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Meet the illustrator. Loretta is an illustrator and comic artist with a passion for facilitating comic workshops and diy arts. She has exhibited at comic fairs and zine fairs including TCAF, Expozine fair, Toronto Queer Zine Fair and San Francisco Zine Fair. You can find more of her work @loretta.miauw

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⚔️I can be your sword ⚔️

This cosplay was such a labor of love. I’ve never worked so hard on trying to bring a character I love SO much to life.  It isn’t perfect,  there’s so much I want to upgrade and fix.  But after so many months,  I’m just happy I finally got to be Casca 💖

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Art director Terena Rodriques has been hard at work creating armour for the main character. 

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|| Xena Warrior Princess I haven’t posted in quite some time but I am so proud of this project that I figured I’d post it here as well. Thank you for all the support ! Facebook : /SamiBessCosplay Instagram & Twitter : @zerosuitsami

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Shots from the first costume fitting with actress Ruby Ajilore. Production designer Samay and art director Terena take a page out of the cosplayer handbook to create the armour for Paladin’s costume.

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The Paramount Network, in partnership with Shawn Carter (aka Jay-Z) and Black Entertainment Television, is giving us a six-part documentary series exploring Trayvon Martin’s death at the hands of George Zimmerman. It cites the instance as the birth of the Movement For Black Lives and chronicles the most recent and inflammatory race divide in the US. If the series is documenting the birth of the MBL alongside the Zimmerman trial, I am curious about who is telling the story and what the goal might be at such a volatile time in the nation.

The trailer opens with a worried 911 call from Trayvon’s father, Tracy. The trailer goes from zero to lightspeed showing emotional imagery coupled with blistering bars from Black Thought of The Legendary Roots Crew.

From photos of the crime scene to the audio of Zimmerman’s 911 call as he stalked Trayvon home. Voiceovers from Black Lives activists, NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony, and testimony from Trayvon’s own mother, Sybrina Fulton.

The trailer pulls no punches and paints a very clear picture for its audience. It also leaves a glaring question on the mind of the viewer: If this clear-cut trial yielded no justice under Obama, where is it to be found in our divided country, under its present administration?

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Meet the animator. Raoul Olou is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Toronto with a focus on animated documentary .Themes that he explores in his art include Race, Identity, Home and Belonging 

Favourite movie: 2 favourite movies : Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke  by Hayao Miyazaki, I loved the fact that the characters in his stories aren't fully evil but driven by their own valid motivations. No character is all bad or all good  they have both bad and redeeming qualities and it's a  thing that you don't often see in mainstream animation 

How do you break out of creative blocks? I used to get really frustrated by creative blocks but recently I've learned to  see them more  as a necessary break that I have to take from my work for whatever reasons it's happening  than a thing that I have to fight against. So I try to switch mediums and read and look at art that I like and inspire me and my "mojo" usually slowly comes back.

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vulture The royal family. #DawnLyenGardner, #KofiSiriboe, and #RutinaWesley of #QueenSugar at our #TribecaTVFestival photo studio. 📷: @kyledorosz (x)

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Actress Danai Gurira for ROGUE Magazine’s Winter Issue N°8

Photography by Benjo Arwas

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Second round of costume designs from art director Terena Rodriques. Getting closer!

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Meet the production designer. Samay Arcentales Cajas is a (Kichwa) filmmaker, digital media, and community artist based in Tkaronto. In her creative practice she explores human connection to land, a sense of rootedness, and the meaning of urban indigeneity. Her creative journey in the digital realm began with the creation of “Mi Familia Annex Audio Tour”, a tour that sketches her family history in the highly gentrified Annex neighbourhood. Her first short stop motion film “Rimanakuna”, premiered at the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival, in 2014. In 2016, she co-facilitated Fluidity on Film, a program for LGTBQ2S emerging filmmakers at Sketch Working Arts. 

Samay held her first solo show “Will You Listen?: Latinx Voices in Tkaronto”, a projection based media installation at the Whippersnapper Gallery in 2017. Her latest short film “In Moment” was commissioned by imagineNATIVE and premiered at their 2017 film festival. She currently works collaboratively, using projection mapping as a way to beautifully enhance collective decolonial messages.

Favourite movie: Boy from Taika Waititi. It's a coming of age film of a boy and his relationship with his father (played by the director). It's not common to see stories like these coming from indigenous perspectives and have them be really funny! It shows a world that you can relate to and touches on serious themes, while centering the experiences of a kid who just wants to be loved by his dad. 

Favourite director: Its soooo hard to say. I think I might not have one at the moment! But really into Kahlil Joseph, who is a filmmaker who does really interesting work through music videos. very impacting. 

How do you break out of creative blocks?I go outside, touch the ground, the trees. I try to breathe.I also listen to music and watch cool music experimental videos to get in the groove. I talk to people who encourage me that it's possible to keep creating beautiful things.

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COMMISSION - Sea Paladin Orc Nohrath

I enjoy turning real people into Orcs! And oh man I could not stop adding to this.

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Spear of Destiny by Thanh Tran

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Meet the director of photography. Setti Kidane is a black femme photographer and cinematographer from Toronto. Her work focuses on storytelling, vulnerability, intimacy, embodiment, and blackness. Drawing from her black femme community, Setti invites us to view black women as multidimensional people.  Our layers are not ironic or contradictory; rather they speak to the diversity of our community. We can be happy and funny, as well as sad and anxious, and sometimes simultaneously so.  Setti’s adoration of black women inspires her to hold space for them in her artistic work. She wants to see them celebrated and appreciated for all that they do.Setti Kidane is a black femme photographer from Toronto. Her work focuses on storytelling, vulnerability, intimacy, embodiment, and blackness. Drawing from her black femme community, Setti invites us to view black women as multidimensional people.  Our layers are not ironic or contradictory; rather they speak to the diversity of our community. We can be happy and funny, as well as sad and anxious, and sometimes simultaneously so.  Setti’s adoration of black women inspires her to hold space for them in her artistic work. She wants to see them celebrated and appreciated for all that they do.

Favourite movie: Before Sunrise. To me, it is an honest love story between strangers who for better or worse connect with each other despite their differences and the nature of their relationship (short term, long distance). Its a dialogue heavy film, with conversation and nuances that make me feel like I'm on a good first date.

Favourite director: I don't have a favourite director but I think Lu Asfaha is pretty great. (don't edit this out you ass)

How do you get past creative blocks? I break out of creative blocks by taking a break, or eating. Its not that deep fam, sometimes you're just tired.

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Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight (2016) is both a spiritual and visual inspiration for Paladin. Both films tackle identity and the question of who you are. Throughout the film the question is asked “Who is you Chiron?” and in Paladin, Sam asks herself this question internally. It’s coming to an answer that’s the hard part. 

Additionally the cool blue tones and soft lighting of the film, and the beach scenes in particular, inspire the main look of the film when Sam imagines herself as her favourite superhero. 

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“Today is a great day in Hollywood.”

(Directed by Lacey Duke as shown above)

When I first picked up a camera and discovered I wanted to do nothing more in this life than tell stories through the lens of a camera, everyone else thought I was dreaming too big. I didn’t have many mentors or peers that wanted to pursue a career in cinema and television that looked like me or came from neighborhoods similar to mine. Representation was scarce. Now, I pull energy, good vibes and high hopes from these faces: black and brown men and women telling OUR stories whether it be in front of the lens or behind it. I finally feel like my dreams are closer than they appear, obtainable even more so. I finally feel like a part of a really cool, exclusive club. These are the portraits that will decorate the walls of my home someday. #strongblacklead

(Photo: Kwaku Alston/Netflix)

This project featured:

Ajiona Alexus (13 Reasons Why) Alfre Woodard (Luke Cage; Juanita) Alisha Boe (13 Reasons Why) Antoinette Robertson (Dear White People) Antonique Smith (Luke Cage) Ashley Blaine Featherson (Dear White People) Ava DuVernay (13th, Central Park Five) Brett Gray (On My Block) Britney Young (GLOW) Caleb McLaughlin (Stranger Things) Chante Adams (Roxanne Roxanne) Cheo Hodari Coker (Luke Cage) Danielle Brooks (Orange Is the New Black) Dawn Porter (Bobby Kennedy for President) DeRay Davis (How to Act Black) Derek Luke (13 Reasons Why) DeRon Horton (Dear White People) Gabrielle Dennis (Luke Cage) Hayley Law (Altered Carbon; Riverdale) Justin Simien (Dear White People) Justine Simmons (All About The Washingtons) Kano (Top Boy) Kat Graham (The Holiday Calendar; How It Ends) Kia Stevens (GLOW) Laverne Cox (Orange Is the New Black) Lena Waithe (Master of None; Dear White People; Step Sisters) Logan Browning (Dear White People) Marlon Wayans (Naked; Woke-ish) Marque Richardson (Dear White People; Step Sisters) Mike Colter (Luke Cage) Mustafa Shakir (Luke Cage) Nia Long (Roxanne Roxanne, Dear White People) Nia Jervier (Dear White People; Step Sisters) Priah Ferguson (Stranger Things) Quincy Brown (The Holiday Calendar) Rapsody (Rapture) Rev Run (All About The Washingtons) Russell Hornsby (Seven Seconds) Sacha Jenkins (Rapture) Samantha Logan (13 Reasons Why) Sierra Capri (On My Block) Simone Missick (Luke Cage) Spike Lee (She’s Gotta Have It) Steven Silver (13 Reasons Why) Sydelle Noel (GLOW) Vaneza Oliveira (3%) Yance Ford (Strong Island)

This photo was inspired by ‘A Great Day in Harlem’, a 1958 black-and-white group portrait of 57 notable jazz musicians photographed in front of a brownstone in Harlem, New York City by Art Kane. 

Netflix’s Strong Black Lead project even featured behind-the-scenes footage and photos of the talent celebrating this milestone in Hollywood together. 

Let’s keep it up!