Pan African Film & Arts Festival, Los Angeles CA
February 7, 2009 by lindsey
Filed under Festivals, Los Angeles
The Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF), in its 17th year, is the nation’s largest black film festival. Established in 1992, PAFF is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the promotion of cultural and racial tolerance and understanding through the exhibition of film, art and creative expression. PAFF’s stated goal is to present and showcase the broad spectrum of Black creative works, particularly those that reinforce positive images and help to destroy negative stereotypes. PAFF has an ethos of using film and art to create a better understanding and foster communication between peoples of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles. PAFF mission also uses film as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues.
Opening this year’s festival is the acclaimed South African drama “Jerusalema” directed by Ralph Zinman. Part Robin Hood, part Horatio Alger, after cutting his teeth on local carjackings, young Lucky Kunene dreams of bigger scores than his best friend Zakes. Moving to the rough-and-tumble Hillbrow section of Johannesburg, Kunene, whose heroes are Karl Marx, Al Capone and Dale Carnegie, transforms himself into a real-estate crime boss even as he tries to elude determined white cop Blakkie Swart, vengeful renegade Nazareth Mbolelo and Nigerian drug lord Tony Ngu.
The festival’s centerpiece will be “Skin,” starring Sophie Okonedo, based on a true story about a woman who was born to white parents in apartheid South Africa but due to a genetic abnormality appears to have black skin. Tormented and unaccepted by white society though classified as white, she falls in love with a black man and moves to a township, alienating her parents.
In addition, the 17th Pan African Film & Arts Festival will present actress Marla Gibbs with its coveted Lifetime Achievement Award. Actor Omar Benson Miller (“Miracle at St. Anna”) has been selected for the PAFF Canada Lee Award, and California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass will be recognized for her commitment of supporting the exhibition of film, art and creative expression with the PAFF Community Service Award.
As usual, this year’s PAFF will also feature panel discussions, industry workshops and seminars in addition a diverse selection of Black films, including features, shorts, documentaries as well as studio/network releases. Visit the Pan African Film & Arts Festival official website for more information.
[Video Clip: Jerusalema]
[Video Clip: Skin]
Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, Martha’s Vineyard, MA
Designed to showcase and honor the work of established and emerging independent African American filmmakers, the Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival was launched in 2002 by Run and Shoot Filmworks (RSF), the husband-and-wife team Stephanie Tavares-Rance and Floyd Rance III. Today, the festival runs over 3 days and 45 film screenings at various locations in Edgartown and Vineyard Haven on Martha’s Vineyard, Massaschuettes. The festival regulary draws 100’s of particpants from afar away as Europe, New York, Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles among other cities.
Headlining this year’s festival are two episodes from “The Backyardigans,” a popular children’s TV show by Nickelodeon, and a screening of the Universal Pictures film, “The Express,” starring Rob Brown and Dennis Quaid.
For more information, be sure to check out the official website.
Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, Seattle, WA
Photo: Santana Shelton as Opal in John Sayle’s Honeydripper.
Seattle’s annual Langston Hughes African American Film Festival offers up both feature length and short films by independent film makers from around the world that portray a wide variety of Black life. The event always attracts a very passionate and diverse crowd, who appreciate films by and about people of African-decent world wide. Scheduled events include panel discussions, readings, and special screenings for seniors and youth.
This year’s festival opens its nine-day run on April 12th with a showing of John Sayles’ “Honeydripper,” a blues fable set in 1950s Alabama, and wraps up on April 20th with the Seattle premiere of “Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation,” a historical drama by legendary director Charles Burnett about Sam Nujoma, the first president of Namibia. For a complete schedule and ticket information go to langstonblackfilmfest.org.
Langston Hughes African American Film Festival
Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Center
104 – 17th Ave South
Seattle WA 98144
United States
Phone: 206-326-1088
Offical Website: langstonblackfilmfest.org
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