Film honors will be bestowed Theater community will honor director, screenwriter and costume designer CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT ^ The National Black Theatre Festi val will continue the tradition of hon oring those who have made great strides in the world of film. This year, three greats who have worked behind the camera will be receive awards during the Aug. 4 Opening Night Gala. Also, some of their work will be c?pn OB narf rtf I the National Black Film Festival. a fairly new wing of the NBTF. Charles Burnett and Trevor Rhone will receive Lifelong Achievement in Film Burnett awarus. Bur nett's films include I990's "To Sleep With Anger" and I977's "Killer of Sheep." Burnett is highly respected in the industry and among critics. He is also the recipient of a MacArthur Fel lowship Foundation Genius grant. "Kingston, Jamaica-native Rhone also is respected in show-biz circles. The screenwriter won The Genie for Best Original Screenplay for the movie "Milk and Honey." Rhone's most recent film, "One Love," pre miered at the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. France. Rhone is also a win ner of the Norman Manley Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts. Ruth Carter, two-time Academy Award-nominated costume designer, will he saluted for her high caliber body of work. Carter received Oscar nominations for her work in "Malcolm X " and "Amistad." Some of Carter's works are on display at Winston-Salem State University's Diggs Gallery. See page 48 for more information about Carter and her work. Phenomenal Woman Maya Angelou says she feels right at home in Winston-Salem (Editor's note: Maya Angelou was instru mental is helping Lirry Leon Hamlin start the National Black Theatre Festival, and her sup port has done much for the festival. Here is a profile The Chronicle did on the world-famous poet and city resident. It originally ran on Nov. 7,2002.) BY T. KEVIN WALKER THE CHRONIC! I Growing up, Maya Angelou never dreamed that her words would have the ability to inspire and move people, that her regal presence and thoughtful insights would leave everyone - from U.S. presidents to the average Joe - in complete awe, that her body of work would make her one of the most influen tial writers of the 2()th century. Angelou said she always believed she would be successful, just not as a multifaceted artist. "I did think I was going to be a suc cessful real estate broker," Angelou said during an interview over the weekend. "I would have a brief case, I knew 1 "would have an attache case, and I would wear high heels and matching purses. I just knew that. It never occurred to me that I would become any of what I have become." Through her work as a writer, direc tor, singer, actress, social activist and humanitarian, what Angelou has become is one of the most respected people in the country today. Admiration for Angelou - a St. Louis native who was reared in Arkansas and California - runs espe cially deep in Winston-Salem, where she has called home for the last two decades. The job of Reynolds professor of American studies at Wake Forest Uni versity brought Angelou to the city. Her generosity, openness and kindness have endeared her to its people. Winston-Salem State University said thank-you to Angelou yesterday with a daylong celebration on the campus. Angelou read selections from her body OI WWK UIIU IIIC M.IIUUI .-> CIIV/li IIU.I.T of her poems to music. A roundtable discussion was also held to discuss the impact of Angelou \s work. Angelou said she was delighted by the honor. "I am a friend of Winston-Salem State. I have been since I moved here." In 1998, the Maya Angelou Institute for the Improvement of Child and Family Education was established at WSSU. The institute address es educational needs for children and tries to pro vide remedies for families to some of life's chal lenges. A gala to celebrate Angelou's 7()th birth day featuring Quincy Jones and Ashford and Simpson was held at WSSU to raise money to open the institute. Angelou has left her mark locally in many other ways as well. For example, she was instru mental in helping the biennial National Black Theatre Festival become a reality in the late 1990s. Late last year, she signed over a collec tion of her personal manuscripts to Wake Forest University. The collection spans Angelou's liter ary career and is worth an estimated $500,000. Angelou said she loves Winston-Salem as much as the city loves her. The people make it appealing, she said. "No place is worth anything without the peo ple. You could live on the 90th fkx)r of the pent house on Fifth Avenue, but if you don't have _. File Phrtc Maya Angelou speaks at a community event in 1999. people around you to'make you laugh and make you smile and to enjoy a pot of greens or roast beef with, then none of it matters." In her most recent autobiography. "A Song Flung lip to Heaven," Angelou details her work with civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. At one point, Angelou served as a regional director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. At 74, Angelou still proudly wears the title of social activist. Last week, she joined former Sec retary of Labor Alexis Herman for a Winston Salem rally for Erskine Bowles, Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in North Carolina. She also has traveled to New York this electiqp sea son to campaign on behalf of Carl McCail, the Democrat who tried to unseat Gov. George Pata ki. "We are all political, whether we know it or not. whether we do anything about it or not." Angelou said. **I have long believed that instead of cursing the darkness, I might at least strike a match. There is something I can do." Angelou said she would like to see more young people take more of an interest in addressing the issues that plague society. "I wish more young people were even obser vant of what is going on around them. But even if they aren't, life will wake them up." But Angelou is not one who finds fault in everything that young people do. In fact. she said, she admires young people great ly. She has attended a massive poetry slam event in California, where hip-hop generation poets read their works, often at a fanatieal pace. 0 "I love to see and hear young men and women say what they think. I support slams." said Angelou, who added, though, that she is not a hig fan of work that features vulgarity simply for the sake of being vulgar. Angelou believes that many older people dismiss the issues and culture of younger people because they lacked something in their own youth. "One ought to try to be. I think, spiri tually and intellectually young. I can't undo the lines," she said, gently touching parts of her face. "I think some older peo ple are mean to young people because they didn't enjoy their own youth. Well. I had a ball." - "A Song Rung Up to Heaven" is the last in Angelou's series of autobiogra phies. which began in 1070 with the release of her signature work. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." The latest book ends at the point in Angelou's life when she began to write 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." "I never wanted to write about writ ing," she said when asked about stopping the autobiographical series. "But I do want to continue to write." Angelou is working on -a cookbook that will mesh stories and recipes. The recipe for her greens will be included in the book, she says. In an aside during the Bowles rally, Alexis Herman praised Anoclmi'c unvni; :k otiw nf the h??U vht? has ever tasted. Angelou said she also will continue to pub lish poetry and essays. She is also in talks to direct again. Most recently, she directed the crit ically acclaimed film "Down in the Delta." Angelou is hoping to bring Bebe Moore Camp bell's book "Singing in the Comeback Choir" to the big screen. Angelou also is hoping to recruit actor Wesley Snipes for the film. Snipes also appeared in "Down in the Delta." Angelou said the many facets of the work that she does often takes her away from Win ston-Salem. But she said she will always return here, even though her fame would grant her prestige in any city in the world. "I have no plans to leave. This is my home." she said, flashing her trademark smile. "My paintings are here; my books are here; my struc ture is here."

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