‘Black Panther’ wins big at screen actors guild awards

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Ground-breaking superhero blockbuster “Black Panther” on Sunday won the top prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards — a major boost to its campaign for Oscars happening this February.

AFP reports that the film won for best ensemble cast, besting musical romance “A Star Is Born,” Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman,” Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” and rom-com “Crazy Rich Asians.”

Chadwick Boseman, who plays the title role in what was the top-grossing film in North America in 2018, explained the film’s significance alongside his co-stars, nearly all of them black.

“We all know what it’s like to be told that there is not a place for you to be featured, yet you are young, gifted and black,” Boseman told the audience at the Shrine Auditorium.

“We knew that we had something special that we wanted to give the world — that we could be full human beings in the roles that we were playing, that we could create a world that exemplified a world we wanted to see.”

“Black Panther” also won for best stunt ensemble. This year, the SAG Awards come at a key point in the race to Academy Awards – just after the Oscars nominations, and well before voting for the winners begins.

The Screen Actors Guild accounts for a major percentage of the 8,000-odd Oscar voters, so the SAG winners will earn a lot of awards season momentum.