Toni Morrison
Birth : 1931-02-18, Lorain, Ohio, USA
Death : 2019-08-05
History
Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Self - Writer (archive footage)
Toni Morrison (1931-2019), first black woman writer being awarded the Nobel Prize of Literature, was a critic, a book editor, a college professor, and a creative author of novels, poems and essays. She claimed the invention of a black writing and brought the light on what had kept silenced since the days of the birth of the United States of America as an independent nation: the black people history.
Through clippings, the film draws a narrative line between the construction of racism in Brazil and the United States, having as base the European invasion of the continent, police violence, the genocide of the black people, the massacre of indigenous peoples, religious violence, the criminalization of funk music, structural racism in art and education, the importance of quota policy and the need urgent historical repair as a commitment by the Brazilian state to the black people.
Self
This artful and intimate meditation on the legendary storyteller examines her life, her works, and the powerful themes she has confronted throughout her literary career. Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics, and colleagues on an exploration of race, history, the United States, and the human condition.
The Pulitzer at 100, by Oscar and Emmy winning director Kirk Simon, is a ninety-minute independent documentary released in conjunction with the Pulitzer Centennial in April 2016. This film is told through the riveting stories of the artists that have won the prestigious prize. With Pulitzer work read by Helen Mirren, Natalie Portman, Liev Schreiber, John Lithgow and Yara Shahidi; journalists include Carl Bernstein, Nick Kristof, Thomas Friedman, and David Remnick; authors include Toni Morrison, Michael Chabon, Junot Díaz, Tony Kushner, and Ayad Akhtar; and musicians Wynton Marsalis, David Crosby, and John Adams also share their stories.
Herself
Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison is America's first lady of literature. Her books encompass black American history but live and breathe in the present, rich in vivid characters, haunted by ghosts. Born poor in Ohio in 1931, she now lives in New York. She tells Alan Yentob how her father hated whites so much he wouldn't let them in the house. Her masterpiece, Beloved, shows the horrors of slavery perhaps better than any other artwork. She talks as she writes - with warmth and wit. Contributors include Angela Davis (whose biography she edited) and singer Jessye Norman.
Self (archive footage)
A feature-length documentary starring Fran Lebowitz, a writer known for her unique take on modern life. The film weaves together extemporaneous monologues with archival footage and the effect is a portrait of Fran's worldview and experiences.
Herself
As a new chapter begins in this country, THE BLACK LIST offers a dynamic and never-before-heard perspective from achievers of color. This series of inspired - and inspiring - observations on African-American life in the 21st century forms a roll call of some of the most compelling politicians, writers, thinkers and performers ever to tackle their fields of endeavor. Watch the interview-portraits and get a sharper snapshot of where this country has been and where it's headed.
Music
A documentary on the making of the opera 'Margaret Garner' (2005) created by Toni Morrison and Richard Danielpour. Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison was inspired by the true story of Margaret Garner in writing her novel Beloved. Garner was a slave in pre-Civil War America who escaped and killed her own daughter rather than see her return to slavery. Morrison later wrote the libretto for Margaret Garner, an opera composed by Richard Danielpour and commissioned by the Michigan Opera Theatre, the Cincinnati Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia in 2005. By recounting Garner's tale in conjunction with the story behind this "black opera" and the harsh Washington upbringing of its mezzo soprano, Denyce Graves, the film Margaret Garner re-examines a tragic historical moment while addressing racial issues that are still prevalent today.
Novel
After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved". Sethe and Denver take her in and then strange things start to happen...