New York Times : “The 1619 Project” Docuseries To Debut On Hulu

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams will produce and oversee a documentary series based on materials drawn from The New York Times Magazine and Nikole Hannah Jones' acclaimed 'The 1619 Project,' slated to debut in the U.S. on the premium streaming service Hulu as part of a distribution agreement between Lionsgate and Disney General Entertainment Content's BIPOC Creator Initiative led by Tara Duncan, the companies announced today.

Williams will direct the first episode and produce the series under his One Story Up production banner with producing partner and co-executive producer Geoff Martz in collaboration with Lionsgate Television, The New York Times and Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films. Williams, an award-winning director, producer and writer, is the first African American director to win an Academy Award when he was awarded it for his short film 'Music by Prudence.' His other notable projects include the Emmy Award-winning documentaries 'Life, Animated' and 'The Apollo'; the documentary 'God Loves Uganda'; 'American Jail'; and the Emmy-nominated, Webby Award-winning virtual reality experience 'Traveling While Black.'

Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning journalist and showrunner Shoshana Guy will serve as showrunner. Guy most recently was showrunner for Vice TV's late-night series 'Cari and Jemele: Won't Stick to Sports.' She spent more than a decade as an anchor producer for Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams at NBC News. Her work at NBC focused on issues of race and justice, including coverage of the defunding of the Camden Police Department, which earned her a Peabody Award. Her work has also been recognized with two Emmy nominations for her coverage of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign and her in-depth reporting on a year in the life of Black high school students in Jackson, Mississippi.

One of the most impactful and thought-provoking works of journalism of the past decade, The New York Times Magazine's 'The 1619 Project' was a landmark undertaking that connected the centrality of slavery in U.S. history with an unflinching account of the brutal racism that endures in so many aspects of American life today. It was launched in August 2019 on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the English colonies that would become the United States. It examines the legacy of slavery in America and how it shaped nearly all aspects of society, from music and law to education and the arts, and including the principles of our democracy itself.

Oprah Winfrey, Lionsgate and The New York Times announced the wide-ranging partnership to develop 'The 1619 Project' into an expansive portfolio of feature films, television series and other content for a global audience in July 2020.