Sugarcane Magazine ™

Black film has been a hot topic in the Unites States: there is the love /hate of Tyler Perry, the difficulty of getting Black film into theaters and the poor reviews of Red Tails and the mixed review of Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer ( we can’t wait to see what the fuss is about). So this clip of Sam Greenlee speaking on Black filmmakers is perfect ( thanks to Shadow and Act for the heads up on this):

Sometimes, we need to take some time to relax with a good movie or just watch something interesting while doing paperwork. Here is a film directed by Nega Tariku about The story of an Ethiopian woman’s plight in South Africa as she struggles to earn enough money to support and return to her children in Ethiopia. Let’s call it a Black History month gift ! Enjoy:

Africa is a large, diverse continent with amazing musical styles that represent thousand of tribal cultures. Africa also has a strong Hip Hop, Pop, and new to many in the West, Punk Rock scene. Last Friday , Afropop gifted the world with the Punk in Africa download. The Punk in Africa download is the sound track to the documentary of the same name. Directed byKeith Jones and Deon Maas, Punk in Africa covers the development of Punk Rock scenes in Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe and how they developed. The film has screened at 32nd Durban International Film Festival, MK Bushveld Cinema at Oppikoppi Music Festival and Festival do Rio. So enjoy download this soundtrack

Here is the trailer:

www.punkinafrica.co.za from Punk in Africa on Vimeo.

The Miami International Film Festival runs March 2 to the 11. Sugarcane has chosen a few films that will be of interest to our readers. It seems if only one of the directors is African American, but the remaining films have Black casts or deal with the African Diaspora in the Spanish speaking Caribbean.

BARACOA, WHERE CUBA BEGAN: INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE. Baracoa, the oldest of Cuban cities, has just turned 500 years old. Trapped between the majestic Caribbean Sea and two prodigious rivers, this almost virginal paradise is an island within an island. It seems as if Fidel and Raúl Castro were unnecessary in the lives of Baracoa’s residents, bent on forgetting the vicissitudes that has left in its trail, in the greater island, the cataclysm of the Revolution.

Immune: This film by Andrew Lathrop is about a desperate composer risking a journey to find a missing piece of music.
Here is the trailer:

Motherland or Die: Vital Mansky’s documentary is about Cubans that love their homeland, but struggle to keep up with the reality of life under the regime. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE.

Pelotero: This documentary explores the intense pressure is placed on two talented teenage baseball players in the Dominican Republic as they train for a possible career with MLB. Narrated by John Leguizamo and directed by Jon Paley,
Ross Finkel, Trevor Martin.

The Beach Chronicles AGX: This animated short features the beloved Jo Marie Payton of “Family Matters” and is directed by Kevin Sharpley.

Superimposing an African imagination on filmmaking processes, the 5th Talent Campus Durban will ignite the creativity of 40 selected filmmakers from Africa in a series of masterclasses, workshops and industry networking opportunities during the Durban International Film Festival. Talent Campus Durban entices filmmakers to enhance skills, develop collaborations and interface with the dynamic future of the film industry in Africa, and the world.

The five-day programme also includes the 2nd edition of Doc Station, where selected documentary projects submitted by accepted talents will be finessed and packaged for presentation within the DOC Circle at the 3rd Durban FilmMart. Two Doc Station projects won PUMA.Mobility and PUMA.Creative prizes adjudicated by Channel 4 BRITDOC at last year’s Durban FilmMart.

A new addition this year is Talent Press, a mentoring programme for African film critics in collaboration with FIPRESCI and Goethe Institut. Talent Press will publish reviews and reports on the Talent Campus Durban and the festival films and events in general.

Held in co-operation with the Berlinale Talent Campus, and with support from the German Embassy of South Africa, Goethe Institut of South Africa, and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Talent Campus Durban runs from 20 to 24 July. Apart from the main event in Berlin, Talent Campus partnerships also take place at selected festivals in Buenos Aires, Guadalajara, Tokyo and Sarajevo. Opportunities for participating talents are enhanced through Talent Campus networks and the Berlinale’s global information platform.

Africa is a great source of stories, and an innovative new wave is emerging from the multiple contexts and challenges of Africa, to tell these stories. Under this year’s theme of Africa Superimposed, Talent Campus Durban will add new layers of inspiration, and skills, to give impetus to this process, and with the talents of this vibrant gathering of filmmakers representing countries and cultures from around the continent, it is hoped that Africa will impose an ever-stronger presence on the world of filmmaking.
Application is open to filmmakers and critics who are resident in Africa. Applicants are encouraged to apply well before the deadline of 15 March in order to submit their work samples timeously.

Visit www.cca.ukzn.ac.za or www.berlinale-talentcampus.de for submission regulations.

Applications must be entered on line here:

www.berlinale-talentcampus.de/campus/ap/select/event/30

The 33rd Durban International Film Festival takes place from 21 to 29 July.The DIFF is organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) with principal funding from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund and support from the National Film and Video Foundation, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, and the City of Durban. Durban FilmMart is a partnership project between the Durban Film Office and the Durban International Film Festival.

A little more than a year ago, radical political and social changes in the Arab world were triggered by a series of mass uprisings and demonstrations. At times bloody, the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt were only the start. Gaddafi’s fall in Libya followed, as did unrest in other countries of the Maghreb and Mashreq. Civil war-like conditions still prevail in Syria today.

Social networks as well as the many films of these major protest movements and the ensuing violence have contributed substantially to the perception of these uprisings in the Arab world. Pictures from Tahrir Square in Cairo have already become a part of our collective visual memory.

The programme of the Berlinale 2012 addresses what has become known as the “Arab Spring”, and examines its developments from different perspectives and in a variety of forms:
There are documentary films that depict the region and recent events from the viewpoint of Arab directors and of filmmakers from other parts of the world. Though there are also fictional and documentary films by Arab directors that explore these regions without directly addressing the revolution. Instead they deal with crucial existential questions and the need to define their identity; in some cases this has been done with much humour. Besides the films screening in the different Berlinale sections, Arab cinema will be making a good showing at the European Film Market (EFM).

The Berlinale is also organising a number of panel discussions on the Arab world and filmmaking. Guests include writer Tahar Ben Jelloun (Morocco/France), filmmakers Mahmoud Hojeij (Lebanon) and Nadia El-Fani (Tunisia/France), filmmaker and journalist Mohamed Ali Atassi (Syria/Lebanon), artist and curator Maha Maamoun (Egypt), curator Sarah Rifky (Egypt), director and film activist Hala Al Abdallah (Syria/France), producer and filmmaker Hala Galal (Egypt), and producer Javier Bardem (Spain).

Berlinale Talent Campus – Panel discussions

Indie Filmmakers Guide to Cross-Media II:
Engaging 21st Century Audiences Across Multiple Platforms
With Jigar Mehta, video journalist,
Inga von Staden, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (Germany),
Timo Vuorensola, director (Finland)
Moderated by Liz Rosenthal (founder and director of “Power to the Pixel”)

Beirut Calling: Contemporary Video Art from Lebanon
With Mahmoud Hojeij, director (Lebanon),
Ahmad Ghossein, director (Lebanon),
Gheith Al-Amine, director (Lebanon),
Moderated by Marcel Schwierin (filmmaker, curator, artistic director “Arab Shorts”)

Changing perspectives: The Arab World Defining Its Future
With Tahar Ben Jelloun, writer (Morocco/France),
Nadia El-Fani, filmmaker (Tunisia/France),
Viola Shafik, documentary film maker, film scholar, writer (Germany/Egypt)
Moderated by Vincenzo Bugno (WCF)
Supported by the Euromed Audiovisual Programme of the European Union

World Cinema Fund

On February 15, 2012, World Cinema Fund Day will address the topic “Filmmakers and the Arab Spring / Insurgency, Poetry and Engagement” in two panel discussions:

Focus Syria
With Hala Al Alabdallah, filmmaker, producer, film activist (Syria/France)
Mohamed Ali Atassi, filmmaker, journalist (Syria/Lebanon)
Alaa Karkouti, film journalist (Syria/Egypt)
Moderated by Vincenzo Bugno (WCF)

Documenting Revolution
With Hania Mroue, festival organiser, producer (Lebanon)
Nadia El Fani, filmmaker, (Tunisia/France)
Hala Galal, filmmaker, producer (Egypt)
Nora Younis, journalist, activist, blogger (Egypt) tbc
Moderated by Vincenzo Bugno (WCF)
Supported by the Euromed Audiovisual Programme of the European Union

Forum Expanded

Cairo: The City, the Images, the Archives
With Khalid Abdalla, actor, producer, co-founder of Zero Film Productions (Egypt),
Hala Galal, filmmaker, producer, director of SEMAT production & distribution, new director of Cinematheque Cairo (Egypt)
Maha Maamoun, artist, curator and co-founder of Contemporary Image Collective (Egypt)
Sarah Rifky, curator of Townhouse Gallery, founder of Cairo International Resource Center for Art, documenta 13 agent (Egypt)
Moderated by Marcel Schwierin

Forum Expanded Short Films

As they say by Hicham Ayouch, Morocco/United Arab Emirates
Bye Bye by Paul Geday, Egypt
King Lost His Tooth by Gheith Al-Amine, Lebanon
T.S.T.L. by Gheith Al-Amine, Lebanon
My father is still a communist – Intimate secrets to be published by Ahmad Ghossein, Lebanon/United Arab Emirates

Installations (Gutschow-Haus)

On Love and Other Landscapes
Palestine 2011
Yazan Khalili

Road Movie
Canada 2011
Elle Flanders, Tamira Sawatzky

Films in Panorama

Death For Sale by Faouzi Bensaïdi,
Belgium/France/Morocco/United Arab Emirates (funded by WCF)
Three young men living in Tétouan: Malik is in love with Dounia and wants to help her give up her job as a prostitute. Soufiane spends his days pilfering. Allal is a drug runner. The three friends hope that a raid on a jewellery shop will be their path to a new life.

In The Shadow of a Man by Hanan Abdalla, Egypt
In the wake of the Egyptian revolution four women describe events from their perspective and talk about what it means to be a woman in Egypt on the way to another life in a new society. A courageous, intimate and politically explosive portrait.

La Vierge, les Coptes et Moi (The Virgins, the Copts and Me)
by Namir Abdel Messeeh, France/Qatar/ Egypt (also screening at EFM)
Against the background of the recent Egyptian revolution the director explores the phenomenon of alleged appearances of the Virgin Mary to Coptic Christians. His sceptical search leads to a fictional reinterpretation of reality that turns his film into a comedy about documentary filmmaking.

My brother the Devil by Sally El Hosaini, United Kingdom
Two Arab brothers in London. Fourteen-year-old Mo idolises his nineteen-year-old brother Rashid, who is a gang member and drug dealer. When Rashid decides to lead a completely different life Mo has to face his own prejudices to save his brother’s life.

The Reluctant Revolutionary by Sean McAllister, Great Britain
Yemeni tour operator Kais is at first reluctant to get involved in the protests that engulf Sana’a in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings. But when a friend is shot dead he too decides to rise up against the president and join the revolution.

Wilaya by Pedro Pérez Rosado, Spain
After living in Spain for sixteen years Fatimetu returns to the Saharan refugee camp where she lived as a child, and where she and her sister now find a way of earning a living together. But Fatimetu is torn between life in the desert and her memories of Spain.

Words of Witness by Mai Iskander, USA
This documentary follows a young Cairo journalist named Heba Afify. An impressive portrait of one woman’s attempt to give a voice to the new diversity of opinion in Egypt and struggle for her own place in society.

Forum

Al Juma Al Akheira (The Last Friday) by Yahya Alabdallah, Jordan/ United Arab Emirates
Taxi driver Yousef is forced to bring some order into his failed existence. This lovingly photographed film casts a laconic and occasionally humorous gaze on daily life in the Jordanian capital Amman.

Berlinale Special

Hijos de las nubes, La última colonia (Sons Of The Clouds, The Last Colony) – Documentary by Alvaro Longoria, Spain
The story of a forgotten colonial war in Western Sahara and the dedication of an internationally renowned actor. A documentary that examines the fate of a neglected people and explores the opaque and often callous paths of international diplomacy.

Followed by a discussion with director Alvaro Longoria and producer Javier Bardem.

Althawra… Khabar (Reporting … A Revolution) – Documentary by Bassam Mortada, Egypt
A film about the pivotal role played by independent media during the recent Egyptian revolution. Six journalists share their intense, shocking experiences – and admit to the impossibility of maintaining a neutral stance in the face of such brutal oppression.

Followed by a discussion with the director and other guests.

Films at the EFM

Documentaries:

In My Mother’s Arms by Mohamed Jabarah Al Daradji, Atia Jabarah Al UK/Iraq/Netherlands
El Gusto by Safinez Bousbia, Ireland
Half Revolution by Omar Shargawi, Karim El Hakim, Denmark
Gate #5 by Simon El Habre, Lebanon/Germany/Canada
Cinema Jenin by Markus Vetter, Germany/Israel
5 Broken Cameras by Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi, The Netherlands/ France/Israel/Palestine

Feature films:

Rough Hands by Mohamed Asli, Morocco
My Brother the Devil by Sally El Hosaini, United Kingdom
How big is your Love by Fatma Zohra Zamoum, Algeria/Morocco
The Last Friday by Yahya Al-Abdallah Jordan/United Arab Emirates
Asmaa by Amr Salama, Egypt
The Rif Lover by Narjiss Nejjar, Morocco/France/Belgium

Films screening at the EFM as well as in one of the festival sections:

Panorama:

Death For Sale by Faouzi Bensaïdi
In The Shadow of a Man by Hanan Abdalla
La Vierge, les Coptes et Moi (The Virgins, the Copts and Me) by Namir Abdel Messeeh
Wilaya by Pedro Pérez Rosado
Words of Witness by Mai Iskander

Forum:

Al Juma Al Akheira (The Last Friday) by Yahya Alabdallah

For more information on this year’s festival, visit http://www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html

Actor Nate Parker has teamed up with Bay Area author China Galland and son, filmmaker Ben Galland, to produce the documentary feature film, Resurrecting Love: The Cemetery That Can Heal a Nation – which documents the powerful racial conflict over the right to visit a cemetery in Marshall, Texas.

This film in-progress follows two women – one black, one white – as they rally the community to fight a large timber corporation, which is denying them access to the cemetery, and in the process, change the face of Texas history. Resurrecting Love shows us how a diverse group of people can come together to heal the deep racial divisions that still threaten to tear our country apart.

The film grew out of China Galland’s book, Love Cemetery, Unburying the Secret History of Slaves, which ignited a controversy about rights to visit cemeteries throughout Texas.

Nate Parker is the star of George Lucas’ Red Tails, the story of the WWII Tuskegee Airmen, which just premiered nationwide. He is also known for his starring role with Denzel Washington in The Great Debaters and The Secret Life of Bees.

After reading about the African American descendent community being locked out of their family burial ground and kept from their ancestor’s graves, he decided to take on the role of Executive Producer to help them finish this important documentary. He also established the Nate Parker scholarship fund for young African American men at historically black Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, where Wiley students help maintain Love Cemetery.

Of the 200 hours of footage shot over the past ten years, 80 hours of poignant interviews were completed, including interviews with Pulitzer Prize winner Professor Leon F. Litwack; Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes; Congressman John Lewis; Marianne Williamson; and the Founder of Northeastern University’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project Margaret A. Burnham.

The San Francisco Film Society is the fiscal sponsor so that people can join the cause to help finish the film. All donations are tax deductible. For more details, visit www.resurrectinglovemovie.org

The IndieGoGo campaign for Resurrecting Love can be found online at http://igg.me/p/30353

The city of Cordoba and Al Tarab, NGO behind the African Film Festival-FCAT, announce changes in both the host city and the dates. The festival was organized since 2004 during the spring in Tarifa, Spain, and will now take place every autumn in Córdoba, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with 2,000 years of history, cradle of civilizations and cultures.

“We are very excited about the new period ahead. It is both a challenge and a big opportunity. Cordoba’s infrastructure, institutional and economic support will greatly help FCAT to fulfill its goals towards a better understanding of African realities through the works of African filmmakers” says Ms. Mane Cisneros, director of the festival. “Cordoba will also allow us to screen films from the Middle East for the first time”.

9th FCAT Córdoba 2012:

9º FCAT Córdoba 2012: 13 – 21 October
More than 120 films will be screened
Middle East films: curated by Dubai International Film Festival
Co-production forum and script development workshop
Photo exhibitions and citizen participation workshops
Cordoba, at the heart of ancient Al-Andalus is linked via speed train to Madrid, a journey of just 90 minutes that will make the festival more accessible to public and media.

“We are very pleased to host such an event. FCAT has proved in its eight years in Tarifa the power of films to bring people together. Cordoba will show its hospitality to the world, a tradition that is part of our character probably since the times of the Caliphate” Says Mr. Juan Antonio Nieto Ballesteros, mayor of Cordoba.

“Our dream in 2004 was to let both the Spanish public and film industry know better one of the most fragile film sectors in the world. We continue to believe that African filmmakers are best positioned to portray the problems and hopes of the African continent’s societies, to provide a dignified vision of the African men and women” continues Ms. Cisneros.

FCAT Cordoba main sponsors are AECID, Casa África, the city of Cordoba and Junta de Andalucía. For more information visit http://www.fcat.es :

Ask Around Entertainment, the distribution shingle of Ask Around Productions, is releasing urban independent movie EXIT STRATEGY, an un-romantic comedy for Valentine’s Day, starring Jameel Saleem, Kimelia Weathers, Quincy “QDeezy” Harris, with Big Boy and Kevin Hart, at AMC Loews Cherry Hill 24 and AMC Franklin Mills Mall 14 in the Philadelphia area on February 10, 2012. Additional releasing cities and locations TBA.

In the movie, James (SALEEM) gets evicted from his apartment and moves in with his girlfriend of three months Kim (WEATHERS) and quickly discovers she’s everything he never wanted in a woman. He enlists best friends Carville (HARRIS), Leona (NOELLE BALFOUR) and strangers BIG BOY and KEVIN HART to find a relationship exit strategy, but for Kim, breaking up just isn’t an option.

Local Philadelphia radio personality Quincy “QDeezy” Harris was instrumental in bringing the first theatrical release of the movie to Philadelphia audiences by securing a media partnership with his Radio One urban format station WPHI Hot 107.9. FM. The station will be supporting the film’s release with significant on-air content focused on the movie’s relationship and break-up themes, a sponsored listener screening at the AMC Franklin Mills Mall 14 on February 10, and an opening night VIP screening at AMC Loews Cherry Hill 21, full details to be announced.

EXIT STRATEGY’s Executive Producer is nationally-syndicated morning radio host Big Boy from the nation’s top hip-hop station KPWR Power 106 in Los Angeles. Big Boy’s production company Ida’s Son Productions helped finance the independent film, in association with Los Angeles-based production company Ask Around Productions.

The movie’s soundtrack, including songs featured-in and inspired by EXIT STRATEGY, will be released on February 6, 2012 by Ocean View Entertainment, the digital distribution label of Stampede Management in Los Angeles – the team behind Snoop Dogg and Far East Movement. The soundtrack will be available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon.com, among others.

The screenplay was written by Baltimore and Philadelphia native and Slamdance screenwriting finalist Jameel Saleem, who also stars in the film. EXIT STRATEGY is directed by Michael Whitton and produced by Kellie Maltagliati and Quincy “QDeezy” Harris.

Kevin Hart has been featured in films such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Soul Plane, Scary Movie 4, Death at a Funeral, Little Fockers, and Steve Harvey’s upcoming Think Like a Man. Hart has also done several stand-up TV specials for Comedy Central, including I’m a Grown Little Man (2009) and Seriously Funny (2010), which was released as both an album and DVD on Comedy Central Records. His stand-up movie Laugh At My Pain, which released theatrically in September 2011, has earned more than $7 million in domestic box office and released on DVD January 17, 2012.

Big Boy and his morning show Big Boy’s Neighborhood is syndicated nationwide and Big been named “Personality of the Year” by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) three times, four times by the Radio Music Awards and six times by Radio & Records. Big Boy has appeared in Adam Sandler’s The Longest Yard, Charlie’s Angels 2, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and the HBO show Entourage. His book, An XL Life: Staying Big at Half the Size released earlier this year.

The Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) will celebrate its 20th
anniversary in grand style with a string of highly-anticipated films. The festival will kick off festivities with a star-studded Opening Night Gala on Thursday, February 9, 2012.
First up: The Los Angeles premiere of “Think Like a Man,” based on the New
York Times best-selling book by radio host/comic Steve Harvey. The ensemble
cast includes Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart,
Taraji P. Henson, Terrence J, Jenifer Lewis, Romany Malco, Gary Owen,
Gabrielle Union and Chris Brown.
Movie Synopsis:
The comedy follows four interconnected and diverse men whose love lives are
shaken up after the ladies they are pursuing buy Harvey’s book and start taking his
advice to heart. When the band of brothers realize that they have been betrayed by
one of their own, they conspire, using the book’s insider information to turn the
tables and teach the women a lesson of their own. The movie is directed by Tim
Story and written by Keith Merryman and David A. Newman. It’s produced by
Will Packer in conjunction with Rainforest Films and distributed through Sony
Pictures. The film is scheduled for theatrical release March 9, 2012.
To view a trailer, visit the film’s official website at:

http://www.thinklikeaman-movie.com/

PAFF, America’s largest and most prestigious international Black film festival, will take place February 9-20, 2012
at the new Rave Cinemas Baldwin Hills 15 (formerly the AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15) at the Baldwin Hills
Crenshaw Plaza. The theatre is situated on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Marlton Avenue and
Crenshaw Boulevard)It has selected a total of 170 films, representing 30 countries, 106 feature length films (narrative and documentaries)
and 64 short films. The festival will hand out prizes for Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short, Best
Narrative Short, Best Narrative Feature, and Best First Feature Film, as well as audience favorite awards at the
close of the festival.
“I say this every year, and this year is no different: I am very excited about the film selections in celebration of our
20
th
anniversary” says Asantewa Olatunji, the director of programming at PAFF. “We have an exciting lineup, and a
few surprises, too. She continues, “Over the years, the filmmakers from around the world have become more
sophisticated in telling their stories. It’s going to be really tough for our judges to pick winners in the film
competition.”
Again this year, PAFF will take its movie goers on a cinematic journey with screenings from around the world – that
is, such countries as Angola, Bermuda, Canada, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa,
Tanzania, and of course, the United States. PAFF hopes these films with global appeal will open the minds of its
audiences, and transport them to lands far away and back home again … without ever packing a suitcase.
Here are a few of the festival highlights:

MAIN ATTRACTIONS
Opening Night World Premiere
• “Think Like a Man” | February 9, 2012– directed by Tim Story and written by Keith Merryman and
David A. Newman, the film is based on the best-selling book by Steve Harvey. The film is a romantic
comedy about four friends who conspire to turn the tables on their women when they discover that the
ladies have been using Steve Harvey’s relationship advice against them. The ensemble cast includes
Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence J, Jenifer
Lewis, Romany Malco, Gary Owen, Gabrielle Union and Chris Brown.
Saturday Night Special, Part 1

• Slavery By Another Name | Saturday February 11, 2012 – directed by Sam Pollard and developed by
National Productions for PBS, the documentary is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Wall Street
Journal journalist Donald Blackmon. The documentary challenges one of our country’s most cherished
assumptions: the belief that slavery ended with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.
The documentary recounts how in the years following the Civil War, insidious new forms of forced labor
emerged in the American South, keeping hundreds of thousands of African Americans in bondage, trapping
them in a brutal system that would persist until the onset of World War II.
Centerpiece Presentation

• “The Under Shepherd” | February 16, 2012 — directed by Russ Parr. Best friends LC and Roland are two
young, ambitious ministers, climbing the ranks at the First Baptist Church. Coming up under the leadership
of Dr. Ezekial Canon, the church’s elderly pastor, Roland and LC have dreams of becoming the
predecessors of the aging pastor. But, the feeble Dr. Canon stubbornly refuses to step-down, forcing the
two young ministers to make pivotal decisions that ultimately fray the fabric of their deeply-woven
friendship. “The Under Shepherd” co-stars Isaiah Washington and Lamman Rucker, and features an allstar cast, including Oscar-winner Louis Gossett Jr., Elise Neal, Clifton Powell, Malinda Williams, Vanessa
Bell Calloway, Keith David and Robinne Lee.
Saturday Night Special, Part 2

• “We the Party” | February 18, 2012 — directed by Mario Van Peebles. Set in Los Angeles, a cutting edge,
hip-hop infused dramedy about the first generation of high schoolers to come of age during the Obama
years. The film features some of the latest teenage bands and dance crews. This coming-of-age comedy
stars Michael Jai White, Salli Richardson Whitfield, Tiny Lister, Orlando Brown and rappers Snoop Dogg,
YG, the New Boyz and Pink Dollaz.Closing Night World Premier

• “Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day” | February 19, 2012 — directed by Neema Barnette. Kari
and David Ames have seemingly built the perfect life until Kari’s dark past is unveiled following the
kidnapping of their 6-year old daughter. As the couple desperately searches for their child, Kari realizes
she’s not the only one who has secrets. Forced to confront the truth, life spirals out of control for both of
them in this independent psychological thriller. Pastor T.D. Jakes follows up his award-winning film of the
same name with a sequel, co-starring Blair Underwood, Sharon Leal, Pam Grier and of course, T.D. Jakes.
Note: With the exception of the Opening Night Gala and world premiere, all PAFF screenings and panels will take
place at the new Rave Cinemas Baldwin Hills 15 (formerly the AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15) at the Baldwin
Hills Crenshaw Plaza. The theatre is situated on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Marlton Avenue and
Crenshaw Boulevard). For more information, please visit www.paff.org or call (310) 337-4737