Actor, director, writer, producer, Grammy-winning librettist, and educator, Kasi Lemmons is set to accept the Los Angeles Press Club’s Distinguished Storyteller Award for Storytelling Outside of Journalism. The ceremony will take place at the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards gala on Sunday, Dec. 7, at the historic Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
“Lemmons’ powerful body of work is a testament to the importance of examining the human soul and truly hold up a mirror to nature and to show us ourselves in history,” said Los Angeles Press Club president Danny Bakewell, Jr.
Lemmons is one of the most powerful voices of our time. Her first feature, “Eve’s Bayou,” is considered one of the essential works of the 1990s and in 2017 was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. Her second film, “The Caveman’s Valentine,” starring Samuel L. Jackson, opened the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Lemmons’ third feature, “Talk to Me”, starring Don Cheadle, earned the 2008 NAACP Image Award for outstanding directing. Her fourth film, “Black Nativity,” was released nationwide on Thanksgiving 2013. In 2019, Lemmons’ fifth film, “Harriet,” starring Cynthia Erivo as the iconic freedom fighter, was nominated for two Oscars, including Best Actress. Her first libretto, “Fire Shut Up In My Bones,” composed by Terence Blanchard, opened The Metropolitan Opera’s ’21-’22 season, the first opera by an African-American composer and librettist ever performed at The Met. “Fire Shut Up In My Bones” went on to win a Grammy for Best Opera Recording. Her sixth film, “Whitney Houston – I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” opened Christmas ’22 and was #1 on Netflix during its debut weekend. Lemmons is an Arts Professor in the Graduate Film Department at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
On the same evening, Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen will accept the Visionary Award for Humanitarian Work; actor/director/activist Marlee Matlin will be honored with the Impact Award for Influential Contributions to Culture and Society and LAist’s Larry Mantle will receive the Luminary Award for Career Achievement.
The NAEJ event is a fundraiser for the LA Press Club, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. For tickets, advertising and sponsorship opportunities, go to www.LAPressClub.org or contact NAEJ producer Diana Ljungaeus at Diana-AT-lapressclub.org.
Photo by Emily Aragones
