The movie about maids employed in 1960’s Mississippi was the big winner at the national association for the advancement of colored people’s image awards, taking home the prize for best picture as well as acting awards for Viola Davis as best actress and Octavia Spencer in the supporting role. The help also has a number of Oscar nominations and is likely to be a contender in a few of the categories, in her acceptance speech Davis stated the making of the film had been “the joy of my life”. The film which tells a tale of the hired help in a state which has not yet embraced equal rights by the 1960’s is a wonderful tale of friendship and compassion set against what is a very powerful civil rights picture.
The awards which celebrate diversity in film, television and music also had a special award for George Lucas, his Vanguard award was presented to him by Samuel L.Jackson and was awarded for his work on the recent film “Red Tails” a story of African American pilots who fought during the second world war, Lucas stated he made the film to “show that everybody has contributed to building this country into what it is today". Another highlight of the awards was when Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte presented an honorary award to the Black Stuntmen's Association, which was established in 1967 to help colored performers earn similar respect and equality as their white counterparts. It was the help however which took home the big prizes and in under a weeks time we will see if it can make a similar impact at the Oscars.
source: BBC