The 26th Annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF) will take place Thursday, February 8 through Monday, February 19, 2018. The festival will open with Love Jacked directed by Alfons Adetuyi, and close with Traffik directed by Deon Taylor, starring Paula Patton, Omar Epps and Laz Alonso.
“The Pan African Film and Arts Festival has been recognized as one of the largest celebrations of Black culture and Black films,” mentions Ayuko Babu, PAFF Executive Director. “For 26 years, we have presented diverse and inclusive programming that features the creative work of leading disruptors in film and entertainment. The 2018 PAFF experience aims to step outside the ‘business as usual’ film festival norms and move the needle forward by amplifying the game-changing voices of influential, ethnic, millennial and LGBTQIA storytellers.”
With pride, PAFF shares reign as one of two international film and art festivals that screen a large selection of new Black films and exhibit fine art and unique crafts from around the world. This year’s confirmed lineup showcases over 170 films from over 40 countries within five continents and in 26 languages! What’s more, as an official Oscar-qualifying festival for shorts and live-action films, PAFF will hold special screenings for several works that are up for consideration for the 90th Annual Academy Awards
The festival will be held at the Cinemark Rave 15 Theatres/Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza (3650 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd) in Los Angeles, California.
Highlights of the 2018 Pan African Film & Arts Festival
MARQUEE FILMS
OPENING NIGHT
Love Jacked (US)
Directed By: Alfons Adetuyi
Date: Thursday, February 8
Time: 6PM Red Carpet | 7PM Screening
A warm family comedy centered around Maya, a headstrong 28-year-old with artistic ambitions and her father Ed, who wants a dutiful daughter to run the family store. Ed is shocked when Maya, asserting her independence, decides to travel to Africa for inspiration and returns with a fiancé. Stars Amber Stevens-West, Shamier Anderson, Lyriq Bent, Keith David, Mike Epps, Marla Gibbs, Angela Gibbs, Demetrius Grosse and Nicole Lyn. Cast members will be present.
CLOSING NIGHT
Traffik (US)
Directed By: Deon Taylor
Date: Sunday, February 18
Time: 5:45PM Red Carpet | 6:45PM Screening
Journalist Brea and her boyfriend John are off for a romantic weekend in the mountains. On their way up the coast they stop in a small town and are accosted by a group of men on motorcycles. Barely avoiding a fight, Brea and John continue on their trip, unaware that they have inadvertently come into possession of a cell phone–a cell phone that the bikers are desperate to retrieve. Now, alone in the mountains in an isolated rental home, Brea and John must defend themselves against the bikers who will stop at nothing to get the phone, destroy the evidence it holds and kill anyone who would tell their secrets. Stars Paula Patton, Omar Epps and Laz Alonso. Cast members will be present.
SPOTLIGHT SCREENINGS
Behind the Movement (US) – Presented by TVOne
Directed By: Aric Avelino
Date: Friday, February 9
Time: 7PM Red Carpet | 8PM Screening
King of the Stage: The Woodie King, Jr. Story (US) – World Premiere
Directed By: Juney Smith
Date: Saturday, February 10
Time: 6PM Red Carpet | 7:15PM Screening | 9PM Lifetime Achievement Presentation
Nothing Like Thanksgiving (US)
Directed By: Mark Harris
Date: Saturday, February 17
Time: 7:15PM Red Carpet | 8PM Screening
UP FOR OSCAR CONSIDERATION
Félicité (Senegal) – Oscar Short List
Directed By: Alain Gomis
Screening Dates & Times:
Friday, February 9 @ 8:50PM
Saturday, February 17 @ 9PM
The Train of Salt and Sugar (Mozambique) – LA Premiere
Directed By: Licínio Azevedo
Screening Dates & Times:
Wednesday, February 14 @ 7:30PM
Saturday, February 17 @ 8PM
The Wound (Inxeba) (South Africa) – Oscar Short List
Directed By: John Trengrove
Screening Dates & Times:
Saturday, February 10 @ 7:05PM
Tuesday, February 13 @ 6PM
Monday, February 19 @ 9PM
Woodpeckers (Dominican Republic)
Directed By: José Maria Cabral
Screening Dates & Times:
Saturday, February 10 @ 8:40PM
Friday, February 16 @ 1:25PM
Image via Screen Shot