Starting on Tuesday, Feb. 4, the 33rd iteration of the Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF) opened on a somber note, as Los Angeles is still recovering from the windfires that ravaged West L.A. and the San Gabriel Valley at the beginning of the year.
Oduduwa Olatunji, is now in his second year as executive director since taking the mantle from Director Emeritus Ayuko Babu. A homegrown talent with a theater background from Atlanta’s Morehouse College, he brings an aura of optimism to break what he acknowledges is “…a sober mood.”
His commitment to serving the community dictates that he continues the tradition of the largest and most prestigious Black film festival in the U.S. That said, circumstances have required a perennial crowd pleaser, the ArtFest that traditionally filled the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall with scores of artists, artisans, and craftsmen hawking their wares has been pre-emptied for 2025, as Olatunji explains.
“…The decision to cancel the ArtFest comes in response to unforeseen challenges caused by the recent fires, which significantly impacted planning and logistics.”
The recent tragedy notwithstanding, this year’s event is shaping up to be another spectacular showcase of films by and about the African diaspora.
Feb. 4’s Tuesday opening night gala featured the bodybuilding drama “Magazine Dreams,” a story about the travails of an aspiring bodybuilder. Emmy-winning actor Jonathan Majors (“Da 5 Bloods,” “Devotion,” and “Lovecraft Country”) stars in this saga about the price of perfection and self-fulfillment. His appearance on the red-carpet kicked off the festival, along with a galaxy of entertainment megastars including his fiance, actress Meagan Good, who introduced him.
The Main Event
Black people are not monolithic, a reality that the Hollywood system has been slow to come to grips with. The wide variety of films on this year’s schedule are a testament to that, with genres running the gamut from action thrillers to comedies to documentaries, and everything in between.
The following are just a few of the 100 plus feature length & short films that comprise the 2025 PAFF.
Little known to the public at large, Chicago native Tom Burrell broke the color barrier by cutting his teeth in the hostile atmosphere of corporate America, before setting out to dismantle and reshape the advertising industry. He changed the perceptions of Black America in the process, and built a multi-cultural marketing empire based on the conceit that “Black people are not dark-skinned White people.”
“What’s Black About It: Tom Burrell & The Advertising Revolutionaries” tells the story of his rise as an iconoclast and media mogul.
Black history is world history, and African American music has been a compelling magnet drawing global attention to the country’s culture. That said, the two and a half hour documentary “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” links these subjects to clarify recent events leading up to the present day.
Starting in the 20th century, the U.S. Department of State used popular music as a diplomatic tool to promote democracy, peace, and other, perhaps not so lofty agendas. Immediately after the World War, this invaluable commodity was used to sway the mineral-rich African continent from the communist influence. This resulted in a mishmash of the most talented musicians of the day embroiled in a tawdry tale of CIA operatives and mercenaries, government manipulations, and the assassination of charismatic politician and prime minister of the Republic of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba.
Fictional narratives are a dietary staple of the movie going public, and PAFF’s itinerary features an assortment for every taste.
Seasoned filmmaker Matty Rich (“Straight Out of Brooklyn,” “The Inkwell”) settles back into the director’s chair with “Birth of the Black Underworld,” a 1930s coming of age yarn about youthful Black gangsters on the rise in Brooklyn.
The Afghan-Iraq Conflict is the setting for the dark comedy “My Dead Friend Zoe.” A meditation on postwar grief and trauma, it stars Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Natalie Morales.
Hip hop mogul RZA presents his latest cinematic offering, “One Spoon of Chocolate” a drama featuring Rockmond Dunbar, Paris Jackson, and Blair Underwood.
“Nawi” is a feature narrative from Kenya tackling the age-old predicament of social change. Its protagonist resists an arranged marriage in pursuit of furthering her education. With a run time of 104 minutes, it has been submitted for this year’s Academy Awards and makes its West Coast premiere at PAFF.
Film festivals serve as an incubator for up and coming talent to exercise their skills, and PAFF has provided a platform for emerging filmmakers since its inception. This year, South Africa presents an Oscar nominated short “The Last Ranger,” which explores that country’s conservation and rhino poaching issues.
The above offerings will screen at The Culver Theater, 9500 Culver Blvd, in Culver City.
Enriching and Enhancing the Community
The ArtFest postponement notwithstanding, many of the festival favorites will continue.
These include The Children’s Fest featuring kid-friendly films and activities for younger attendees; the Student Fest with content concerning social issues and topics of interest to adolescents; Spokenword Fest continuing the African American tradition of vocal expression drawing from its blues and spiritual roots, on through the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement, to the poetry slam events of the millennium; LOL Comedy Show continues the rich tradition of standup merrymakers who have filled the seats of movie theaters and enriched the Hollywood coffers for decades.
These events will take place at the Baldwin Hills Cinemark 15 & XD, 4020 Marlton Ave. in Los Angeles.
It is worth noting that PAFF originated from the smoldering ashes of the 1992 rebellion/uprising that engulfed Los Angeles. Momentum came to a standstill in 2020 with the COVID-19 epidemic, when health concerns forced the festival to go online, and this year’s iteration will surely continue its cultural tradition.
The PanAfrican Film & Arts Festival (PAFF) began on Feb. 4, 2025, and continues through Feb. 17. More information on film screenings and festival dates may be accessed at the festival’s website at https://www.paff.org/.