JULIE DASH

Books are an easy gift choice, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be fresh.

Looking at the schmoozing guests at the Met Gala cocktail reception, TV host James Corden summed up the scene in a word: “Classy.”.

Lights, camera.

Regina King, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Lin-Manuel Miranda will serve as co-chairs of the Met Gala, returning to its traditional berth on the first Monday in May.

Joni Mitchell has received honorary membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the century old institution where general inductees have ranged from Henry James and Georgia O’Keeffe to Sonny Rollins and Jasper Johns.

Hollywood will have a strong presence at this year’s Met Gala in May — and not only on the red carpet.

This image released by the Library of Congress shows Heath Ledger, left, and Christian Bale in a scene from the 2008 film "The Dark Knight." The film was added to the National Film Registry. (Warner Bros.-Library of Congress via AP)LOS ANGELES – This year's inductees into the National Film Registry include a record number of female directors and filmmakers of color as well as a new crop of movies ranging from a silent short film thriller, classic musicals and an acclaimed Batman film. The national library said this year’s selections include a record nine films directed by women and filmmakers of color. Christopher Nolan’s 2008 Batman film “The Dark Knight” was a blockbuster and the top public vote-getter.

This image released by Amazon Studios shows Sibil Fox Richardson, left, and her husband Robert in a scene from "Time." Garrett Bradley’s acclaimed documentary about the Richardson family, “Time,” measures its passage through a father’s absence. Made with family video diaries shot by Fox of herself and their six children that span more than two decades, “Time” lends a powerfully intimate portrait of the toll of mass incarceration. The film, which Amazon will release in select theaters Friday and launch on Amazon Prime next week, is a lyrical, black-and-white montage that digs into the long-term ache of incarceration. “Love never left off,” says Fox, speaking by Zoom alongside Rob from New Orleans.

FILE - Julie Dash attends the New York Film Critics Circle Awards on Jan. 3, 2017, in New York. Dash's work will be featured in Turner Classic Movies' four-month Women Make Film series, airing every Tuesday night through December. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)Associated Press Film Writers Lindsey Bahr and Jake Coyle pick some programming highlights from Turner Classic Movies' four-month Women Make Film series, airing every Tuesday night through December. In her 1976 film (airing Sept. 15 on TCM), Kopple intimately documents a grueling, 13-month coal miner's strike in a small Kentucky town. They just thought I was a funny little girl who carried a tape recorder and a camera. The film won Kopple her first Oscar.

There is a euphoria in the airabout Black films todaythe groundbreaking records of recent and past years speak to this. More Black directors received Best Director and Best Picture Oscar nominations in the past five years than in the rest of the history of the Academy Awards combined and of the six Black directors that have been nominated for Best Director, outside of John Singletons nod for Boyz In The Hood (1991), all have come in the last decade. But we have a history of moments of past euphoria in Black Hollywood. The directors spoke of discrimination and misogyny within the film industry, the continued objections about the financial viability of Black films, the lack of studio support for films that deviated from gritty urban dramas, and how their initial success boiled down to a flavor of the month treatment. Like whats in between.Cooley High (1975) and Car Wash (1976) director Michael Schultz was part of a different generation of Black talent in Hollywood.