If you haven't heard yet, “The Green Book” is one of the frontrunners for Best Picture at this year’s Oscar race clutching nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Viggo Mortensen), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Mahershala Ali), Best Original Screenplay and Best in Film Editing. The film is inspired by a true friendship that transcended race, class and societal constraints in the early 1960s - a time were these ideas were controversial. When Frank Anthony Vallelonga, aka Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), a New York City bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in The Bronx, is hired to drive and protect Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a world-class Black pianist, on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South, they must rely on The Green Book — a travel guide to safe lodging, dining and business options for African Americans during the era of segregation and Jim Crow laws — to steer them to places where Shirley will not be refused service, humiliated, or threatened with violence. Still, the two men will be confronted with racism and danger. Together, they will challenge long-held assumptions, push past their seemingly insurmountable differences, and embrace their shared humanity. What begins as a two-month journey of necessity will establish a friendship that will endure for the rest of their lives.





“The Green Book” opens February 6 in cinemas from Pioneer Films.