'Quincy' wins Best Documentary award from African American Film Critics Association

Film about Quincy Jones was directed by his daughter Rashida Jones and Alan Hicks

Rashida Jones' biographical film about her father, music producer Quincy Jones, has been named best documentary of the year by the African American Film Critics Association. 

Quincy, co-directed by Alan Hicks, tells the story of Jones' rise in the music world from unlikely beginnings in a rough neighborhood of Chicago. The film covers his extraordinary  professional accomplishments -- first as a trumpeter and later as a composer and arranger with Count Basie and Frank Sinatra; scoring movies (In Cold Blood) and television series (Ironside); producing television series (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) and movies (The Color Purple), and many other artistic endeavors. It doesn't shy away from his complicated love life or the life-threatening illnesses he has suffered over the years, including a near-fatal brain aneurysm. 

"The access we had with him was not just access; he was happy to have us around, and obviously that comes from trust and probably loving your kids, but also he knows what kind of people Al and I are," Rashida Jones told Nonfictionfilm.com. "I think he really trusted us. I don't think we would've done it had we not heard from him that it was okay to let us do our thing."

"Quincy" director Rashida Jones (left) and co-director Alan Hicks take part in a Q&A for an IDA screening of their documentary in Los Angeles. Anne Thompson of IndieWire (right) moderated. October 16, 2018. Photo by Matt Carey

Quincy was was named one of the top 10 films of the year among all nonfiction and fiction titles by the AAFCA. The group voted Black Panther Best Film overall and Ryan Coogler Best Director for his work on that Marvel superhero movie. Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman won two awards, for Best Screenplay (shared by Lee, Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott) and Best Actor for John David Washington, who played the undercover FBI agent in the film.

The AAFCA Awards will be presented February 6, 2019 at the Taglyan Complex in Hollywood.