Tag Archives: diverse

Diverse Lit Publisher Rosarium Publishing Creates Indiegogo Campaign

Hollywood has seen the lion’s share of attention when it comes to the fight for diverse stories and characters. But, the world of literature is facing their own diversity movement, and quite a few publishing houses are beginning to provide their own solutions to the lack of diversity in literature. One of those publishing houses is Rosarium Publishing.

Rosarium Publishing is an indie multicultural comic book and novel publisher founded by scifi/fiction writer Bill Campbell. Campbell’s goal with Rosarium Publishing is “to bring true diversity to publishing so that the high-quality books and comics his company produces actually reflect the fascinating, multicultural world we truly live in today.” Genres published by Rosarium Publishing includes crime, satire, children’s, steampunk, science fiction, and comics. “I believe it’s imperative that people are able to tell their own stories,” said Campbell in a statement. “They can build their own tables rather than ask for a place at the table.”

Rosarium Publishing has made a name for themselves in its three years of life, having produced critically-acclaimed titles like Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and BeyondStories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany, The SEA Is Ours: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia, and APB: Artists against Police Brutality and several of its titles, such as crime novel Making Wolf and indie comic book DayBlack have garnered literary awards. These and other titles are read in high school and college classrooms throughout the U.S., and mainstream news outlets and literature publications like Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, The New York Times and others have reviewed and/or featured Rosarium Publishing and its influence in the publishing world.

Rosarium Publishing has launched an Indiegogo campaign to help them produce a minimum of 10 more titles this year. Called “Rosarium Publishing: The Next Level,” the company wants to raise $40,000 to cover the printing and marketing costs. The reason for this campaign is due to the popularity of Rosarium Publishing’s books. To quote the press release:

Rosarium, whose books are now distributed to stores by IPG, has been so successful that demand has now dictated that a switch to offset printing is now necessary to get more of their work to the masses sooner and that is where their new crowdfunding campaign comes in. With the success of the Rosarium Publishing Indiegogo “The Next Level” campaign, they will be able to print thousands of books and continue their mission to further their quest for diversity in publishing with the high quality of work they are known for.

Want to contribute? You can do so right here! Also, if you want to get your hands on some Rosarium Publishing titles, you can buy them at Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, Comixology and PeepGame Comix. For more info on Rosarium Publishing and the titles available, visit rosariumpublishing.com. You can also follow Rosarium Publishing on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.

Diverse Film Alert: “Miles Ahead,” “Race,” “Sleight” + More

Diverse film alert time, friends! With Sundance happening as we speak, there’s a lot of news about films right now; some I hope we get to see in the theaters very soon. There’s also a short created by a friend to the site that you have to see if you want something funny to alleviate your Snowstorm Jonas misery. Here you go:

Comedy short Password Deals, written and directed by Blind Date RulesBrie Eley. Starring Eley, fellow 4Play Comedy LA members Larisa Peters and Amy Rose Schumacher, and Winston A. Marshall. Sketch about a world in which passwords to streaming content, not drugs, are the hot commodity in the streets.

Comedy short film Darby Forever, starring and created by Saturday Night Live‘s Aidy Bryant. Short released as part of Vimeo’s new initiative Share the Screen, which will give voice to female filmmakers lacking a space in Hollywood. Vimeo states of the initiative, “When diverse voices are given equal consideration and weight, more informed artistic decisions are made, better stories are told.”

“Pioneers of African American Cinema” to show rare “race films” of the 1930s and 1040s during February and March. Event is flagship of Kickstarter’s Film Preservation and Restoration Initiative (in conjunction with Kino Lorber).

Films from Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY, Ayanda and Out of My Hand come to Netflix

“Out of My Hand” Official Trailer from TELEVISION on Vimeo.

Race

Heartbeats:

Myriad Pictures, Das Films and Bowery Hills Entertainment announced today that professional dancer Krystal Ellsworth who has danced in films Fame & Iron Man 2, rising South Indian star Amitash Pradhan(Vella Illa Pattathari), Paul McGillion (TOMORROWLAND, “Stargate Atlantis”) and Daphne Zuniga (“One Tree Hill”) headline the cast of the dance film HEARTBEATS, which is written and directed by Duane Adler [creator of Step Up].  Justin Chon (“Twilight” franchise) and Indian familiars Salman Yussuf Khan (of #1 Indian dance franchise ABCD), Kishori Shahane and Mohan Kapur round out the cast.  “Inside Edition’s” Megan Alexander makes a cameo appearance. The film has just commenced production in Mumbai, India.

HEARTBEATS tells the story of Kelli (Ellsworth), a feisty female American hip hop dancer who travels to India with her parents (McGillion and Zuniga) for a week long Indian wedding and falls in love — both with a new style of dance and with a determined young man who introduces it to her (Pradhan).

The theme of the film is about two worlds colliding and will be Adler’s second movie with a bi-racial romance since SAVE THE LAST DANCE which starred Julia Stiles. Adler also wrote and created the worldwide box office smash hit dance movies STEP UP, STEP UP 2, and most recently wrote and directed the dance movie MAKE YOUR MOVE for Lionsgate.

HEARTBEATS is being produced by Sriram Das (NOVEMBER MAN), Andrea Chung (SEOUL SEARCHING), and Karine Martin (MAINA). Myriad Pictures is selling international rights to the project in Berlin, with Myriad’s Kirk D’Amico executive producing.

The film is being co-financed by Dance Network, whose founder Julie Stadler and CEO Brian Williams will serve as Executive Producers.  Recently, Dance Network acquired and launched Skyway Studios in Nashville.

Jay-Z’s Roc Nation is producing the original songs alongside composer Gingger Shankar (Academy Award® nominee for THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST); the soundtrack will feature traditional and current Indian music and American hip-hop and R&B.  2015 Emmy Winning choreographer for “Dancing With the Stars,” Tessandra Chavez, is the supervising choreographer and two-time Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa winner Shampa Gopikrishna is the choreographer for the Indian dancing.

Want to read more about diverse entertainment? Read the inaugural issue of COLOR BLOCK Magazine!
 

 

 

Miles Ahead

Sleight

Morris From America

Embrace the Serpent

‘Embrace the Serpent’ Is a Violent, Psychedelic Film about the Colonization of the Amazon

Are you going to give any of these films a shot? Write your thoughts below!

Diverse Film Alert: “Suicide Squad,” “Birth of a Nation” + More

With so much news surrounding diverse films and a lack of credit given to them, it seems prudent to revive my once-regular series of posts showing off films featuring diversity. So without further ado, let’s get into it. There will be videos, press releases, and other stuff, so just take everything in as best as you can.

Suicide Squad:

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong:

In this sparkling romance, Ruby (Jamie Chung), a Chinese American toy designer from LA, visits Hong Kong for the first time on business. Finding herself stranded, she meets Josh (Bryan Greenberg), an American expat who shows her the city. Meandering through nighttime streets pulsing with energy and possibility, they fall into a winding and carefree conversation, buoyed by an undeniable attraction. As effervescent as a perfect first date, Emily Ting’s charming directorial debut takes full advantage of the chemistry of its leads, the playfulness of their exchanges, and the magical landscape that is Hong Kong at night. ALREADY TOMORROW IN HONG KONG is written and directed by Emily Ting and produced by Ting and Sophia Shek.

Produced By: Sophia Shek & Emily Ting
Written & Directed By: Emily Ting
Starring: Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg
Distributor: Gravitas Ventures

Imperial Dreams:

The Birth of a Nation (plus several other films, including Southside with You, As You Are, Tallulah, and others)

Presenting the world premieres of 16 narrative feature films, the Dramatic Competition offers Festivalgoers a first look at groundbreaking new voices in American independent film.

Posted by Sundance Film Festival on Friday, December 18, 2015

First Look at Nate Parker’s Nat Turner Film ‘The Birth of a Nation’ (Shadow and Act)

Ip Man 3:

IPMAN3_KeyArt_WebUse

Starring: MIKE TYSON & DONNIE YEN (upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)

Directed by: WILSON YIP (Ip Man, Ip Man 2)

Action Directed by: YUEN WOO-PING (Kill Bill, The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

Donnie Yen ignites the screen in a return to his iconic role of Ip Man, the real-life Wing Chun Kung Fu master who mentored Bruce Lee. In this explosive third installment of the blockbuster martial arts series, when a band of brutal gangsters led by a crooked property developer (Mike Tyson) make a play to take over the city, Master Ip is forced to take a stand. Fists will fly as some of the most incredible fight scenes ever filmed play out on the big screen in this soon-to-be classic of the genre.

Persona Non Grata:

‘Japanese Schindler’Who Saved 6000 Lives During World War II Finally Gets A Movie

Under the Shadow:

Sundance 2016: Netflix Picks Up Streaming Rights to Iranian Horror Movie ‘Under the Shadow’

Keanu (Red band trailer):