Skip to content
  • Essence GU
  • Beautycon
  • NaturallyCurly
  • Afropunk
  • Essence Studios
  • Soko Mrkt
  • Ese Funds
  • Refinery29
  • WeLoveUs.shop
  • 2026 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
  • Celebrity
  • Fashion
  • Beauty
  • Lifestyle
  • Entrepreneurship
  • News
  • Shopping
  • Video
  • Events
  • Subscribe
Home • News

Fantasia's Mahalia Jackson Biopic Headed to Cannes Film Festival

Fantasia's 'Mahalia Jackson' goes to Cannes.
Fantasia's 'Mahalia' Biopic Heads to Cannes
Fantasia Barrino Birthday 1
By Nicole Marie Melton · Updated October 28, 2020
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…
ESSENCE Music Festival headliner Fantasia will get the chance to attend the prestigious Cannes Film Festival next year to premiere a biopic of gospel great Mahalia Jackson. 

Fantasia is slated to play Mahalia in the film, which is based on the book, “Got to Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel.”

“They’ve offered for us to do a screening [at Cannes],” said executive producer Adrian Taylor. “We can either enter it as competition, or we can have it in the non-competition and premiere it.”

The film is scheduled to begin shooting in October 2011 and will be ready for a late 2012 release. This schedule is subject to change since the deadline for Cannes is early April.

If anybody can take us to church like Mahalia, it’s certainly Fantasia.