Editor

PAN AFRICAN FILM AND ARTS FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2007 HONOREES

PAFF Night of Tribute to Honor Ambassador Andrew Young, Regina Young, Blair Underwood, St. Clair Bourne, and Hon. Herb J. Wesson

The 15th Annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival will honor legendary activist and associate of to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ambassador Andrew Young with the coveted PAFF Lifetime Achievement Award during their annual Night of Tribute. Other distinguished honorees include documentary filmmaker St. Clair Bourne (Pioneer Award), actor Blair Underwood (Canada Lee Award), actress Regina King (Beah Richards Awards), and the Honorable Herb J. Wesson who will receive the PAFF Community Service Award. The star-studded event will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 9th at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center located at 4718 West Washington Boulevard in Los Angeles. For tickets and more information, please call (323) 295-1706 or visit www.paff.org. PAFF’s Night of Tribute is sponsored in part by One United Bank and African Ancestry.

Known for showcasing new films first, past PAFF features have included box office and award-winning hits: Ray, Lackawanna Blues, Redemption, Love and Basketball, Crazy As Hell, Kingdom Come, The Brothers, Love Jones, Ghost Dog, and last year’s Academy Award® winner for Best Foreign Film, Tsotsi.

PAFF, the largest Black history month event in the U.S., will be held from February 8-19, 2007 in Los Angeles at the AMC MJ Crenshaw 15 (formerly Magic Johnson Theaters) and Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. Founders Danny Glover, Ja’net DuBois and Festival Executive Director Ayuko Babu launched the festival in February 1992. The 2006 PAFF program will showcase a diverse selection of Black films inclusive of features, shorts, documentaries as well as studio/network releases. The PAFF is dedicated to the promotion of cultural and racial tolerance and understanding through the exhibition of film, art and creative expression. The PAFF will feature panel discussions, industry workshops and seminars in addition to its film showcases.

The PAFF also presents one of America's largest fine art shows featuring prominent and emerging Black artists and fine craftspeople at the annual PAFF Artist Market held at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.

The PAFF is supported by Hollywood’s leading black actors and filmmakers including: Jaime Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Lynn Whitfield, Damon Wayans, Sanaa Lathan, Stan Lathan, Wesley Snipes, Forest Whitaker, Kasi Lemmons, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Blair Underwood, Alfre Woodard, Eriq LaSalle, Angela Bassett, Diahann Carroll, Ernie Hudson, Hill Harper, Mo’nique, Michael Beach, CCH Pounder, Neema Barnette, Debbie Allen, Sharif Atkins, Penny Johnson Gerald, Carl Lumbly, Taj Mahal, Euzhan Palcy, Sydney Tamia Poitier, Sinbad, Lorraine Toussaint and Malcolm Jamal Warner.

The 2007 PAFF is sponsored in part by: AMC Theatres, Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, Union Bank of California, Target, South African Airways, Our Weekly Newspaper, The Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and Courvoisier.

For more information, visit www.paff.org.