Pan African Film and Arts Festival Announces Kickoff of Yearlong 30th Celebration With Black History Month Retrospective Series

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Virtual retrospective series to celebrate 30 years of PAFF Feb. 15-28 with ‘Best of PAFF’ Hybrid in-person and virtual festival still set for April in Los Angeles

Jimmy Jean-Louis in Rattlesnakes, which was shown at the 2019 Pan African Film Festival, is among the films to be screened during PAFF's Black History Month Retrospective Series
Jimmy Jean-Louis in Rattlesnakes, which was shown at the 2019 Pan African Film Festival, is among the films to be screened during PAFF's Black History Month Retrospective Series

LOS ANGELES — The Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF), one of the largest Black History Month events in America and the largest Black film festival, will kick off its yearlong 30th celebration in February with the first of several specially curated blocks of the festival’s most fascinating, complex and most liked films over the past three decades. Throughout the festival’s 30-year history, PAFF has celebrated Black filmmakers and actors whose work has pushed the envelope in cinema in the US and abroad in Africa and other parts of the world. The Best of PAFF Retrospective Series kicks off with a Black History Month exhibition featuring nearly two dozen cinematic groundbreaking foreign and domestic films. The inaugural Best of PAFF Retrospective Series will take place virtually Feb. 15-28, 2022. Film listings, tickets, and passes are available at paff.org.

To celebrate PAFF’s 30-year milestone, the festival will continue its retrospective series in March highlighting Black female filmmakers and their films.

In addition, the 30th annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival is slated to place April 19-May 1 after being postponed due to the rise of COVID cases in Los Angeles County. The hybrid festival of in-person and virtual screenings will take place in Los Angeles at its flagship venues the Directors Guild of America, Cinemark Baldwin Hills, and XD and Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.

The Best of PAFF Retrospective Series is sponsored in part by the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, Los Angeles City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson (8th District), Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price (9th District); the 10th Los Angeles City Council District; the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, LA Arts COVID-19 Relief Fund with the California Community Foundation, and the LA County COVID-19 Arts Relief Fund administered by the LA County Department of Arts and Culture.

About the Pan African Film Festival

Established in 1992 by Hollywood veterans Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Lethal Weapon), the late Ja’Net DuBois (“Good Times”), and Ayuko Babu (Executive Director), the Pan African Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that has remained dedicated to the promotion of Black stories and images through the exhibition of film, visual art, and other creative expression.

PAFF is the largest and most prestigious Black film festival in the U.S. and attracts local, national, and international audiences. It is also one of America’s largest Black History Month events.

Find the Pan African Film Festival on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/paffnow
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paffnow
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paffnow
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThePanAfricanFilmFestival
The PAFF is generously supported by the City of Los Angeles, the Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles County Arts and Culture, Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, Los Angeles Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Los Angeles Council District 10.

For more information, please contact press@paff.org.