February 7, 2023

Media Alert: Mayor Karen Bass to Help Kickoff PAFF Feb. 9

Mayor Karen Bass to Help Kickoff L.A.'s Largest Black History Month Event
the Pan African Film & Arts Festival Feb. 9

  • Los Angeles MAYOR KAREN BASS will open the 31ST ANNUAL PAN AFRICAN FILM & ARTS FESTIVAL (PAFF), the city’s largest Black History Month (BHM) event.

  • PAFF’s red-carpet star-studded OPENING NIGHT GALA is to be hosted by Academy Award-winning actor and activist DANNY GLOVER and NLF-pro turned actor THOMAS Q. JONES (“P-Valley”).

  • Actor JONATHAN MAJORS (Creed 3, and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania) will receive PAFF’s Canada Lee Award.  The award will be presented by Danny Glover.

  • The evening will also include a screening of the highly anticipated feature, CHEVALIER, inspired by the incredible story of composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. The son of an enslaved African woman and a French plantation owner, Bologne (Kelvin Harrison Jr. in a tour de force performance) rises to improbable heights in French society as a celebrated violinist-composer and fencer, complete with an ill-fated love affair and a falling out with Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton) herself and her court.

  • CHEVALIER director STEPHEN WILLIAMS, writer and producer STEFANI ROBINSON, the composer of the original score KRIS BOWERS, and musical performances producer and arranger MICHAEL ABELS to attend.

  • Taking place February 9-20, 2023, in Los Angeles at both the Cinemark Baldwin Hills & XD and Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, PAFF presents and showcases a broad spectrum of Black creative works, particularly those that reinforce positive images and help to destroy negative stereotypes of Africans and African-Americans.

  • This year’s Pan African Film & Arts Festival features over 150 films from 40 countries, in 19 languages, including 50 World and 22 North American premieres. Of the films selected for the Festival, 39% are helmed by female, queer or non-binary filmmakers. The fine arts exhibition will feature over 100 established and emerging fine artists and quality craftspeople from all over the Black Diaspora.

  • Confirmed guests include: Mayor Karen Bass, Danny Glover, Thomas Q. Jones, Jonathan Majors, Angela Lewis, Stefani Robinson, Nicki Micheaux, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Rama Montakhabi, Marcus Brandon, Allen Maldonado, Tantoo Cardinal, Vanessa E. Williams, Cocoa Brown, and more.

  • The red carpet for L.A’s largest BHM event, the Pan African Film & Arts Festival, will open at 5:30 p.m. on Thu., Feb. 9, at the Directors Guild of America (7920 Sunset Blvd.)

    WHO: The Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF)
    WHAT:

    Opening night of the 31st Annual Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF), a star-studded red carpet event that will launch the 2023 Black film & arts festival. 
    WHEN: Thursday, February 9, 2023
    5:30 PM Red Carpet Arrivals
    7:00 PM Awards Program and Screening
    WHERE: Directors Guild of America (DGA) 
    7920 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
    MEDIA RSVP: Click here to RSVP to cover the red carpet.
    DOWNLOADS: Click here to download a PDF of the media alert and face sheet. 
    FESTIVAL & FILM ASSETS Click here for festival and film assets including b-roll, hi-res images, bios, press kits, etc.