Akeelah and the Bee is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Doug Atchison. It tells the story of Akeelah Anderson, portrayed by Keke Palmer, an 11-year-old girl who participates in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, her mother, portrayed by Angela Bassett, schoolmates, and also her coach, portrayed by Laurence Fishburne. It also explores issues of education in a low socioeconomic African American community. The film was developed over a period of 10 years by Doug Atchison, the germ of the idea having started after his watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee of 1994 and... combined with his experiences spent tutoring disadvantaged students in the area around the University of Southern California, where he attended film school. After four years of trying to secure funding for the film, the documentary film Spellbound came out in 2002 and perhaps, according to one producer, Sid Ganis, facilitated funding. Spellbound features a black girl, Ashley White, from Washington, D.C., in rough parallel to the independent idea developed in Akeelah and the Bee.
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| Release date: | April 28, 2006 |
| Directed by: | Doug Atchison |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 112 Minutes |
| Producer: | Laurence Fishburne, Sid Ganis, Nancy Hult Ganis, Danny Llewelyn, Michael Romersa |
| Editor: | Glenn Farr |
| Music by: | Aaron Zigman |
| Cinematography: | M. David Mullen |
| Screenplay by: | Doug Atchison |
| Estimated budget: | $6,000,000 |