2012 Art Show

Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Culver Plaza Theater
9919 Washington Boulevard, Los Angeles 90232

35 & Ticking

Los Angeles Premiere

(US/2011)
Written & Directed by Russ Parr
Starring Nicole Ari Parker, Tamala Jones, Kevin Hart, Keith Robinson, Meagan Good, Mike Epps,
Kym Whitley, Clifton Powell, Jill Marie Jones, Dondre Whitfield and Aaron D. Spear
Victoria, Zenobia, Clevon, and Phil are friends approaching the age of 35 and struggling to
build the families they’ve always dreamed of. While Zenobia is still looking for a man, Victoria is
married to a man who doesn’t want children. Clevon, meanwhile, is too geeky to get a
woman, and Phil is already married with children, but his wife is not very interested in being a
mother. All four of them try to rectify their romantic lives and futures while their biological clocks
tick away. A romantic comedy about a group of 30-somethings trying to figure out their love
lives while coping with getting older. (Cast members will be present)

VIP SCREENING; Tickets $150.00
Red Carpet: 6:00pm
Screening: 7:15pm
After-party: Immediately follows screening
GENERAL ADMISSION SCREENING: Tickets $40
Screening: 8:15pm
After-party immediately follows screening

To Purchase Tickets

Opening Night

VIP $150.00 General Admission $40.00

2011 FILMMAKERS AWARDS  

Best Picture (Narrative Feature)

• Besouro (Brazil), directed by João Daniel Tikhomiroff

Honorable Mention:

• The Athlete (Atletu) (Ethiopia), directed by Davey Frankel & Rasselas Lakew

Best Documentary Feature

• Thunder Soul (USA), directed by Mark Landsman

Honorable Mention:

• War Don Don (USA), directed by Rebecca Richman Cohen

Best Short Film (Narrative Short)

• The Abyss Boys (South Africa), directed by Jan-Hendrik Beetge

Honorable Mention:

• Hear Me (USA), directed by Kenn Michael

First Feature Film by a Director (Narrative Feature)

• I Will Follow (USA), directed by Ava DuVernay

Honorable Mention:

• Hopeville (South Africa), directed by John Trengove

Audience Award Narrative Feature

• The First Grader (Kenya/UK), directed by Justin Chadwick

Audience Award Documentary Feature Film (Documentary Feature)

• Gang Girl: A Mother’s Journey to Save her Daughter (USA), directed by Valerie Goodloe

Audience Award Short Film

• The Black Mozart in Cuba (Guadeloupe), directed by Steve James

Pan African Film Festival Board of Directors Awards

Best Short Film

• Precipice (UK), directed by Julius Amedume

Best Documentary Film

• The Manuscripts of Timbuktu (South Africa), directed by Zola Maseko

Best Feature Film (Best Feature Narrative)

• Viva Riva! (DRCongo/France/Belgium/South Africa), directed by Djo Tunda Wa Munga

Honorable Mention:

• The Child, (Nigeria), directed by Izu Ojukwu
• The Figurine (Nigeria), directed by Kunle Afolayan

Pan African Film Festival-British Academy of Film and Television Arts/LA (BAFTA/LA)

Festival Choice Award

• I Sing of a Well (Ghana), directed by Leila Djansi

Screenings start at 10:00am
Attendance by reservation only. For information, go to http://www.paff.org
Short films shown in a series of 70-90minutes.

Coordinator: Sherrese Moise

Abidjan (US/Short Narrative/34min)
Dir: Alexander Etseyatse
A young soccer player from Brooklyn learns valuable lessons about life and soccer when he goes to Ivory Coast, his mother’s homeland, for summer vacation.

Besouro (Brazil/Narrative Feature/95min)
Dir: João Daniel Tikhomiroff
Based on the life of the legendary capoeira fighter from Bahia, this action-packed tale recreates the life story of Manuel Henrique Pereira, one of Brazil’s most famous practitioners of capoeira. After being orphaned at the turn of the 20th century, Periera learns capoeira and becomes known as Besouro (beetle) because of his amazing abilities which he uses to combat the cruel conditions suffered by his people. One of the biggest Brazilian cinematic productions ever made.

Black Butterfly (US/Narrative Feature/90min)
Dir: Mark Harris
A girl’s relationships and life she dreamed of and has worked hard for are dashed when she is brutally raped. Due to shame and fear, she attempts to keep the assault secret, knowing that her family and friends will seek revenge that may place them in harms way.

Brucie (UK/Short Narrative/8min)
Dir: Clair Breton
Trawling scrap yards for spare parts and listening to Saturday football results together in her Dad’s shed, unconventional 10-year-old Brucie has a unique and slightly off-center relationship with her equally unconventional father.

Freedom Riders (US/Documentary Feature/112min)
Dir: Stanley Nelson
The story behind a courageous band of civil rights activists called Freedom Riders who in 1961 challenged segregation in the American South.

Garrett: The Boy Beneath the Bandages (US/Cameroon/Narr short/14min)
Dir: Lino Brown Asana
Garrett is a young boy struggling with Epidermolysis Bullosa, a rare skin disease in which blisters cover the body and don’t let the skin to adhere to his body, leaving him to wear bandages from the neck down for the rest of his life. However, not letting his disease defeat his dreams, Garrett lives and breathes basketball, hoping to be a pro basketball coach one day. Wanting to be a regular kid, he longs to play a friendly game with the neighborhood kids. His mother, Deborah, on the other hand, sees him and his disease as much more fragile than anyone else, and ultimately does not let him out of the house. Her overprotective demeanor catches them, leaving Garrett defeated.

Ghetto Child (South Africa/Narrative Feature/76min)
Dir: Justice Umeh
When their mother dies, a desperately poor young man struggles to support himself and his younger sister and find a way out of the “ghetto.” But he finds the way out of the ghetto is a difficult one, especially when there are “friends” who will do anything to keep him there.

Grace (US/Short Narrative/13min)
Dir: Roni Henderson
When her heroin-addicted pregnant daughter goes into labor, a mother must take drastic steps to save her daughter and unborn grandchild from the throws of the dope house.

Hear Me (US/Short Narrative/27min)
Dir: Kenn Michael
When a tortured composer receives cryptic text messages on the one-year anniversary of his fiancé’s disappearance, he embarks on a hunt for answers that leads him directly to her.

Hopeville (South Africa/Narrative Feature/90min)
Dir: John Trengove
On a mission to forge a relationship with his estranged son, a man and his son arrive in the dusty town of Hopeville, which is anything but hopeful. When the father decides to restore the public swimming pool so his son can pursue a swimming career, he is met with skepticism and resistance. However, his patience, determination and acts of courageous selflessness ripple through the town, inspiring others to take positive action.

Ni Wakati (It’s Time) (Kenya/US/Documentary Feature/97min)
Dir: Michael Wanguhu
From the Mau-Mau ashes in Africa to the Black Panthers in America arises a movement to awaken and reconnect Africans, as the torch is handed over from one generation to the next. Follow M1 (Dead Prez) and Umi (P.O.W.) as they travel to East Africa and connect with like-minded youths and committed elders. Includes interviews with Geronimo Ji Jaga, Mama Charlotte O’Neal, Davey D, Toni Blackman, Binyavanga Wainaina, Kama Ngigi, Albert Josiah amongst others.

Little Soldier (US/Short Narrative/15min)
Dir: Dallas King
Dad doesn’t believe that every night a monster comes out of the closet and wets Daniel’s bed. But Daniel knows it does and watches as his toys come alive to fight the monster each night. A deliteful cross between “Toy Story” and “Black Hawk Down”!

Play Again (US/Documentary Feature/80min)
Dir: Tonje Hessen Schei
Think about how much time we spend infront of screens. One generation from now most people in the U.S. will have spent more time in the “virtual world” than in the real one. What are the consequences of a childhood removed from nature and other people? Can society and the planet be sustainable if this current trend prevails? A must see for anyone with children!

Protect the Nation (South Africa/Short Narrative/16min)
Dir: Candice Reisser
A young boy begins to question himself when faced with the unexpected kindness of a stranger.

The Real T (US/Narr short/15min)
Dir: Ohene Cornelius
What if it were impossible to fail? Could it be as simple as making the choice to be an optimist or as complex as continuing a calamity-filled life?

Rebirth of the Hip Hop Nation: The Movement (US/Documentary Feature/70min)
Dir: Phala “Ocean” Nazarene
Part I of a hip hop documentary series, “The Movement” captures the thoughts of profound minds in this “now” hip hop generation. Appearing in the film: KRS ONE, Brother J Xclan, John Forte, Rev. Al Sharpton, Stic Man (Dead Prez), Roekwon & Rza (Wu Tang Clan), Lauryn Hill, Dres (Black Sheep), Bun B, McShan, Nappy Roots, Shop Boyz.

Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae (Switzerland/Canada/Documentary Feature/98min)
Dir: Stascha Bader
The Rocksteady era (1966-69) is considered by some music experts to be the golden age of Jamaican music. Forty years after Rocksteady’s peak, the remaining great Rocksteady singers and musicians are brought together to record an album of their greatest hits and perform live at a reunion concert. Includes performances by Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, Dawn Penn, Hopeton Lewis, Stranger Cole, Derrick Morgan, Ken Boothe, Leroy Sibbles, U-Roy, Ernest Ranglin, Sly Dunbar, Jackie Jackson, Gladstone Anderson, Hux Brown, Bongo Herman and Scully Simms with special guest appearance by Rita Marley.

Shaft or Sidney Poitier: The Emergence of Black Masculinity in Comic Books (US/Short Documentary/55min)
Dir: Jonathan Gayles
Through interviews with prominent artists, scholars and cultural critics along with images from the comic books themselves, this film examines the degree to which early Black superheroes generally adhered to common stereotypes about Black men. From the humorous to the offensive, early Black superheroes are critically considered.

Soul Boy (Kenya/Germany/Narrative Feature/60min)
Dir: Hawa Essuman
One morning a teenager discovers his father ill and deliriously mumbling that someone has stolen his soul. He learns that his father has gambled his soul away to a witch and sets off to find her. When he does, she gives him seven challenging tasks to save his father’s lost soul.

Wamba (Kenya/Narrative Feature/104min)
Dir: Yves Tchouta
When his parents die of AIDS on the same day, Wamba is accused of witchcraft and becomes an outcast. Rather than give into ignorance and fear, Wamba fights to inform his community about HIV/AIDS and its prevention.

The Wayman Tisdale Story (US/Documentary Feature/62min)
Dir: Brian Schodorf
A celebration of the life and legacy of Wayman Tisdale, a three-time All-American, gold-medal Olympian, NBA star and world renowned jazz musician.

WORLD PREMIERE

SCREENING TIME:  Thu, Feb 17@9:15pm

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: US

GENRE: Documentary Feature

TIME: 90min

DIRECTORS: Paul Calderon & Alan Swyer

SYNOPSIS: Leimert Park is known as the mecca for Black art on the West Coast. This film tracks its rich cultural history back to the heyday of Central Ave. to its current threatened demise. It features interviews of celebrated poets, musicians and artists such as Dee Black, Clora Bryant and Paul Calderon.

SCREENING TIME: Sat, Feb 19@8:30pm

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: Ethiopia

GENRE: Narrative Feature

TIME: 120min

DIRECTOR: Theodros Teshome

SYNOPSIS: Salsawi lives in Las Vegas. He wants to marry before he is 40 but love is not a concern at all in his criteria. Mena lives in Bahirdar, Ethiopia. She leaves no stone unturned in her desire to go to America, including marrying anyone who will take her, even if she doesn’t love him. Nigus is a farmer in Tis Abay who is putting Mena under his spell.

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