Just weeks after the close of the Sundance Film Festival, Los Angeles is set to host a very different movie event: the Pan African Film and Arts Festival, or PAFF.
It's the 14th anniversary of the festival, and this year it's being billed as the largest Black History Month event in the United States. It features more than 150 movies by filmmakers from the Caribbean, Latin America, the South Pacific, Europe, Canada, Africa and the United States.
The opening night on Feb. 9 begins with the critically acclaimed new film from South Africa, Tsotsi. Nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign film, the movie follows six days in the life of a street thug after he finds a baby in the back of a car he's just stolen.
Another highlight of the festival is Akeelah and the Bee. Starring Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett, the film follows a young African-American girl struggling to take part in a national spelling bee.
PAFF is also a showcase for a number of documentaries. One standout is Aristide and the Endless Revolution -- which looks at a timely subject, given that Haiti just held its first presidential election since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted from power and forced to flee the country.
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