In an article for The Atlantic, Mary Armstrong Meduski '80 Assistant Professor Samantha N. Sheppard unpacks the structure of the Oscar-nominated documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening and what its nomination means for the Academy. The documentary, directed by RaMell Ross, tracks five years in the lives of a new father and a college basketball player in Alabama. The juxtaposition of unconnected cinematic vignettes aids in "reimagining blackness on-screen," according to Sheppard. "Ross’s film is a cinematic portrait of black men living and loving, being and becoming, existing and resisting in the cultural realities and fantasies of the American South. It is also about repudiating Hollywood’s dominant representational regimes, which, as per the Academy’s history, is often limited to the black athlete or the black criminal." Should Ross win, he would become the third African American documentarian to win in the Best Documentary Feature category. To read the full article, go to The Atlantic.
