African American Film Critics Association has named The Woman King as the best film of 2022. Set in the 1800s, it centers around a group of all-female warriors who protect the African kingdom of Dahomey. The directorial venture of Gina Prince-Bythewood has been praised for the balancing out of action sequences with intimate moments. 

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Prince-Bythewood is noted for her portrayal of the experiences of women of color, challenging the stereotypical representation that has persisted in mainstream media. 

Who is Gina Prince-Bythewood?

Gina Prince-Bythewood was born on Jun 10, 1969, in Los Angeles, California. When she turned 3 weeks old, she got adopted by Bob Prince, a computer programmer, and Maria Prince, a nurse. Brought up in a middle-class neighborhood of Pacific Grove, California, she completed her schooling at Pacific Grove High School. She went on to attend UCLA film school. 

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Before Prince-Bythewood made her debut at the 2000’s Sundance film festival with her feature Love and Basketball, she had already worked in television, having directed and written several episodes of several TV series including NBC’s A Different World and The WB’s Felicity.

She also worked as a story editor for South Central (1994) and later continued her editorial venture with NBC’s Sweet Justice. After the short-lived success of Sweet Justice faded, Prince-Bythewood produced and wrote episodes for Courtroom. 

Her directorial debut was CBS’s What About Your Friends? a tale centered around three middle-class African-American teenage girls. 

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This helped her set the tone for her next college set drama, Felicity.

Prince-Bythewood made her feature debut with Love and Basketball, a romance drama starring Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan, who star as athletes in love. She followed up the success of Love and Basketball with an HBO-produced adaptation of Terry McMillan’s popular novel Disappearing Acts. 

Prince-Bythewood has gained acclaim for her portrayal of women of colour, like in The Woman King and Disappearing Acts