16th Black Reel Award Winners: Creed Punches Its Way to the Top

The boxing drama Creed delivered a TKO at the 16th Black Reel Awards, winning five awards: Outstanding Film, Outstanding Director (Ryan Coogler, Outstanding Actor (Michael B. Jordan) Outstanding Supporting Actress (Tessa Thompson) and Outstanding Screenplay (Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington). For a look at the full list of nominations go here.

[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” class=”” width=””]“Bolstered by strong award-winning performances from its two leads, Ryan Coogler’s winning Rocky-spinoff, Creed, punched its way to the head of its class and is a worthy addition to our gallery of Outstanding Film winners,” said Black Reel Awards founder and Executive Director, Tim Gordon.[/box]

Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq found love with an Outstanding Actress win for Teyonah Parris and Screen Actors Guild winner Idris Elba won Best Supporting Actor for Beasts of No Nation. The trans comedy Tangerine won the Outstanding Independent Film award.

[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” class=”” width=””]“With all the dialogue swirling around regarding the exclusion of African-American films and performances, the Black Reel Awards continues to fulfill its initial mission by establishing itself as the pre-eminent institution that annually values and honors Black excellence in films,” said Gordon.[/box]

On television, Bessie and American Crime dominated and Bokeem Woodbine won Outstanding Supporting Actor for Fargo.

The Black Reel Awards (BRAs), created in 2000, annually honors African-American and people of African descent in achievement in feature, independent and television films.

Complete list of winners:

Outstanding Film
Creed
(Sylvester Stallone, Irwin Winkler, David Winkler, Robert Chartoff, William Chartoff, Kevin King-Templeton, Producers)

Outstanding Director
Ryan Coogler | Creed

Outstanding Actor
Michael B. Jordan | Creed

Outstanding Actress
Teyonah Parris | Chi-Raq

Outstanding Supporting Actor
Idris Elba | Beasts of No Nation

Outstanding Supporting Actress
Tessa Thompson | Creed

Outstanding Screenplay
Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington | Creed

Outstanding Documentary
What Happened, Miss Simone? | Liz Garbus

Outstanding Ensemble
Straight Outta Compton | Victoria Thomas and Cindy Tolan

Outstanding Foreign-Language Film
Girlhood | Céline Sciamma (France)

Outstanding Score
Joseph Trapanese | Straight Outta Compton

Outstanding Original Song
“See You Again” | Wiz Khalifa & Charlie Puth (Furious 7)

Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Male
Abraham Attah | Beasts of No Nation

Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Female
Kiersey Clemons | Dope

Outstanding Voice Performance
Rihanna | Home

INDEPENDENT

Outstanding Independent Film
Tangerine | Sean Baker

Outstanding Independent Documentary
Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Blues | Carol Bash

Outstanding Independent Short
Addiction | Danny Dzhurayev
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TELEVISION

Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series
Bessie | Ron Schmidt, Producer

Outstanding TV Documentary or Special
The Wiz Live! | Kenny Leon

Outstanding Actor, TV Movie or Limited Series
David Oyelowo | Nightingale

Outstanding Actress, TV Movie or Limited Series
Queen Latifah | Bessie

Outstanding Supporting Actor, TV Movie or Limited Series
Bokeem Woodbine | Fargo

Outstanding Supporting Actress, TV Movie or Limited Series
Regina King | American Crime

Outstanding Director, TV Movie or Limited Series
Dee Rees | Bessie

Outstanding Screenplay, TV Movie or Limited Series
John Ridley | American Crime

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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