Danielle Deadwyler is set to receive the Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) award for acting at a special screening of her latest film, Netflix’s “The Piano Lesson,” during the 47th edition of the festival.
The California Film Institute (CAFILM) makes the presentation as part of the MVFF Spotlight program, which is dedicated to celebrating exceptional work by film artists in their current roles. With the award, Deadwyler joins the ranks of past honorees including Nikyatu Jusu, Regina King, Denis Villeneuve, Robert Pattinson, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Brie Larson and Steve McQueen.
In “The Piano Lesson,” adapted from August Wilson’s renowned play and directed by Malcolm Washington, Deadwyler stars as Bernice Charles, a woman battling with her brother (John David Washington) over their family heirloom piano. He plans to sell the instrument and build his fortune by buying the land their family toiled, while she is determined to preserve their family history. Their uncle (Samuel L. Jackson) attempts to mediate, but as the film’s synopsis explains, “even he can’t hold back the ghosts of the past.” The film, produced by Denzel Washington and Todd Black, also features Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu and Corey Hawkins among its starry cast.
“Malcolm Washington’s confident directorial debut both honors the soul of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning play and infuses it with a vibrant cinematic sensibility. He’s assembled a great cast, actors who have an incredible sense of the language and spirit that made Wilson one of America’s greatest playwrights,” stated MVFF director of programming Zoë Elton about the film. “And Danielle Deadwyler’s work in this film is exquisite. As she did in ‘Till,’ she again proves herself to be one of the most outstanding actors of her generation.”
The screening and awards presentation is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 6 at Sequoia Cinema in Mill Valley, Calif., and will be followed by an on-stage conversation. “The Piano Lesson” premieres in select theaters on Nov. 8, then begins streaming on Netflix on Nov. 22.
As noted, Deadwyler is best known for her portrayal of Mamie Till-Mobley in the acclaimed 2022 film “Till,” for which she won the outstanding lead performance prize at the Gotham Awards and the breakthrough performance award from the National Board of Review, among other awards and nominations from organizations like the Critics Choice Association, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA. She also received an Independent Spirit TV award nomination for her work in the limited series “Station Eleven” for HBO Max. Her other notable credits include “From Scratch,” “The Harder They Fall,” “The Devil to Pay,” “The Haves and the Have Nots” and “Watchmen.”
Up next is the action-thriller “Carry On,” directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and slated for a late 2024 Netflix release, and “40 Acres,” a post-apocalyptic drama directed by RT Thorne, which debuts at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Deadwyler also stars in and executive produces “The Women in the Yard,” another Collet-Serra project premiering March 2025.
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