For Immediate Release
May 31, 2022
Media Contact:
[email protected]
Los Angeles, CA – The Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) has announced its “Call for Entries” for its 31st international film festival taking place in Los Angeles in February 2023.
PAFF 2023 is planned as a hybrid festival–both physical and virtual–with the majority portion of physical activities and all live-audience screenings being held physically in Los Angeles. In past years, PAFF has hosted its live film festivals with more than 40,000 in attendance, which has long been a highly anticipated event in Los Angeles attended by local, national, and international guests.
PAFF accepts only online applications and submissions. Filmmakers wanting to submit to PAFF can apply by going to the PAFF website www.paff.org and clicking on “Submit Film.” Filmmakers can also submit to The Pan African Film Festival directly through FilmFreeway.com or Festhome.com.
ELIGIBILITY:
PAFF accepts applications for films and videos made by and/or about people of African descent. (Please note: the filmmaker need not be of African descent.) Preferably, films should depict positive and realistic images and can be of any genre — drama, comedy, horror, action/adventure, animation, romance, science fiction, experimental, historical/epic, etc. PAFF accepts features and shorts, both narrative and documentary.
COMPETITION:
The PAFF competition categories are: Best Narrative Feature, Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short, and Best First Feature – Director, plus a variety of Audience Favorite Awards. Submitted films must be copyrighted no earlier than 2021. With the exception of Audience Favorite Awards, films are judged by Industry professionals. In addition to competition awards, other programming and festival special prizes will be awarded.
SUBMISSION PERIODS:
- Early Submissions: June 1 through July 5, 2022
- Regular Submissions: July 6-September 12, 2022
- Late Submission Period for all films begins: September 12, 2022
- Final Submission Date for Short Films: October 31, 2022
- Final Submission Date for Feature Length Films: November 14, 2022
After November 14, the submitter must contact [email protected] to obtain permission to submit their film. Permission will depend on space availability.
For submission instructions, registration, and information including fees, kindly go to www.paff.org and click on “Submit a Film”.
ABOUT THE PAN AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL
Looking forward to its 31st year, the Pan African Film Festival (PAFF), is America’s largest and most prestigious Black film festival. Each year, it screens more than 150 films made by and/or about people of African descent from the United States, Africa, the Caribbean, South America, the South Pacific, Latin America, Europe and Canada and increasingly Asia. In conjunction with its simultaneous Arts Showcase, PAFF holds the distinction of being the largest Black History Month event in the US.