The film has been highly publicized since Apple secured the rights to make it at a record auction.

American actor and musician whose charisma and quick wit helped him transition from rap music to a successful acting career Will Smith gets his first showing.

Apple hosted the premiere screening of Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming film, Emancipation, on Saturday in Washington DC. , according Hollywood journalist.

Smith walked onstage at the 2022 Oscars during the ceremony and surprised the world by slapping host Chris Rock, who made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Since then, Smith has resigned from the Academy, some of his projects have been put on hold, and he’s apologized to Rock, Rock’s family, fellow Oscar winners and more.

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The film has been highly publicized since Apple secured the rights to make it at a record auction. Written by William N. Collage, Emancipation was inspired by photographs taken in 1863 of Peter, when the former slave joined the Union Army in hopes of reuniting with his family. The photographs were seen around the world and galvanized opposition to slavery as barbaric. The footage was a symbolic precursor to Emmett Till’s beaten body photos, the Rodney King video and later the George Floyd video. According Deadline.

Apple and the NAACP hosted the Emancipation Screening at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 51st Annual Legislative Conference for representatives of the Congressional Black Caucus, historically black colleges and universities, Divine 9 (historically black fraternities and sororities) , National Council of Black Women, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Power Rising, and #WinWithBlackWomen, among other social impact leaders.

It was followed by a conversation about the film with Fuqua, Will Smith and Mary Elliott, curator of American slavery at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, moderated by political and cultural commentator Angela Rye.

“Throughout my career, I’ve turned down a lot of movies that were set in slavery,” Smith said during the screening. “I never wanted to show us like that. And then this image came along. And it’s not a movie about slavery. It’s a movie about freedom. It’s a movie about resilience. It’s a film about faith.

He continued: “It’s a film about the heart of a man – what you might call the first viral image. Cameras had just been created, and the image of Peter whipped around the world. It was a rallying cry against slavery, and it was a story that exploded and blossomed in my heart that I wanted to be able to deliver to you in a way that only Antoine Fuqua could deliver.

Based on a true story, Emancipation follows Peter (Smith), who flees his plantation in search of his family, outmaneuvering cold-blooded hunters and surviving the Louisiana swamps along the way. Peter eventually joins the Union Army. During a medical examination, her bare back, which had scars from a near fatal whiplash at the hands of the overseer of her former plantation, was photographed. The Independent posted the photo, undoubtedly proving the cruelty and barbarity of slavery in America.

Fuqua directed and produced by management Emancipation from a screenplay by William N. Collage. The film is produced by Smith and Jon Mone through Westbrook Studios, Joey McFarland through McFarland Entertainment, and Todd Black through Escape Artists. Chris Brigham, James Lassiter, Heather Washington, Cliff Roberts, Glen Basner and Scott Greenberg serve as executive producers.

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Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline

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