Latest in Roger Ross Williams

EXCLUSIVE: Topic is partnering with Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Roger Ross Williams and on a new program titled One Story Up, in which he will select one short film from an emerging talent per month for the next 12 months that will stream exclusively on the streaming platform. The deal forged with Williams…

Thirty years ago, Levon Brooks was accused of sexually assaulting and murdering a three-year old girl in Mississippi. Despite having an alibi, he was sentenced to life in prison based on bite mark analysis. A few months, later a second young girl was raped and murdered and Kennedy Brewer, the boyfriend of the victim's…

Just because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been quiet about its inner workings—a museum fund-raising announcement here, an Oscar press release there—doesn't mean it's been quiet inside. Every once in a while, rumblings from the Wilshire Blvd. headquarters are loud enough to be heard out…

There are few cultural institutions in the United States to rival the importance of The Apollo Theater in Harlem. For going on a hundred years the 1,500-seat venue has showcased the foremost African-American talent, from Duke Ellington to Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Richard Pryor, Marvin Gaye, and…

The medium of virtual reality has been marshaled to explore everything from nature to outer space, roller coaster thrills, the human body and fictional stories, but it's never been put to use quite in the way of Traveling While Black. The Emmy-nominated VR film directed by Oscar- and Emmy-winning filmmaker Roger Ross W…

The Tribeca Film Festival in recent years has opened with documentaries about the soul and institutions that are pillars of New York City, whether with subjects like Saturday Night Live or local native and music mogul Clive Davis, and this year was no exception as the 18th Robert De Niro-Jane Rosenthal co-created…

The 18th Tribeca Film Festival will kick off April 24 with the world premiere of HBO’s The Apollo, a documentary portrait of the famed Harlem theater. Directed by Roger Ross Williams, the film blends archival and performance footage with interviews with celebrities and theater staffers to chronicle the history and…

Oscar-winning documentary director Roger Ross Williams (Music by Prudence) and Craig Piligian’s Pilgrim Media are teaming to develop High on the Hog, a docuseries chronicling African American history through the lens of food, based on Dr. Jessica B. Harris’ book High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to Americ…

EXCLUSIVE: The Tribeca Film Institute and ESPN have awarded three grants in their annual Short Documentary Program. This year's recipients are Jessie Adler for The Boxers of Brule, Matt Kay for Little Miss Sumo and Taylor Hess and Erin Sanger for Mack Wrestles. All three of the 2018 grantees showcase athletes as…

CNN Films and Oscar-winning documentarian Roger Ross Williams are teaming for American Jail, a new film that explores what fuels the country’s prison system. The docu is set to premiere at 9 PM July 1 on CNN. The logline: Writer-director-producer Williams' investigation presents a range of stakeholder positions and…

EXCLUSIVE: Roger Ross Williams, who won the 2010 Oscar for his documentary short, Music By Prudence, is directing an authorized documentary feature on the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem. The announcement was made today by Jonelle Procope, President and CEO of The Apollo Theater, and Nigel Sinclair of White Horse Pictur…

EXCLUSIVE: WME has signed award-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams. Williams won the best director prize for U.S. documentaries at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for Life, Animated. The film, which is being released domestically by The Orchard on July 1, has its NY premiere this coming Monday.  The Julie…