Overview Outreach Programming AFF is always exploring ways to introduce African cinema, not only to encourage new channels of distribution for this growing body of work but to open a dialogue between artists and media professionals. 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.