The Telluride Film Festival got underway yesterday, and reactions to some of the highly-anticipated world premieres are starting to arrive.

Malcolm Washington’s THE PIANO LESSON, which stars Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu, Skylar Aleece Smith, Danielle Deadwyler, and Corey Hawkins, is based on the 1987 play by August Wilson.

Set in 1936 Pittsburgh during the aftermath of the Great Depression, The Piano Lesson follows the lives of the Charles family in the Doaker Charles household and an heirloom, the family piano, which is decorated with designs carved by an enslaved ancestor.

The Piano Lesson premiered at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2024, and is scheduled to be released in select theaters in the United States on November 8, 2024, before streaming on Netflix on November 22. You can find the release date on our streaming calendar.

Initial reactions to The Piano Lesson out of Telluride sound pretty positive:

Check out the film’s official trailer below: