Highlights of the 2008 festival include the star-studded red carpet Opening Night Gala to be held in Hollywood at the Director's Guild of America on February 7. Known for showcasing new films first, past festival features have included box office and award-winning hits: Ray, Lackawanna Blues, Redemption, Crazy As Hell, Kingdom Come, The Brothers, Gridlock'd, the 2006 Academy Award® winner for Best Foreign Film, Tsotsi, and Days of Glory.

PAFF is proud to announce its selection of Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation, written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Charles Burnett, starring Carl Lumbly and Danny Glover. Namibia is the story of the Namibian independence movement told around the events in the life of Namibia's first president, Sam Nujoma.

Each year the PAFF presents over 175 quality films from the United States, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, the South Pacific and Canada, all showcasing the diversity and complexity of people of African descent.

PAFF will also present one of America's largest fine art shows featuring prominent and emerging Black artists and fine craftspeople. Other events include the PAFF StudentFest, Children's Festival, Comedy Night and Spokenword Festival. The PAFF attracts an audience of over 40,000 people to the films and over 150,000 attendees overall. The PAFF is recognized throughout the world as America's premiere Black film festival. For more information, please visit www.paff.org or call (323) 295-1706.

About the Pan African Film and Arts Festival

The Pan African Film and Arts Festival was founded in 1992 as a non-profit corporation dedicated to the promotion of cultural and racial tolerance and understanding through the exhibition of film, art and creative expression. It is the PAFF's goal to present and showcase a broad spectrum of Black creative works, particularly those that reinforce positive images and help to destroy negative stereotypes. The PAFF believes film and art can lead to better understanding and foster communication between peoples of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles, while at the same time, serve as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues of our times.

The PAFF is supported in part by grants from the City of Los Angeles, The Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department and by The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Festival information and submission procedures are available online via www.paff.org or by calling (323) 295-1706 or by email at info@paff.org.

Applications are available for download at www.paff.org or by calling (323) 295-1706.