‘A Thousand and One’ wins Sundance grand jury prize
“A Thousand and One,” a drama about an impoverished single mother and her son in New York City, won the Sundance Film Festival’s grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic competition, while “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” was awarded the top prize in the U.S. documentary category.
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One Good Thing: Special Olympian spreads message of love
(Gary Schottle via AP)Gary Schottle arrived in time to see the other kids in line hitting and jumping on his young son. Special Olympics changed everything. Special Olympics has since branched out to more than 170 countries, empowering more than 5 million athletes who had often been cast aside. In 20 years of Special Olympics competition, Tank's confidence has soared, his leadership spreading across playing fields, the Houston area and beyond. Once one of the bullied, he has become a living embodiment of the Special Olympics message.
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Sundance Film Festival unveils slate for 1st virtual edition
This image released by Sundance Institute shows a scene from "In The Same Breath," which will debut at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. (Sundance Film Festival via AP)Sundance Institute programs. Organizers on Tuesday unveiled a robust and diverse slate for the festival, which will be largely virtual due to the pandemic. Yutani said that the Sesame Street documentary, “Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street” is likely to be a crowd favorite. “We all are so excited about the possibility of encountering people who’ve never been to the festival," Jackson said.
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'Empire' star Taraji P. Henson hailed for mental health work
“Empire” star Taraji P. Henson has enjoyed wealth, celebrity, a Golden Globe win and an Academy Award nomination. “It’s OK to not be OK," Henson, the latest recipient of the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion, told The Associated Press via email. In 2018, the Washington, D.C., native started the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation to stop those with mental illness from being stigmatized — especially Blacks, who she says are less likely to seek treatment. This year, with the coronavirus pandemic complicating people's mental health struggles, Henson's foundation has been helping African Americans — who've been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 — access free online therapy. “We need more people like Taraji to continue to eliminate the stigma around mental health across all our communities in America.”___Follow AP New England editor Bill Kole on Twitter at http://twitter.com/billkole.