Kobi Libii The American Society of Magical Negroes

Festival Predictions

2024 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Kobi Libii’s The American Society of Magical Negroes

Published on November 7, 2023

A small indie film flying low on our radar, production on Kobi Libii‘s feature debut would have taken place sometime this year. Among the projects selected for Sundance Institute’s 2019 January Screenwriters Lab, The American Society of Magical Negroes has been also supported by the Sundance Directors Lab and SFFILM’s Westridge Grant. Teaming with cinematographer Doug Emmett (I Care a Lot – 2020) we might have a cast comprised of Justice Smith and Nicole Byer – and the project looks to belong to Focus Features – but all this needs to be confirmed. Known for his work on Comedy Central’s The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, plus tons of acting creds, Libii actually studied comedy at Second City Chicago — so we expect this debut to have a legit funny-bone.

Gist: Aren is an idealistic young black man who’s recruited by veteran agent Roger into the American Society of Magical Negroes. Aren finds that working for the Society, an ancient, secret, and magical organization dedicated to making white people’s lives easier, is the most challenging and unexpected journey of his life.

Production Co./Producers: Sight Unseen’s Eddie Vaisman and Julia Lebedev.

Prediction: U.S. Dramatic Competition.

U.S. Distributor: Focus Features.

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).