Indepth Arts News:
"Pan African Film & Arts Festival"
2000-02-10 until 2000-02-21
PAFF
Los Angeles, CA,
USA United States of America
The 8th Pan African Film & Art Festival (PAFF) will light the way for
the new millenium with the first Black film festival for the Y2K. Scheduled for Thursday, February 10
through Monday, February 21, 2000 the festivities once again take place at the Magic Johnson
Theatres and the adjacent Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza located at 3650 Martin Luther King Jr.
Blvd. in Los Angeles. This is an amazing exhibition of films created
by Black film artists and an exhibition of over 80 of
the top Black visual artists in the United States.
Multi-dimensional film and screen actress, CCH Pounder (End of Days, starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger and NBC-TVs ER) will serve as this years celebrity spokesperson. In
addition, Artisan Entertainments Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, starring Forest Whitaker
and directed by Jim Jarmusch, and Warner Bros. International Orfeu set in Rio de Janeiro during
Carnival and directed by one of Brazils top directors, Carlos Diegues. will be specially presented
during the Opening Night Gala. The New Line Cinema release, Love and Basketball, starring
Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan, Alfre Woodard, and Debbi Morgan, is the Closing Night Film feature.
Artist Keith Williams, whose work was chosen as part of the Levi-Strauss Y2K advertising campaign,
is the featured artist for the Festival. Varnette Honeywood, Nathaniel Bustion, Olu Jimi Adeniyi, Aziz
Diagne, Marvin Sin, and Karen Roach are just a sampling of the additional artists that will also
attend.
As PAFFs executive director, Ayuko Babu asserts, The Pan African Film Festival is honored to
spearhead the new millenium with the screening of over 75 films representing the wealth and beauty
of Black culture here and abroad. Over 100 fine artists and craftspeople will display their talents,
along with a vast selection of panels, forums and workshops. There will be poetry, performance art
and fashion as we light the way for the next 1000 years!
Additional festival highlights include the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to veteran
actress Beah Richards, along with the presentation of awards for Best Feature, Best Documentary,
Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short, Jury Award and Audience Favorite. A Saturday
Morning Childrens Festival for kids aged 4 through 12, and a StudentFest hosting over 4000 Los
Angeles area students, is also planned, featuring Sirga from Cote dIvoire/Mali/Zimbabwe/ and
France and Saikati: the Enkabaani from Kenya.
Important films include, Third World Cop, a cops and robbers Jamaica-style drama, accompanied
by a high tech, high-energy soundtrack hailing direct from Jamaica. Island magic continues with the
premiere of Babymother from the United Kingdom, while the comedy Chikin Biznis: The Whole
Story heralds from South Africa. Other African selections include Buud Yam, winner of the 1997
Best African Picture Award at FESPACO, Comedia Infantil from Mozambique, The Little Girl Who
Sold the Sun, the last film by the late Djbril Mambety Diop, from Senegal, the Egyptian
masterpiece, Destiny by Youssef Chahine and the West African classic, Mortu Nega directed by
Flora Gomes of Guinea Bissau. Kirikou and the Sorceress , a feature length animation, will delight
young and old alike.
Statewide features include Courtney B. Vance, Regina King, Ed Asner and Kathleen Turner starring
in Love and Action in Chicago, The Arrangement by newcomer H.H. Cooper, Ritual by Stanley
Bennett Clay and Compensation by Zeinabu irene Davis.
The Rev. DoWrong Aint Right, Cold Feet, and Retiring Tatiana cover the elements of comedy
and romance. Offering something for everyone, hip hoppers will appreciate Bounce by Adam
Watstein, Eazy-Duz-It: The Impact of a Legend Straight Outta Compton by Matthew McDaniel and
Nobody Knows My Name by Rachel Raimist.
Others films to note are Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist narrated by Morgan
Freeman and Unbowed a turn of the century love story between a young Black woman and an
Indian Brave, directed by Nanci Rossov.
The Pan African Film & Art Festival is proud to be partnered with a new media technology company,
Streamcasters, Inc. to create the first live webcast from the event. To access the live webcasts visit
our website at www.PAFF.org
The Pan African Film & Art Festival is the largest festival in the United States dedicated to the
exhibition of Black films. The festivities are sponsored by AT&T, The Los Angeles Cultural Affairs
Department, Target Stores, Blockbuster Entertainment, Pacific Bell, the Magic Johnson Theatres,
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Washington Mutual, KABC-Channel 7,
The Walt Disney Company, BET Movies, Bank of America, Crown Royal, The Hansen Beverage
Company, Images Magazine, Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, The Los Angeles County Arts
Commission, and The Los Angeles Times.
Tickets for regular screenings are $4.95 (matinees, seniors and children) and $7.75 (adults).
Opening Night Gala tickets are $40.00 which includes the screening, and after party. Forums,
Saturday Children Festivals, and Art Exhibits are free. Festival attendees can enjoy special room
rates at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel by calling toll free (877) 216-1504. Fundraisers and
group sales are available. For more information and festival itinerary call (213) 896-8221 or (323)
295-1706, or e-mail at lapaff@aol.com.
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