 1990s.
1pm PST
A Conversation with Channing Dungey, Chairman, Warner Bros. Television Group. Moderated by Charles D. King, Founder & CEO, MACRO. Presented by Warner Bros. Television.
Warner Bros. Television Group Chairman Channing Dungey, one of the entertainment industry’s top power brokers and decision makers, sits for an intimate fireside chat with MACRO’s Charles D. King to discuss her journey in the business, the changing landscape of media and her vision for the future of entertainment.
1:45pm PST
Women of the Movement: Conversation with Creator, Showrunner and Executive Producer Marissa Jo Cerar and stars Cedric Joe, Tonya Pinkins, Glynn Turman and Ray Fisher. Moderated by Charisma C. Deberry, Director of Social Media, ESSENCE. Presented by ABC.
Cast members and creator, showrunner and EP, Marissa Jo Cerar will appear at the lodge to discuss Women of the Movement, the series which tells the story of Mamie Till-Mobley, who in 1955 risks her life to find justice after her son Emmett is brutally murdered in the Jim Crow South. Unwilling to let Emmett’s murder disappear from the headlines, Mamie chooses to bear her pain to the world, emerging as an activist for justice. All six episodes of the ABC series are now available to stream on Hulu.
2:30pm PST
Pass The Mic: Centering Communities of Color in Climate Storytelling. Moderated by Favianna Rodriguez, President, The Center for Cultural Power.
Audience will observe an explorative conversation on how film and storytelling tools can help us center communities of color and find courage in the face of climate chaos. This powerful discussion will feature filmmakers and voices from the 2022 Sundance Film Festival film To The End as well grassroots leaders and cultural strategists at the forefront of cultural and social movements for climate justice. Panelists include Layel Camargo, Climate Storytelling Project; filmmakers Rachel Lears and Sabrian Schmidt Gordon; and Varshini Prakash, Executive Director of Sunrise Movement.
Saturday, January 22, 2022
12pm PST
Hold The Crown: Hair Equity in Hollywood. Presented by SheaMoisture.
Black Hollywood, notable stylists, industry leaders and change agents come together to raise awareness and embark on a solution-focused conversation around equity in hair and makeup in film and television.
1pm PST
Nanny: Chat with Writer/Director Nikyatu Jusu and stars Anna Diop and Sinqua Walls. Moderated by Stacey Walker King, Chief Brand Officer, MACRO. Presented by SheaMoisture.
Writer/Director Nikyatu Jusu visits the virtual MACRO Lodge to discuss her film, Nanny, a dynamic supernatural horror film following its festival premiere along with the film’s stars Anna Diop and Sinqua Walls. The film follows an undocumented nanny working for a privileged couple in New York City. As she prepares for the arrival of the son she left behind in Senegal, a violent supernatural presence invades her reality, threatening the American dream she is painstakingly piecing together.
2pm PST
The BIG We: Panel & Launch. Moderated by Anasa Troutman, Founder, The BIG We. Sponsored by The Culture Change Fund, Women’s Foundation California and Kat Taylor.
Curating the future from imagination to impact. Attendees will experience a thought-provoking conversation that celebrates the launch of The BIG We, a collective of creative risk-takers shaping culture through creativity and strategy. This high impact media company, shepherded by Founder Anasa Troutman and Tanum Davis Bohen, includes a foundation and investment fund revolutionizing how inspiration becomes transformation.
Sunday, January 23, 2022
11am PST
Aftershock: A Conversation with Directors/Producers Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee. Moderated by Cortney Wills, Entertainment Director, TheGrio.com
Following the deaths of their loved ones due to preventable childbirth complications and medical negligence, two bereaved fathers and a grieving mother galvanize activists, birth-workers and physicians to reckon with one of the most pressing yet unspoken American crises of our time – the US maternal health crisis. Directors Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee discuss their journey making the film and following Shawnee Gibson, Omari Maynard and Bruce McIntyre as they fight for justice and build communities of support around this issue to help drive institutional change and legislative reform.
12pm PST
jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy: A Conversation with Directors Coodie & Chike. Moderated by J. Ivy. Presented by Netflix.
Directors Coodie & Chike will discuss their epic three-film Netflix documentary with writer J. Ivy that features hours of fly-on-the-wall footage and paints a sweeping portrait of Kanye West, one of pop culture’s most influential figures as it captures two decades of the rapper’s life and career from his formative days trying to break through and his life today as a global brand and artist.
1pm PST
Alice: In Conversation with Director/Screenwriter Krystin Ver Linden, Producer Peter Lawson and star Keke Palmer. Presented by Vertical Entertainment and Roadside Attractions.
Writer-director Krystin Ver Linden spins a modern empowerment fable inspired by true accounts in her directorial debut, Alice, starring Keke Palmer. Ver Linden, Palmer and producer Peter Lawson will discuss using extraordinary and little-known historical facts, mixed with original and thrilling fiction, to bring to life the story of an enslaved woman who, after a daring escape from a rural Georgia plantation, soon discovers the year is actually 1973.
6:00pm PST
Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul: A Fireside Chat featuring Director/Writer Adamma Ebo, Producer Adanne Ebo and stars Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown. Moderated by Cori Murray, Deputy Editor, ESSENCE.
Filmmaking power duo The Ebo twins, Adamma Ebo and Adanne Ebo stop by the lodge to discuss their feature film debut along with the film’s stars Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown. Partially shot in faux-documentary style, the film is a lively satire on for-profit religion and explores both the on-camera desperation in image rebranding and the hard truths that fester behind the scenes.
Sip & Change Cocktail Event. Presented by Lionsgate in Association with Color of Change.
An intimate gathering of industry changemakers. By invitation only.
