PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Monday, September 8, 2008

CONTACT: Jasmyne Cannick
PHONE: (323) 295-1706
EMAIL: publicity@paff.org

2009 Film Submissions Deadline Approaches for Flagship Black Film Festival
17 th Annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival Submission Deadline September 30

Los Angeles, CA – The deadline for filmmakers to submit their films for the 17 th Annual Pan African Film And Arts Festival (PAFF), America's largest and most prestigious flagship black film and arts festival is September 30. Accepting submissions of independent features, shorts, narratives, and documentary films made by or about people of African descent, films should preferably depict positive and realistic images and can be of any genre including drama, comedy, horror, adventure, animation, romance, science fiction, and experimental. The PAFF accepts features, shorts, narratives, and documentaries. Submissions of works in progress will be accepted, however films and videos must be completed no later than December 31, 2008 . Submissions postmarked before September 30 must be accompanied by a $40 submission fee for shorts (less than 70 minutes) and a $60 submission fee for features (70 minutes or more).

Selection results will be available around October 15, 2008 .

The 2009 PAFF is taking place in Los Angeles February 5-16. Festival information, applications, and submission procedures are available online via www.PAFF.org or by calling (323) 295-1706 or by email at info@paff.org .

PAFF Film Competition:

The PAFF competition categories are: Best Documentary, Best Short Documentary, Best Narrative Short, Best Feature, Best Director-First Feature, and the Oscar Micheaux Award , named after the first African-American filmmaker. In addition to the Jury Prizes, Audience Favorite Awards are voted on in the following categories: Best Feature , Best Documentary , and Best Short Narrative . The PAFF Vision Award is given to the film that the PAFF feels best exemplifies its mission of reinforcing positive images and helping to destroy negative stereotypes.

Films in competition must be copyrighted no earlier than 2007. With the exception of the Audience Favorite Awards , all films are judged by industry professionals.

With an overall festival attendance of 200,000, the PAFF attracts a diverse audience of over 40,000 people to its films at the AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15 Theaters. Each year the PAFF presents quality films from the United States, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, the South Pacific and Canada, all showcasing the diversity and complexity of people of African descent. PAFF also presented one of America 's largest fine art shows featuring prominent and emerging Black artists and fine craftspeople held at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza . Other signature PAFF events included over a dozen industry panels and workshops, the PAFF StudentFest®, ChildrensFest®, SpokenWord Fest®, Senior Connections®, and Comedy Night.

The Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF) was founded in 1992 as a non-profit corporation dedicated to the promotion of cultural and racial tolerance and understanding through the exhibition of film, art and creative expression. It is the PAFFs goal to present and showcase a broad spectrum of Black creative works, particularly those that reinforce positive images and help to destroy negative stereotypes. The PAFF believes film and art can lead to better understanding and foster communication between peoples of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles, while at the same time, serve as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues of our times.

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