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Posts tagged as “Nella Larsen”

Film Adaptation of Nella Larsen’s Harlem Renaissance Novel “Passing” to be Acquired by Netflix for $16 Million

Film Adaptation of Nella Larsen’s Harlem Renaissance Novel “Passing” to be Acquired by Netflix for $16 Million

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2021

Almost one hundred years after its heyday, the Harlem Renaissance is all the rage once again.

Streaming giant Netflix is currently in talks to acquire Passing, the film adaptation of Nella Larsen‘s 1929 novel that examines the relationship of two biracial women in the 1920s where one chooses to hide her Black ancestry and “pass” for white.

Directed and adapted by Rebecca Hall and produced by Significant Productions partners Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi along with Hall and Margot Hand, the movie stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga in the lead roles.

Passing premiered last Saturday as part of the U.S. Dramatic Competition lineup for Sundance’s virtual 2021 film festival.

Read more: https://variety.com/2021/film/news/netflix-passing-acquisition-deal-rebecca-hall-tessa-thompson-ruth-negga-1234899976/

Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga to Star in Adaptation of Nella Larsen’s Harlem Renaissance Era Novel ‘Passing’

By goodblacknews on August 8, 2018

The Hollywood Reporter recently reported that Ruth Negga (“Loving”) and Tessa Thompson(“Sorry to Bother You”) will star in a film adaptation of Nella Larsen’s novel “Passing.”

Larsen’s novel explores the practice of passing as a race different from one’s own. “Passing” focuses on childhood friends, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry, who reconnect in adulthood. Kendry passes as White, but longs for connection with Redfield and her life in Harlem’s Black community. The friends’ obsession with one another pushes their lives together in ways that prove risky for both women.

The critical acclaim that “Passing” earned after its 1929 publication cemented Larson’s legacy among the most celebrated authors of the Harlem Renaissance.

Thompson, who is of Afro-Panamanian and Mexican descent, and Negga, the daughter of an Ethiopian man and Irish woman, will portray the pair at the center of the story. Rebecca Hall, a British actress of partial Black ancestry, will direct.

Source: https://www.colorlines.com/articles/tessa-thompson-ruth-negga-star-passing-adaptation