| Pan African Film & Art Festival Lights the Millenium by “Illuminating the Future” with their Eighth Annual Presentation!!! The First Black Film Festival for the Y2K is Filled with Highlights and Surprises/ Multi-Dimensional Actress CCH Pounder to Host/ “Ghost Dog: the Way of the Samurai” starring Forest Whitaker, Premieres Opening Night. Los Angeles, CA January 2000 – 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. Multi-dimensional film and screen actress, CCH Pounder (End of Days, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and NBC-TV’s “ER”) will serve as this year’s celebrity spokesperson. In addition, Artisan Entertainment’s “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai,” starring Forest Whitaker and directed by Jim Jarmusch, will premiere during the Opening Night Ceremonies. The New Line Cinema release, “Love and Basketball,” starring Omar Epps, Shanaa Latham, Alfre Woodard, and Debbi Morgan, is the Closing Night Film feature. Craftsman Keith Williams, whose work was chosen as part of the Levi Strauss Y2K advertising campaign, is the featured artist for the Festival. Varnette Honeywood, Nathanial Bustion, Olu Jimi Adeniyi, Charles Bibbs, Bakari, and Karen Roach are just a sampling of the additional artists that will also be in attendance. As PAFF’s 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 artist 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 Children’s Festival for kids aged 4 through 12, and a StudentFest hosting over 4000 of Angeles area students, is also planned, featuring “Sirga” from Cote d’Ivoire/Mali/Zimbabwe and France and “Saikati: the Enkabaani” from Kenya. Important films include a special presentation of Warner Bros. International “Orfeu” set in Rio de Janerio during Carnival and directed by one of Brazil’s top directors, Carlos Diegues. Accompanied by a high tech, high-energy soundtrack, “Third World Cop,” a cops and robbers Jamaica-style drama hails direct from Jamaica. Island magic continues with the premiere of “Baby Mother” 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 FESPCO, “Comedia Infantil” from Mozambique, “The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun,” the last film by the late Djdril Mambety Diop, from Senegal, the Egyptian masterpiece, “Destiny” and the West African classic, “Mortu Nega” directed by Flora Gomes of Guinea Bissau, among others. 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. Do Wrong Ain’t Right,” “Cold Feet,” and “Retiring Tatiana” cover the elements of comedy and romance while the full length animated feature “Kirikou and the Sorcoress” will delight young and old alike. 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 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, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Blockbuster Video, Pacific Bell, 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 Magic Johnson Theatres, Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, The Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and The Los Angeles Times. Tickets for regular screenings are $4.95 (matinees, seniors and children ) and $7.95 (adluts). Opening Night Gala tickets are $35.00 which includes the screening, and after party. Forums, Saturday Children Festivals, Art and Photography 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 check e-mail at lapaff@aol.com. Check the website online at www.paff.org. |