Danielle Deadwyler
The California Film Institute (CAFILM) announced this week that Danielle Deadwyler will receive the MVFF Award for Acting at the 47th Mill Valley Film Festival as part of a Spotlight presentation of Netflix’s upcoming release, The Piano Lesson on October 6. The Mill Valley Film Festival runs October 3-13.
Directed by Malcolm Washington in his feature film directorial debut, The Piano Lesson is an adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork. Danielle Deadwyler and director Malcolm Washington will attend this special screening, followed by an on-stage conversation.
“Malcolm Washington’s confident directorial debut both honors the soul of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning play and infuses it with a vibrant cinematic sensibility. He’s assembled a great cast, actors who have an incredible sense of the language and spirit that made Wilson one of America’s greatest playwrights,” said Zoë Elton, MVFF Director of Programming. “And Danielle Deadwyler’s work in this film is exquisite. As she did in Till, she again proves herself to be one of the most outstanding actors of her generation. We’re excited to be honoring her work with the MVFF Award.”
In The Piano Lesson, a battle is brewing in the Charles Household, at the center stands a prized heirloom piano tearing two siblings apart. On one side, a brother (John David Washington) plans to build the family fortune by selling it. On the other, a sister (Danielle Deadwyler) will go to any lengths to hold onto the sole vestige of the family’s heritage. Their uncle (Samuel L. Jackson, reprising his Tony-nominated role) tries to mediate, but even he can’t hold back the ghosts of the past.
The film is co-written by Virgil Williams and Malcolm Washington, produced by Denzel Washington and Todd Black (Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), and executive produced by Jennifer Roth, Constanza Romero Wilson, and Katia Washington. Co-starring Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu, Skylar Aleece Smith, Jerrika Hinton, Gail Bean and Corey Hawkins.
Deadwyler recently wrapped work on the action-thriller Carry On, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, slated for a late 2024 Netflix release, and stars in and executive produces The Women in the Yard, another Collet-Serra project, premiering in March 2025. Danielle is widely recognized for her portrayal of Mamie Till-Mobley in the award-winning film Till, earning her nominations for a Critics Choice Film Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and BAFTA Film Award, along with the 2022 Gotham Award for Outstanding Lead Performance, the Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Black Cinema & Television Actress Award for Film, and the National Board of Review Breakthrough Performance Award. She also appears in the Netflix limited series From Scratch and HBO Max’s Station Eleven, for which she received a 2023 Film Independent Spirit TV Award nomination. Her other notable credits include The Harder They Fall, The Devil to Pay, The Haves and the Have Nots, and Watchmen.
Malcolm Washington, a Los Angeles filmmaker and son of two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington, makes his feature film directorial debut with The Piano Lesson. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania and the prestigious American Film Institute, Washington directed award-winning short films and music videos, including the 2017 short film Benny Got Shot, for which he received the Filmmaker to Watch Award at the Atlanta Film Festival. His previous credits include She’s Gotta Have It, Summer of 17, The Dispute, and North Hollywood.