Arts & Entertainment
2014 Langston Hughes African American Film Festival
A
record number of films
grace the schedule at his
year’s Langston Hughes
African American Film Festival,
held at the Langston Hughes Per-
forming Arts Institute, 104 17th
Ave S, Seattle.
Chock-full of panels, workshops
and mini-fests, the nine-day event
kicks off with a fun-filled Family
Film Weekend on April 26 and 27
with food trucks and a Fat Albert
mini-fest featuring Pacific North-
west film critic and author David
Walker.
Food trucks are also planned for
the closing day screening of Tous-
saint L’Ouverture on May 4.
The festival will host a LGBTQ
focused screening on Saturday,
May 3, featuring the documentary,
“The New Black,” and a special
Ladies Night mini-fest will feature
ten shorts on Thursday, May 1 at 7
and 9 p.m.
Festival passes ($50 - $150) are
currently available. Individual
screenings will go on sale in the
coming weeks and are $5 for
youth (under the age of 16) and
seniors (65+), and $10 for adults.
Teen Tix cards are accepted for
individual film screenings for
teens ($5).
Thewww.langstoninstitute.org
film festival has up-to-date film
additions, call LHPAI at 206-684-
4758.
Family Film Weekend
Saturday, April 26, 1-4 p.m:
Fat Albert mini-fest. This
beloved animated series that ran
from 1972 to 1985 centered on
Albert (known for his catchphrase
"Hey, hey, hey!"), and his friends
who hung out in a Philadelphia
junkyard. Together this group of
Afro-American inner city kids
shared educational adventures and
finished each episode with a song
played on cobbled-together junk-
yard instruments. It was created,
produced and hosted by comedian
Bill Cosby based on Cosby's
childhood memories. Four 30-
minute
episodes,
writer,
filmmaker and cultural critic
David Walker will lead a post-
screening Q&A. (all ages)
Sunday, April 27, 11 am –
12:30 p.m.: “The Bicycle” (rec-
ommended for ages 9+) with film
short “Secret Decoder Ring” (all
ages). The Bicycle: Bobbi’s bicy-
cle is stolen and soon-to-be
step-dad Teddy realizes that find-
ing the bully and getting the
bicycle back is the perfect oppor-
tunity to repair their relationship.
Their journey through the
enclaves of their Queens, New
York community connects them in
a way neither could have imag-
ined. In the film short Secret
Decoder Ring Justin is a normal
kid eating his favorite breakfast
cereal when a special offer catches
his eye: a secret decoder ring. He
succumbs to the lure and sends
away for it by mail. What he gets
in return is more than he bargained
for!
1-4 p.m.: Sci-fi and digital
divide short films STEM work-
shops follow, led by Microsoft,
Technology Access Foundation
and the University of Washington.
(films tba)
Opening Night
Saturday, April 26, 7 p.m.:
“They Die By Dawn:” Four out-
laws, each with a bounty on their
head, set a date for a shootout in
Langston, Okla., with the idea that
the last man will take the collec-
tive bounty. Violence and mayhem
ensue. Featuring Rosario Dawson
(Sin City), Giancarlo Esposito
(The Usual Suspects, Once Upon
a Time), and Isaiah Washington
(Grey’s Anatomy). British film-
maker and musician Jeymes
Samuel (music for The Great
Gatsby) will be in attendance.
Closing Day
Sunday, May 4, 1-5 p.m.: Tou-
ssaint L’Ouverture: a two-part
action epic based on the life of
Haitian revolutionary Toussaint
In ‘Eyes on the Stars,’ Carl McNair tells the story of his brother
Ronald, an African American kid in the 1950s who set his
sights on the stars, showing Sunday at the STEM-themed Film
Shorts program.
L’Ouverture, a leader of the Hait-
ian independence movement
during the French Revolution,
who emancipated slaves and
established Haiti as a black-gov-
erned French protectorate.
7 p.m.: “Mother of George”: A
newly married Nigerian couple
living in Brooklyn is having trou-
ble conceiving a child – a problem
that defies cultural expectations
and leads the wife to make a
shocking decision that could either
save or destroy her family.
Acclaimed director Andrew
Dosumnu (Restless City) captures
the nuances of this unique and fas-
cinating culture by creating a
beautiful, vibrant, and moving
portrait of a couple whose joys
and struggles are at once intimate
and universal. Featuring Danai
Gurira (Walking Dead). “Eye pop-
pingly gorgeous” – Time Out
Magazine
April 9, 2014 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 13