AitN: July 29, 2019

The final season of Jenji Kohan ’91’s popular Netflix series Orange is the New Black debuted on July 26. On July 25, Kohan was featured in The New York Times in “‘Orange Is the New Black’: Jenji Kohan Is Ready to Get Out of Prison.” In the Q&A, Kohan reflects on the show’s influence on society and how the characters have grown through the years.

The 2019 Emmy nominations were announced on July 16; Kate McKinnon ’06 was nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category for her work on Saturday Night Live. She has previously been nominated five times in this category, winning in 2016 and 2017.

On July 15, Imara Jones ’94 moderated “Gender Diversity Beyond Binaries” at the United Nations. Described as “an interactive dialogue among Member States, UN entities and civil society on the current state of LGBTQI+ rights globally,” it was the first UN High Level Meeting on the subject.

Tchaiko Omawale ’00 has been tapped by showrunner and producer Ava DuVernay to direct a Season Four episode of Queen Sugar, an American drama series that follows the lives of three siblings in rural Louisiana. The episode marks Omawale’s television directional debut; she recently received acclaim for her 2018 film, Solace, and was featured in Essence’s May 24 feature, “Meet 22 Black Directors Who Answered Hollywood’s Call For Diversity And Inclusion.”

The popular novel The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein ’87, SOA’90, has been turned into a movie, with a scheduled release date of August 9. The film follows a race car driver and his devoted dog, Enzo.