Amy Schatz: Last News

John Legend and his partners at Get Lifted Film Co. are bringing some uplift to audiences with their inspiring new HBO documentary Stand Up & Shout: Songs From a Philly High School. 

Addie Morfoot Contributor John Legend is no stranger to documentaries. Last month, he and his Get Lifted Films’ co-founders Mike Jackson and Ty Stiklorius announced that they would serve as executive producers on Oscar-nominated Waad Al-Kateab’s latest docu “We Dare to Dream.” This month, Legend is behind HBO Documentary Films’ “Stand Up & Shout: Songs From a Philly High School.” About an annual music program in the city’s Hill-Freedman World Academy, the 54-minute docu features 10th-grade students learning to write, compose, produce, and perform original songs. Together with local musicians, the students pitch concepts, work out arrangements, and eventually create an album that captures the challenges they are living through and the joy music brings to their respective lives.

HBO Max is set to premiere the animated special The Runaway Bunny, narrated by Tracee Ellis Ross and based on the classic kids book by Margaret Wise Brown, on March 25. The TV adaptation by producer and director Amy Schatz will feature a performance of an original Margaret Wise Brown lullaby by Ross, and songs performed by Mariah Carey, Kelly Rowland, Rosanne Cash, Ziggy Marley, Kimya Dawson, Rufus Wainwright and Michael Kiwanuka.