‘BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions’ Is Back On The Sundance Sked After Being Pulled By Financier Participant

Anthony D'Alessandro

25 January 2025 at 11:12 pm·2-min read

Never underestimate the power of independent art. Kahlil Joseph’s experimental movie BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions will definitely be making its world premiere here at Sundance. The festival just released a statement. The movie was pulled by the pic’s financially embattled financier Participant after accusing the filmmaker that he was submitting a secret cut of the film to Sundance and Berlin.

“Sundance Film Festival is overjoyed to welcome BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions back to the Festival lineup. This boundary-pushing, relentlessly innovative art deserves to be shared after years of work by the filmmaking team, and the Festival is proud to have it as part of our programming,” reads a statement tonight.

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BLKNWS will have a press and industry screening tomorrow, Sunday, Jan. 26 at 1PM MT at the Holiday Village Cinemas. The premiere will happen on Monday, Jan. 27, 9AM MT at the Egyptian Theater.

How did the pic get back on the sked? Reportedly James Shani’s Rich Spirit and BN Media have taken over Participant’s interest in the movie with the intent of selling the pic to a new distributor. Rich Spirit was responsible for taking over the financial interests on the Oscar nominated The Apprentice from Kinematics.

Sources tell us that Joseph was never circulating a secret cut of the film; it was merely a polished print.

The filmmaker told us exclusively earlier this week after the pic was pulled that he was “still hopeful that the originally submitted film from Participant, which Sundance already has in their possession, can still screen”

The filmmaker had “surprise” and “confusion” that Participant had issued a terse legal letter. He also promised audiences in his statement to us about BLKNWS, “I don’t think anything like it has ever been made.”

BLKNWS‘ logline reads “Preeminent West African curator and scholar Funmilayo Akechukwu’s magnum opus, The Resonance Field, Ieads her to the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, drawing a journalist into a journey that shatters her understanding of consciousness and time.”

BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions is produced by Onye Anyanwu, Amy Greenleaf and Nic Gonda. Joseph is director, writer and producer. The movie was also written by Saidiya Hartman and Irvin Hunt. The cast includes Shaunette Renée Wilson, Kaneza Schaal, Hope Giselle, Peter Hernandez, Penny Johnson Jerald and Zora Casebere.

Variety first had the story on BLKNWS getting back on the schedule.

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