The first full trailer and key art for Beyoncé’s upcoming Black Is King film is out. The “visual album” will be streaming on Disney+ starting July 31. It airs Saturday, August 1 at 7pm on MNet.
The MultiChoice Group will open M-Net to DStv Compact Plus, Compact, and Family for two hours on the night. DStv Premium customers will be able to enjoy it on DStv Catch Up for 30 days.
Black Is King is based on the music of The Lion King: The Gift, and premieres two weeks after the one-year anniversary of the theatrical release of Disney’s The Lion King.
Black Is King has a long list of directors, including Emmanuel Adjei (the film Shahmaran), Blitz Bazawule (The Burial of Kojo), Pierre Debusschere (Mine and Ghost videos for Beyoncé), Jenn Nkiru (Black to Techno), Ibra Ake (creative director and producer on This is America video for Childish Gambino), Dikayl Rimmasch (Cachao, Uno Mas), Jake Nava (Crazy in Love, Single Ladies, Partition videos for Beyoncé) and co-director and long-time collaborator Kwasi Fordjour.
Co-directors and second unit directors include Dafe Oboro, Julian Klincewicz, Derek Milton, Meji Alabi, Joshua Kissi, Alexandre Moors and Deon Van Zyl.
Samuel Bazawule known by the stage name Blitz the Ambassador, is a Ghanaian hip-hop artist, filmmaker, and visual artist based in Brooklyn, NY.
Emmanuel Adjei is a Ghanaian-Dutch filmmaker and visual artist, whose work has explored the realms between film, music video, and art installation. With a primary interest in storytelling, Adjei’s work interrogates concepts of power, freedom, displacement, and inequality, told through his multi-layered dramatic narratives. Creating atmospheric worlds in both a painterly and cinematic style, Adjei always seeks to challenge the boundaries between fiction and reality.
Kwasi Fordjour is Creative Director at Parkwood Entertainment.Parkwood Entertainment is an American management and entertainment company founded in 2008 by singer and actress Beyoncé Knowles.
Joshua Kissi is a Ghanaian-American creative entrepreneur specializing in photography and creative direction, based in New York City.
Last but definitely not least, Ghanaian dancehall king Shatta Wale is rumoured to star in the movie. Either he will be making a surprise appearance.
The new trailer includes models Aweng Ade-Chuol and Adut Akech, supermodel Naomi Campbell, Tina Knowles-Lawson, author and Academy Award-winning actor Lupita Nyong’o, singer Kelly Rowland, Pharrell Williams, and Jay-Z, among others. Many artists featured on The Lion King: The Gift album also make appearances.
Black Is King includes full-length videos for the songs Already, Brown Skin Girl, Mood 4 Eva and My Power.