call-for-work entries in three categories; Audience Award, Jury Award and Local Filmmaker Award. In 2009 the festival gave an additional nod to Short films as a separate category.
AUDIENCE AWARD - BEST SHORT FILM
PRODUCTION-USA 2008
Directo
r: Lenny Payan, Writer/Producer Carmen Scott Payan
In 2006, Carmen L. Scott was beginning her first season as a writer's assistant at "Law & Order: Criminal Intent". When a rough draft of a script for a hip-hop themed episode of the show crossed her desk in December of 2006, one month after the Sean Bell shooting, she began blogging about the 16 days it took to shoot the episode and the uneasiness she felt helping the stereotype-laden script get filmed. Ultimately she would turn the blog into a screenplay, and with the help of husband and partner, Lenny Payan, into a short film.
AUDIENCE AWARD BEST FEATURE FILM
US: A LOVE STORY USA 2008
Director. Alrick Brown
JURY AWARD - BEST FEATURE FILM
US: A LOVE STORY USA 2008
Director. Alrick Brown
This haunting film explores impact and consequences of a union consecrated in blood. One couple's love story is a metaphor for the history of White/Black race relations in the USA. Filmmaker Alrick Brown continues to reveal himself as a "filmmaker to watch" winning two of the festival's most prestigious awards. Previous films by Brown include "Death of Two Sons", based on the lives of Amadou Diallo and Jesse Thyne, "Familiar Fruit" a modern day Greek tragedy that leaves the audience holding the torch, and "The Adventures of SuperN----", an allegory about the shooting death of Amadou Diallo.
All of these films have screened at the LHAAFF.
JURY AWARD - BEST SHORT FILM
5 Days in July revisits the 1967 Newark Riots, an important cataclysmic moment in American history. This civil disturbance began when African American cab driver and musician John W. Smith was arrested, beaten and dragged into Fourth Precinct for a minor traffic infraction. This action triggered rebellion among the African American community that spread throughout Newark. To quell the unrest, government officials mobilized the New Jersey State Police and National Guard.
LOCAL FILMMAKER AWARD
THIS IS...206 ZULU (USA 2009)
Director Georgio Brown
Local filmmaker Georgio Brown takes a detour from 18 years of producing Coolout TV to create an intimate look at hip hop and social justice collective, the 206 Zulu Nation. The 206 Zulus are multicultural family of artists who form the Seattle chapter of the larger 206 Zulu Nation, and international social justice hip hop movement founded by Afrika Baambata. Candid discussion, performance and interviews with members of the collective.
About the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival:
The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival supports community building by providing opportunities for artists and audiences to connect using the medium of film as a catalyst for dialogue that leads to social change. The festival creates year round opportunities to enhance media literacy, self reflection, and community discussion. By creating the shared experience of films that are by and about Black people, the festival is a creative and collaborative opportunity to build cultural competency across the aisle and across neighborhoods in greater Seattle. www.langstonblackfilmfest.org
