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African American Film Fest Opens April 30
F
ilmmakers love coming to Seattle for
the Langston Hughes African
American Film Festival (LHAFF).
And for this 8th Annual Festival there will
be a high number of filmmakers in atten-
dance, some new and some seasoned with
recent awards and accolades.
This nine day festival from April 30 to
May 8 features a powerful lineup of almost
40 thoughtful films that include Seattle pre-
mieres, local directors, a LGBT focus,
Weekday Happy Hour Films, Ladies’ Night,
Teen Fest, talkbacks and panel discussions.
Each year this festival sparks memorable
and provocative discussions from across the
aisle and across neighborhoods.
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center,
at 17th and Yesler, continues to undergo
major facility renovations, so the festival,
like last year, will temporarily move to two
locations –both within LHPAC’s Central
District neighborhood. The opening and
closing night films will both take place at
the Quincy Jones Theatre in Seattle’s
Central District at 23rd and Alder, next door
to Garfield High school. All other films will
show at the Central Cinema, also located in
the Central District at 21st and Union. The
panel discussion “Black Filmmaker Brunch,
on May 7, will be at the Northwest African
American Museum.
This annual African American Film
Festival is expected to draw more than
2,500 people passionate about creating and
appreciating films by and about Black peo-
ple in the world. The festival spotlights
dozens of feature-length and short films by
independent filmmakers, and the rare
opportunity to chat
face-to-face with filmmakers, industry
professionals and Seattle leaders. Tickets
are $5 for youth under 16 and seniors and
$8 for adults. The All-Access Langston Pass
is $50. All film details, including show
times, locations and ticketing information,
are available at www.langstonblackfilm-
fest.org or by calling 206-326-1088.
LHAAFF, co-sponsored locally by
4Culture and Comcast, offers a unique
blend of returning filmmakers whose
careers have grown much in line with
LHAAFF’s amazing growth (Alrick Brown,
Ava Duvernay, Charles Officer, and Joe
Doughrity). Relatively new filmmakers
such as Tanya Wright, who are eager to pre-
miere their work with film savvy Seattle
audiences, are also featured.
Director Alrick Brown returns to LHAAF
for a fourth year after a successful screening
of his new film KINYARWANDA at
Sundance 2010, which received an
Audience Award. This year he’s making his
feature film directorial debut and premieres
KINYARWANDA for Seattle audiences at
the festival’s opening night. KINYARWAN-
DA is based on true accounts from
Rwandan genocide survivors who took
refuge at the Grand Mosque of Kigali and
the madrassa of Nyanza. It recounts how the
Imams opened the doors of the mosques to
give refuge to the Tutsi and those Hutu who
refused to participate in the killing. The film
interweaves six different tales that together
form one grand narrative that provides the
most complex and real depiction yet pre-
sented of human resilience and life during
the genocide. Alrick Brown was at
LHAAFF in 2004 with The Adventures of
Supernigger in 2008 with Death of Two
Sons, and again in 2009 with Us: A Love
Story.
Filmmaker, actor (HBO’s True Blood)
and author Tanya Wright will be in town for
the festival’s closing and premieres her new
film Butterfly Rising. She will also give
away signed copies of her book, Butterfly
Rising, to all ticket-buyers who purchase
advance tickets for the festival closing
before 5 pm on May 7. Butterfly Rising tells
of two broken souls who steal a vintage
Opening Film:
KINYARWANDA 4/30 – 7
p.m. Sundance Award
Winner! Filmmaker
Alrick Brown in
attendance. $20;
Quincy Jones Theatre,
400 23rd Ave. Seattle.
Closing Film: Butterfly
Rising 5/8 – 7 p.m.
Filmmaker Tanya
Wright (HBO’s True
Blood) in attendance.
$20; Quincy Jones
Theatre.
truck and head out on the open road to a
fated encounter with the mythical, magical
'Lazarus of the Butterflies.' When her broth-
er dies, singer Lilah Belle sets out on a road
trip to escape her grief, but not before coax-
ing the scandalous, new-to-town woman
Rose Johnson to go with her. What occurs
with the strange Butterfly Man transforms
their destinies and binds the women forever.
N ew Fe at u r e
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Page 6 The Seattle Skanner april 20, 2011