SFBFF Reels Out Ninth Season

San Francisco Black Film Festival Reels Out Ninth Season

Spanning the Globe with Eighty Films, SFBFF Expands to Two Weekends, June 7-10 and June 14-17

San Francisco, California – May 14, 2007 –The San Francisco Black Film Festival (SFBFF) lives out its ninth incarnation as it expands to two weekends, June 7 through 10 and June 14 through 17. Special events and screenings span the globe as eighty films from Africa, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Europe and the United States explore a broad spectrum of subjects from apartheid to AIDS to hip-hop culture. Venues include the African American Arts and Culture Complex at 762 Fulton Street, the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) at 685 Mission Street and Project Artaud Theater at 450 Florida Street.

An early proponent of the global perspective, the festival has always been ahead of its time. "The San Francisco Black Film Festival was designed to draw international participation," says SFBFF founder Ave Montague. "Long before popular culture paid lip service to 'going global', we were walking the walk, presenting global motifs and topics from filmmakers around the world". The festival serves to unify cultures by translating personal stories into universal themes.

The ninth annual San Francisco Black Film Festival launches on Thursday, June 7 with the United States premiere of The Front Line, the story of a Congolese asylum seeker (Eriq Ebouaney) working as a security guard in Dublin who turns the tables on a vicious gang when they force him to assist in a bank robbery. Presented in association with Consulate General of Ireland, The Front Line was nominated for four Irish Academy Awards. Northern California premieres include Hurricane in the Rose Garden, an exploration of the African taboo against childless marriages, A Goat's Tail , which details the romance between an African taxi driver and a British actress and their ensuing culture clash and La Rebelle (The Rebel), the tale of a Haitian teenager who turns to sex, drugs and alcohol when she discovers her single dad has a new girlfriend. World premieres include Anderson's Cross, a touching coming-of-age story about three friends who reach adulthood too quickly, Slave Warrior: the Beginning, the Rambo-esque saga of an African student in America who travels back in time to his past life as a war hero captured into servitude and I Broke My Future, Paradise Europe, presented in association with the German Consulate. I Broke My Future, Paradise Europe is the heartbreaking tale of African expatriates who immigrate to Germany and find restrictive asylum laws make life a far cry from the paradise they envisioned. Making its West Coast debut is Richard Schenkman's And Then Came Love, starring Vanessa Williams, Eartha Kitt and Ben Vereen in a romantic comedy about a high-powered single mom who unleashes Pandora's Box when she seeks out her son's anonymous sperm donor. Closing the festival on Sunday, June 17 is Premium, a quest for love starring Hill Harper and Dorian Missick as a struggling actor pumping gas to pay the bills who encounters his true love on the day before her wedding.

Presentations in the documentary category include the world premieres of Return, which recounts the spiritual awakening of two African Americans as they reconnect with their ancestry by visiting traditional healers across the African continent, Movement (R)evolution Africa, a narrative of nine African choreographers who explore the emergence of contemporary African dance and Last Days of Left Eye, an intimate portrait of TLC singer Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes from the director of Tupac Resurrection. Northern California premieres include Silences, which details director Octavio Warnock-Graham's search to unravel the truth about his black heritage and the journey that leads him to find his father, a former writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, Queens of Sound, which uncovers long neglected female contributions to reggae and dancehall music in Jamaica and Will the Real Pimps and Hos Please Stand Up, which confronts the complex dynamics of power in today's society. West Coast debuts include Finally Sayin' What I Really Mean, an exploration of hip-hop as a cultural voice, soul music as a movement and the impact of poetry, Mrs. Brown's Beauty, the story of a 78-year-old Alameda Hospital patient who discovers her artistic talent late in life, Suffering and Smiling, the biography of singer and political activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Quilombo County, a chronicle of Brazil's beginnings as a gulag of deadly slave camps, narrated by Public Enemy's Chuck D.

Screenings in the shorts category include world premieres of The Gift A.D., the true tale of a severely scarred child who finds refuge in his gift and Eli's Liquor Store, the story of an African American business in the heart of L.A.'s Koreatown. An exploration of the consequences of escapism, Three and a Half Thoughts makes its West Coast premiere and Cantu Succubi, an ethereal, digitally animated music video from Cuba that journeys through death to life, debuts in San Francisco. Making their Northern California debuts are Kibera Kid, the chilling tale of a twelve-year-old orphan in an African slum who belongs to the Razor Blade Club gang and Kujo, My Love, the kooky account of a girl who sneaks out of a one-night stand only to have to face her hookup and his evil cat Kujo. Pop Foul tells of a boy who is propelled on a path of destruction after witnessing his father beaten by a local thug, Results poses the question "Can love overcome betrayal?" and Adolfo follows a taxi driver as he secretly prepares to flee Cuba.

On Friday, June 15, the Pioneer Award will be presented to Barry "Shabaka" Henley, an incredibly versatile character actor who performed with the San Francisco Mime Troupe in the 1970s. On the big screen, Henley has appeared in films with luminaries like Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Jamie Foxx and Will Smith. On the small screen, he is a familiar face on "Grey's Anatomy", "Law and Order", "NYPD Blue" and "Lackawanna Blues". Awards presentations will be capped off by a seventies themed gala celebration featuring four-part harmonies from the "Best Intentions" Motown revue, backed by the band "So Be It".

Special events include networking opportunities with Stomp the Yard screenwriter Gregory Anderson, urban film company Codeblack VP Angela Northington and filmmakers from Africa, Germany and China. Attendees can attend a Black Music Month film and music seminar and flaunt their moves during Dance Hall Night at Bissop Baobab Senegalese restaurant in San Francisco's Mission District.

Film critic Ernest Hardy will put in a guest appearance. Hardy will discuss what inspires him to ink a favorable review and examine the films Antwone Fisher, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai , Madame Sata, Monster's Ball and Rize. A member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Hardy has been a juror for the Sundance Film Festival, the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films and Outfest. His critiques appear in the Los Angeles Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Vibe, the New York Times, Rolling Stone and the Source as well as the reference book "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die". Two collections of his writings have been published by Redbone Press: "Blood Beats: Vol. 1" and the soon-to-be-released "Blood Beats: Vol. 2."

About the San Francisco Black Film Festival (SFBFF)

From its modest beginnings in 1998 with only $3,000 in funding, the San Francisco Black Film Festival (SFBFF) has grown from a one-day event with an audience of 300 to an eleven-day cultural celebration drawing more than 2,000 attendees. Under the leadership of founder and executive director Ave Montague, the SFBFF is managed by a dedicated advisory board of fifteen award-winning filmmakers, artists and business professionals including literary icon Ishmael Reed, actor/director Kevin Epps, producer/director Michael Schultz and actors Adam Davidson, Ernie Hudson and Terri J. Vaughn.

Presenting an array of work from Africa, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Europe and the United States, the San Francisco Black Film Festival has been a driving force integrating the work of independent Black directors into the mainstream, illuminating the range, depth and diversity of the African-American experience. The SFBFF is now an established forum for the cinematic community and draws a vibrant mix of veteran filmmakers, emerging artists, celebrities, critics and film fans from around the world.

The ninth annual San Francisco Black Film Festival runs June 7 through 10 and June 14 through 17 at the African American Arts and Culture Complex at 762 Fulton Street, the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) at 685 Mission Street and Project Artaud Theater at 450 Florida Street. Tickets may be purchased online at http://www.sfbff.org and http://www.ticketweb.com. For a complete schedule of San Francisco Black Film Festival screenings, exhibits, panels, parties and events, visit http://www.sfbff.org or call the SFBFF hotline at (415) 771-9271.

ENDS

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