PAFF to Host 2008
LGBT Filmfest

The Pan African Film and Arts Festival will host its 2008 festival showcasing a selection of LGBT films, February 7-18 in Los Angeles, according to a press release. The festival has gained international attention for highlighting films made by and about LGBT people of African and African-American descent and is expected to draw 200,000 people.

Featured films:

* The World Unseen (South Africa) In 1950s South Africa, Amina runs a cafe with her black business partner, develops a relationship with a young mother, and helps a woman hide from the police, breaking the conventionality of her Indian upbringing.

* Cover (United States) In this film from director Bill Duke. Ryan Chambers is murdered on New Year's Eve, and the prime suspect is Valerie Maas, a religious homemaker who discovers her husband has been living a double life. Her strength of character and faith keeps the family alive as a deadly disease threatens to destroy all that they have known. With Vivica A. Fox, Paula Jai Parker, Leon, Lou Gossett Jr., Mya, Roger Guenveur Smith, Aujanue Ellis, Victoria Platt, and Patti Labelle.

* The Incredibly True Adventures of Tam S.I.I.: Sistas of the Canyon (United States) A group of African-American and Latina women living in Los Angeles share stories that redefine unity and sisterhood.

* The Brand New Heavy (United States) When a late father leaves his gay son the task of collecting inheritance to "make a man out of him," the son turns to Heavy for help.

* Blueprint (United States) A modern-day love story of two dissimilar African-American men who strip away their inhibitions to reveal themselves.

* Truth Hall (United States) A "dramedy" about five once-inseparable college women reunited years later at a wedding amid secrets and accusations -- causing the women to question their faith, friendship, loyalty, and lives.

* Pariah (United States) This is the story of a Bronx lesbian teenager who juggles multiple identities to avoid rejection from friends and family, but pressure from home, school, and within corrodes the line between her dual personas with explosive consequences.

* True Christian (United States) A narrative about being African-American, gay, and Christian in America.

In addition to the showcased films, the PAFF Art Mart, which will be held at Crenshaw Plaza in the Baldwin Hills section of Los Angeles, will feature Memphis-based gay artist Son of Ellis, whose work, according to the release, "is reflective of today's pop culture. He is most known for his vibrant portraits and use of color. His preferred mediums are a combination of pencil and ink, which he then digitizes to color." (The Advocate)