Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” is quickly becoming this season’s most anticipated streaming release.
The documentary debuts worldwide on Netflix May 6 under the same name as the former First Lady’s best-selling memoir. Details about the upcoming feature have been under wraps until now.
The Obamas’ Higher Ground production company, which won the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award in 2020 for “American Factory,” brought Michelle’s story to Netflix. According to a statement from Ms. Obama, the latest installment of “Becoming” will recount some of what was included in the book and picks up the story where the memoir’s promotional tour begins.
“Those months I spent traveling — meeting and connecting with people in cities across the globe — drove home the idea that what we share in common is deep and real and can’t be messed with,” she wrote in a statement. “In groups large and small, young and old, unique and united, we came together and shared stories, filling those spaces with our joys, worries, and dreams. We processed the past and imagined a better future. In talking about the idea of ‘becoming,’ many of us dared to say our hopes out loud.”
In her letter, the former FLOTUS briefly addressed the coronavirus pandemic. She said, “As many of you know, I’m a hugger. My whole life, I’ve seen it as the most natural and equalizing gesture one human can make toward another — the easiest way of saying, ‘I’m here for you.’ And this is one of the toughest parts of our new reality: Things that once felt simple — going to see a friend, sitting with someone who is hurting, embracing someone new — are now not simple at all.”
This will be the directorial debut for cinematographer and Bronx-native Nadia Hallgren, who was director of photography on 2008’s Oscar-nominated doc “Trouble the Water.”
“It’s hard these days to feel grounded or hopeful, but I hope that like me, you’ll find joy and a bit of respite in what Nadia has made,” she said. “Because she’s a rare talent, someone whose intelligence and compassion for others comes through in every frame she shoots. Most importantly, she understands the meaning of community, the power of community, and her work is magically able to depict it.”
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