(L to R) Borders (Frontières) director, Woye Apolline Traore, and Senagalese actress, Amelie Mbaye, take home coveted staff awards for “Best Narrative Feature.”Photo Credit: Venus Bernardo Photography[/caption] After 12 full days of showcasing an impressive slate of 173 films, the 26th Annual Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF) announced the winners of its 2018 season. Borders (Frontières) directed by Woye Apolline Traoré was awarded the prize for Best Narrative Feature, and Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me directed by Samuel D. Pollard was awarded the prize for Best Documentary Feature. The 27th Annual Pan African Film & Arts Festival will take place February 7 through February 18, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Love Jacked[/caption]
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.