Onyx Collective Presents Summer of Soul, A Necessary Story with ‘Summer of Soul’ director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Onyx Collective’s President Tara Duncan. Listen to this important, intimate conversation about Black erasure and getting history right. The conversation was moderated by The Atlantic’s Hannah Giorgis, with the group reflecting on the importance of building transformative narratives and curating untold stories that have the power to change the world.
Check out the entire conversation via Facebook or Crowdcast, or watch now!
PANELISTS:
Hannah Giorgis (Moderator) is a staff writer at The Atlantic who covers culture. Before joining The Atlantic in 2018, she was the special projects editor over at The Ringer, where she produced editorial packages in addition to regularly editing pop-culture pieces. Prior to that, Giorgis wrote about culture and style for BuzzFeed/BuzzFeed News. Her essays and reporting have also appeared in publications including the New York Times magazine, New Yorker, Bon Appétit, and Pitchfork.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Drummer, DJ, producer, culinary entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, and member of The Roots – Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, is the unmistakable heartbeat of Philadelphia’s most influential hip-hop group. He is the Musical Director for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where his beloved Roots crew serves as house band. Beyond that, this 5-time GRAMMY Award winning musician’s indisputable reputation has landed him musical directing positions with everyone from D’Angelo to Eminem to Jay-Z. He also made his directorial debut with the acclaimed feature documentary Summer of Soul, which explores the legendary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. The film premiered on the opening night of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival in January, where it was awarded the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Best U.S. Documentary. The film most recently broke the record for the highest selling documentary to come out of Sundance when it was acquired by Searchlight/Hulu. Questlove is also set to direct the upcoming Sly Stone feature documentary.
Tara Duncan is president of Freeform and the newly created Onyx Collective. She reports to Dana Walden, chairman of Entertainment, Walt Disney Television.
In her first year, Duncan spearheaded the formation of Onyx Collective, a new content brand under Disney General Entertainment that is committed to inclusive storytelling from creators of color and underrepresented voices. Under the umbrella, she acquired the Sundance breakout documentary “Summer of Soul… (Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” which was distributed theatrically by Searchlight Pictures and streamed domestically by Hulu. The brand’s roster of prolific creators includes Natasha Rothwell, Ryan Coogler, Prentice Penny and Destin Daniel Cretton.
Duncan joined Disney General Entertainment from her overall deal at Hulu, where she curated a strong slate of projects, including an adaptation of Zakiya Dalila Harris’ acclaimed novel “The Other Black Girl.” Before joining Hulu, she was a senior creative executive at Netflix, overseeing the hit series “Orange Is the New Black” and “Narcos.”
About Onyx Collective
Onyx Collective is a new content brand formed under Disney General Entertainment Content (DGE) designed to curate a slate of premium programming by artists of color and underrepresented voices. Onyx Collective’s debut project, Questlove’s award-winning documentary “Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not be Televised),” debuted this summer and was recently declared “the best film of 2021” by The New York Times. The brand’s roster of prolific creators also includes writer and comedian Natasha Rothwell (“Insecure,” “SNL”), writer, producer and director Prentice Penny’s Penny for Your Thoughts, Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media (“Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Black Panther”) and writer and director Destin Daniel Cretton and his production company Family Owned.Follow on Twitter:@OnyxCollective
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