Black Reel Awards Reveals Winners Of Film And Television Categories; ‘American Fiction’ And ‘The Color Purple’ Took Home Top Honors

Valerie Complex
·6 min read
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Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction took home top honors at the 24th Annual Black Reel Awards.

Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut, based on novelist Percival Ellison’s Erasure, took home six Black Reel Awards including Outstanding Picture. Jefferson was the biggest single winner of the night. Jefferson nabbed awards on five nominations, marking the most wins in a single night in Black Reel Award history. Jefferson also became the first person to sweep all the directing and writing awards in the same year. To round out the total victories for Jefferson’s film, Jeffrey Wright secured the award for Outstanding Lead Performance bringing Fiction’s total to six on the night. Wright became the thirteenth actor to win awards for Lead and Supporting Performances in their career.

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Oprah Winfrey’s production of the musical version of The Color Purple was awarded the most Black Reel Awards with a grand total of nine awards and became the most awarded musical in Black Reel Awards history. The honors included Outstanding Supporting Performance for Danielle Brooks, Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Original Song, Soundtrack and Breakthrough Performance for Fantasia Barrino. Fantasia became the second American Idol alumni to win a Black Reel Award for acting.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the only animated film to be recognized at the awards this year, brought home two awards. Shameik Moore won his second award for Voice Performance and set the bar for the number of wins in that field. Spider-Verse also set a record for being the only animated film to win a Bolt for Outstanding Editing.

On the television side, as a part of the combined awards announcement, Abbott Elementary was the leader, bringing home four Black Reel Television Awards. Elementary won Outstanding Comedy Series and all the acting awards in the comedy category.

Snowfall was the big winner in the tight races of the drama categories, taking away two wins. While Snowfall won for Outstanding Drama Series, Damson Idris was awarded Outstanding Lead Performance for his work on the final season of the show.

In the TV Movie/Limited Series Categories, The Best Man: The Final Chapters and P-Valley tied for most wins with three each. The Best Man finale won for Outstanding Series, Directing and Music Supervision. P-Valley won Original Song, Costume Design and Makeup. Swarm’s Dominique Fishback took home the award for Outstanding Lead Performance.

FX claimed the win for networks. Fueled by the success of Snowfall and Atlanta, the network claimed six total awards. ABC and Starz tied for second place with four Bolts each thanks to Abbott Elementary and P-Valley respectively.

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees this year!

The complete list of winners is listed below.

24th Annual Black Reel Award Winners

OUTSTANDING FILM
American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios) | Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson & Jermaine Johnson, producers

OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMANCE
Jeffrey Wright | American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios)

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR
Cord Jefferson | American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Danielle Brooks | The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)

OUTSTANDING SCREENPLAY
American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios) | Cord Jefferson

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY (awarded to the director)
Little Richard: I Am Everything (Magnolia Pictures) | Lisa Cortés, director

OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL FILM (awarded to the director)
Rye Lane (UK) | Raine Allen-Miller, director

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE (awarded to the casting director)
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Tiffany Little Canfield, Destiny Lilly & Bernard Telsey, casting directors

OUTSTANDING VOICE PERFORMANCE
Shameik Moore | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures)

OUTSTANDING INDEPENDENT FILM (awarded to the director)
A Thousand and One (Focus Features) | A.V. Rockwell, director

OUTSTANDING SHORT FILM (awarded to the director)
Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games (ESPN Films) | Joe Brewster & Michéle Stephenson, directors

OUTSTANDING SCORE (awarded to the composer)
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Kris Bowers, composer

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG (awarded to the performers & writers)
“Keep It Moving” (From The Color Purple) | Halle Bailey & Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, performers; Halle Bailey, Denisia Andrews, Brittany Coney & Morten Ristorp, writers

OUTSTANDING SOUNDTRACK
The Color Purple

OUTSTANDING EMERGING DIRECTOR
Cord Jefferson | American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios)

OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Fantasia Barrino | The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)

OUTSTANDING FIRST SCREENPLAY
American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios) | Cord Jefferson

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (A24) | Jomo Fray, cinematographer

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Francine Jamison-Tanchuck, costume designer

OUTSTANDING EDITING
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures) | Michael Andrews, editor

OUTSTANDING HAIRSTYLING & MAKEUP
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Carol Rasheed, makeup department head & Lawrence Davis, hair department head

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) | Paul D. Austerberry, production designer

7th Annual Black Reel for Television Award Winners

COMEDY CATEGORIES

Outstanding Comedy Series
Abbott Elementary | Quinta Brunson, showrunner (ABC)

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Comedy Series
Quinta Brunson | Abbott Elementary (ABC)

Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Comedy Series
Sheryl Lee Ralph | Abbott Elementary(ABC)

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series
The Goof Who Sat By the Door (Atlanta) | Donald Glover, director – FX

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series
It Was All A Dream (Atlanta) | Donald Glover, writer – FX

Outstanding Guest Performance in a Comedy Series
Taraji P. Henson | Abbott Elementary (ABC)

DRAMA CATEGORIES

Outstanding Drama Series
Snowfall | Dave Andron, showrunner (FX)

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Drama Series
Damson Idris | Snowfall (FX)

Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Drama Series
Giancarlo Esposito | Better Call Saul (AMC)

Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series
Reasonable Doubt | Kerry Washington, director – HULU

Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series
Queen to Be | Shonda Rhimes, writer (Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story) – Nextflix

Outstanding Guest Performance in a Drama Series
Storm Reid | The Last of Us (HBO)

TV MOVIE/LIMITED SERIES CATEGORIES

Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series
The Best Man: The Final Chapters | Malcolm D. Lee & Dayna Lynne North, showrunners (Peacock)

Outstanding Lead Performance in a TV Movie/Limited Series
Dominique Fishback | Swarm (Amazon Prime Video)

Outstanding Supporting Performance in a TV Movie/Limited Series
Niecy Nash-Betts | Dahmer-Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix)

Outstanding Directing in a TV Movie or Limited Series
Brown Girl Dreaming (The Best Man: The Final Chapters) | Robert Townsend, director – Peacock

Outstanding Writing in a TV Movie or Limited Series
Running Scared (Swarm) | Ibra Ake & Stephen Glover, writers – Amazon Prime Video

VARIETY / SKETCH / TALK 

Outstanding Variety, Sketch, or Talk – Series or Special
A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO)

DOCUMENTARY

Outstanding Documentary
Dear Mama | Allen Hughes, director – FX

MUSIC CATEGORIES

Outstanding Musical Score
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (Netflix) | Kris Bowers, composer

Outstanding Music Supervision
The Best Man: The Final Chapters | Erica Grayson & Toko Nagata, music supervisors (Peacock)

Outstanding Original Song
“Get It on the Floor” (P-Valley) | Megan Thee Stallion & J. Alphonse Nicholson (artists); Julian Manson, Antwon D. Moore, Megan Thee Stallion, Kelton Lanier Scott II, Sarah Bromberg, Stephanie Diaz-Matos & Katori Hall (writers) – Starz

PROFESSIONAL CATEGORIES

Outstanding Cinematography
Kindred | Cybel Martin, cinematographer  (FX on Hulu)

Outstanding Costume Design
P-Valley | Tiffany Hasbourne, costume designer  (Starz)

Outstanding Editing
Power Book II: Ghost | Spenser Reich, editor (Starz)

Outstanding Makeup & Hairstyling
P-Valley | J. Denelle, Makeup Department Head & Arlene Martin, Hair Department Head (Starz)

Outstanding Production Design
Kindred  | Nora Mendis, production designer (FX on HULU)

Follow the Black Reel Awards on X, Threads, TikTok, and Instagram @BlackReelAwards and on Facebook at TheBlackReelAwards.

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