Although the African Film Festival is a not a competitive event or a film market, we invite many of the featured filmmakers to introduce their work and meet the audience in post-screening events. The lecture and round-table Discussion Series paneled by industry leaders and filmmakers are interstitial events and are open to the public. Topics range over marketing strategies, film history, and criticism. In odd-numbered years, the Travelling Film Series dovetails with Festival events. Since 1994, the Young Adult Education Program has been extremely successful in giving New York City public high school students a fun, creative way to learn about African culture.
Programming is developed with educators.
We all feel that the dialogue between the students and filmmaker is especially important, as it provides a meaningful context for understanding African film and people. We want our outreach programming to find homes in other kinds of local venues. For instance, AFF has held free outdoor screenings at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens and at Pier 40 in Manhattan. Audience responsiveness has really shown that familiar surroundings are an ideal ground for exploring new concepts and social issues. International Perspective AFF contributes to many cross-cultural projects and has become a resource for programmers worldwide.