GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT

YEAR: 2023 - ENGLISH | 102 MINS

DIRECTORS: MICHÈLE STEPHENSON & JOE BREWSTER
PRODUCERS: JOE BREWSTER, MICHÈLE STEPHENSON, TOMMY OLIVER
EDITORS: TERRA JEAN LONG, LAWRENCE JACKMAN
CINEMATOGRAPHER: GREG HARRIOTT
COMPOSERS: SAMORA PINDERHUDGES, CHRISTOPHER PATTISHALL
SOUND DESIGN: FRED HELM

WORLD PREMIERE: 2023 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

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Synopsis

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize in the Sundance U.S. Documentary Competition, this beguiling documentary portrait follows poet and activist Nikki Giovanni as she approaches 80. The film explores Giovanni’s Afrofuturist-feminist philosophical outlook as well as her poignant relationship with her family, her political audacity, and her poetic eloquence, all knit together with a constant eye and ear for its subject’s own aesthetic verve. Looking back at a personal life and history cast in the long shadow of American racism, and forward to hopeful, possible futures, Giovanni acts as our guide and narrator, with refreshingly unorthodox filmmakers Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson refraining from traditional chronologies or talking-head conventions. Going to Mars is fueled by constant intellectual engagement and radical imagination in the search for emotional and political fulfillment in a world of disenfranchisement. An HBO Documentary Films release.

FESTIVALS

Winner Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking (2024

Winner Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary Competition, Sundance Film Festival (2023)

Oscar Shortlist for Best Documentary Feature (2024)

Unforgettables Honoree & Audience Choice Prize Longlist, Cinema Eye Honors (2024)

Winner for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design, Cinema Eye Honors (2024)

Spirit Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature (2024)

Official Shortlist Selection, DOC NYC (2023)

Best Editing Award, DOC NYC (2023)

Nominee for Best Biographical Documentary, Critics Awards (2023)

Rogue Award, Ashland Film Festival (2023)

Best Documentary Film, Indie Memphis Film Festival (2023)

Best Documentary Film, Detroit Free Press Film Festival (2023)

Outstanding Documentary Feature, Frameline Film Festival (2023)

Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary, BlackStar Film Festival (2023)

Best Documentary Film, Trinidad and Tobago International Film Festival (2023)

PRESS

  • Sundance 2023 Review: ‘Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project’ Is Simply Majestic

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  • ‘Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project’ Review: Poet Nikki Giovanni Proves Ready for Her Close-up — and for Space Travel

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  • ‘Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project’ Review: A Searching Portrait of the Celebrated Poet

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