The last weekend of the Pan African Film & Arts Festival. The film festival will take place at Cinemark Baldwin Hills & XD and the ArtFest featuring over 100 fine artists from throughout the African Diaspora will take place at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. Below is a highlight of events on Saturday, February 17, 2024. For more information, please visit www.paff.org.
Today, Saturday, February 17, 2024, at Cinemark Baldwin Hills & XD, 4020 Marlton Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90008. Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 3650 MLK Jr. Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008
10AM - ARTFEST
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza
The PAFF ArtFest features over 100 established and emerging fine artists and unique craftspeople from all over the world. With an artistic aesthetic that is rooted in Africa and its Diaspora, featured artists present their creative works using oil on canvas, watercolor and pastels, acrylic paper, glass, ceramics, metal, cloth, plastic, wax, wire, leather, and stone. In addition to fine art and one-of-a-kind crafts, the ArtFEST also features the best in designer and traditional fashions, jewelry, home decor, fashion accessories and so much more!
Representing the perfect mix of both art and culture, the PAFF ArtFEST brings out over 100K+ visitors from all over Los Angeles, across the country, and around the world.
10:30AM - CHILDREN’S FEST
Cinemark Baldwin Hills & XD
A first look at the new season of Disney’s “Marvels Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur “
12 NOON - CHILDREN’S FEST
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 2nd Floor Bridge
Screening will be followed by reading and book signing with “Introducing Brave Brown” author Tiffany Jakcson at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza (2nd Floor Bridge)
6PM - SPOKENWORD FEST
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 2nd Floor Bridge
Step into a world where words dance like flames and emotions paint the air with vibrant hues! Join PAFF for an electrifying evening of poetic prowess at their Spokenword Fest
Feel the rhythm pulsating through your veins as poets take the stage, their voices weaving intricate tapestries of passion, pain, and resilience. From the raw intensity of spoken word to the melodic cadence of lyrical verse, each performance is a journey into the soul of the Black experience.
PAFF INSTITUTE PANELS
All panels take place at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 2nd Floor, Museum of African American Art
All panels are free to the public
FRAME BY FRAME: BLACK EDITORS GUILD PANEL
12 NOON
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 2nd Floor
Great mentors and editors of film, television, and streaming entertainment will discuss the art and craft of storytelling through picture and sound editing.
COLOR OUR SETS IN STYLE PANEL
1PM
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 2nd Floor, Museum of African American Art
Various crafts within the Art Department will discuss and share knowledge on crafting and making sets come alive. These designers will explain and share how they translate Directing vision and the vision of the writer's words and worlds into moving images. They will share their processes to pick and and breakdown scripts to finalize sets.
MAIN MEN MAKING MOVES PANEL
4PM
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 2nd Floor, Museum of African American Art
Discussion with Black leading men in Hollywood about challenges, triumphs and responsibilities of being the Number One Top Billed Talent on the Call Sheet. Moderated by Amin Joseph (“Snowfall”)
LEADING LADIES IN FILM & TV
6PM
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 2nd Floor, Museum of African American Art
Discussion with Black leading ladies in Hollywood about the challenges, triumphs and responsibilities of being the top billed talent on the call sheet. Moderated by Novi Brown (“Tyler Perry Sistas”), Vanessa Estelle Williams (“911”), Nicki Micheaux (“Lincoln Heights”), and Tamala Jones (“9-1-1 Lone Star”)
HIGHLIGHTED SCREENINGS
THE RHYTHM AND THE BLUES STARRING LEON
5:20PM
Cinemark Baldwin Hills & XD
The true-life story of a blues musician, Eddie Taylor, whose iconic guitar work became the foundation for many of the genres biggest hits. In spite of his tremendous talent he finds himself in relative obscurity as the sideman to his childhood friend, chart topping Jimmy Reed.
Eddie’s fight against the theft of his music, lack of recognition, and industry corruption play against the backdrop of Chicago in the turbulent early 1970’s but his struggles don’t stop there. The British Invasion, landed squarely on the Chicago music scene with young adoring rockers adulation of blues music and its musicians. Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Eddie Taylor were sought after and that admiration in some instances took on a predatory nature which has rarely been seen in films. It is played out subtly but truthfully in this episode.
Actor LEON will be in attendance and participate in a Q&A
BEING BEBE
7PM
Cinemark Baldwin Hills & XD
Immigrating from Cameroon, where Queerness is criminalized, a young man finds his purpose through performance and eventually becomes the very first winner of iconic reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race. Marshall Ngwa (aka BeBe Zahara Benet) came to the US in pursuit of education and discovered his gifts in the art form of drag. Filmed over 15 years, the documentary parallels Marshall’s fight to maintain the trajectory of his career alongside a deep connection with his traditional African roots and family.
Award-winning journalist Jasmyne Cannick will be in conversation with Bebe following screening
ABOUT THE PAN AFRICAN FILM & ARTS FESTIVAL:
The 32nd Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF) makes its return to Los Angeles February 6-19, 2024 at the Cinemark Baldwin Hills XD and Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza to present and showcase a broad spectrum of Black creative works, particularly those that reinforce positive images and help to destroy negative stereotypes of Africans and African-Americans.
Since 1992, as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, PAFF has remained dedicated to the promotion of Black stories and images through the exhibition of film, visual art, and other creative expression. Today, PAFF is one of the largest and most prestigious Black film festivals in the U.S. and attracts local, national, and international audiences. In addition, it is an Oscar-qualifying festival for animation and live-action films, and one of the largest Black History Month events in America.
PAFF is supported in part by the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, LA Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, LA Councilmember Curren Price, LA Councilmember Heather Hutt, LA County Department of Arts and Culture, the LA County COVID-19 Arts Relief Fund administered by the LA County Department of Arts and Culture, Senator Steve Bradford, and Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas.
The 2024 PAFF is possible through the generous support of sponsors including Color Creative, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Stocker Street Creative, Disney, Andscape, BET+, Paramount Pictures, National Geographic, Black Alliance for Justice Immigration, Cal State University, Los Angeles.
For more information, please visit paff.org.