“Sylvie’s Love” Stars Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha for Essence Magazine

ESSENCE‘s newest digital cover features Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha, the stars of the movie, “Sylvie’s Love.” The two portray Sylvie and Robert – an aspiring producer and successful saxophonist in the 1960’s whose deep love never seems to be perfectly timed. The beautiful and sensual homage to Hollywood’s golden era by writer-director Eugene Ashe–set against the backdrop of both the civil rights and women’s rights movements – will begin streaming on Amazon Prime Video on December 23.

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NNAMDI ON SYLVIE AND ROBERT’S LOVE CHALLENGES: “None of it is simple. None of it is one-sided. Love and life are complex, no matter which lens you’re looking at it through…”

TESSA ON WHY THE TIMING OF “SYLVIE’S LOVE” COULDN’T BE SWEETER: “At a time when we’re talking about the value and dignity of Black life…it’s really great to have a [love] story that offers some escapism for audiences, and that feels sweeping and beautiful and hopeful about love. We really need those kinds of narratives…”

NNAMDI ON SHOWCASING BLACK MALE VULNERABILITY: “That was important for us to show, especially during that time when there was a hypermasculinity that said, ‘I’m immovable…'”

TESSA ON HOW SHE’S SIMILAR TO SYLVIE: “Certainly women like Sylvie existed during the time, but those stories aren’t told…I’m in a period in my career, personally, where I’m launching my own production company. I’m working as a producer, and I… stand on the shoulders of women like Sylvie who came before me—career women who were [pioneers] in a time when it was hard enough to be that as a woman, never mind as a Black woman…”

[Photo Credit: J.D. Barnes for Essence Magazine]

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