The Pan African Film Festival opens on Wednesday and features more than 200 films that tell Black stories from around the world, with a star-studded guest list that includes Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence and Tiffany Haddish.
The festival's featured film was billed as a true story of the Ethiopian war that people don't know about. “One of the biggest films to come out of Ethiopia, Love of the Motherland tells the story of two lovers who find themselves on opposite sides of a war.
“When we told them the movie was finished and started working on the climax of the movie, war broke out again, so we had to stop and rewrite the script.'' Coach Theodoros Teshome said.
Most of the films participating in the festival were scheduled to be shown at the Cinemark Theater in Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.
The festival's director, Mr. Oduduwa, said for over 30 years, the festival has been showing films about Africa and the African diaspora that people cannot see anywhere else.
Oduduwa said, “The purpose of the festival is to communicate to the world the breadth and depth of the Black experience around the world.”
This year's opening night movie was “Hip Hop Story,” a story about a group of artists trying to save hip hop music. The cast includes Cedric the Entertainer and Wayne Brady.
The closing night production will be the Western film “Outlaw Posse,” directed by and starring Mario Van Peebles and starring Whoopi Goldberg.
The event was scheduled to include an art fest, a kids fest, and a fashion show. Organizers said the parts are designed to work together as a whole to combat negative stereotypes and convey a more complete picture of the Black experience.
“Back in the day, we had Alfre Woodard, we had Ava DuVernay's first movie, and we even had Denzel Washington come and talk about the movie,” said Jae Tasha St., director of special operations for the festival. Seal said.
54 countries and 28 languages will be featured during the festival.
“At Pan African Film Festivals, black stories often take center stage. What we're trying to do is center the black experience,” Oduduwa added.