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Arts/Lit/TV/Film

Pan African Film and Arts Festival announces 2010 lineup

The Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF), America’s largest and most prestigious international Black film and arts festival has announced its 2010 lineup of films selected to be screened for its Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short, Best Narrative Short, Best Narrative Feature, and Best First Feature film competitions. In total, 135 films were selected representing 36 countries, including 40 in competition, 64 feature length films, and 12 films at the Festival will be world premieres. The PAFF filmmaker awards will be announced on Feb. 17 at the Closing Night Presentation (7 p.m.).

The Oprah Winfrey Network picks up “Family Affair” at Sundance Film Festival (video)

OWN: THE OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK has acquired the rights to FAMILY AFFAIR, an independent feature length documentary film written and produced by Chico David Colvard. FAMILY AFFAIR, an intensely personal documentary that examines Mr. Colvard’s compelling family history, garnered great attention at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival where it had its world premiere.

Tyler Perry touring for first time in 5 years with “Madea’s Big Happy Family”

I’ve been reading Tyler Perry’s journal entries (he calls them”Email Messages from Tyler”) on his website www.tylerperry.com/_Messages, particularly the ones since Maxine’s passing, and it seems like hitting the stage was just what he needed to get back into life. “Madea’s Big Happy Family” kicked off on January 4, 2010 in El Paso, TX and concludes May 9, 2010 in Detroit, MI.

Legendary soul singer and Philly native Teddy Pendergrass dies at age 59

Philly native Teddy Pendergrass has died at the tender age 59. The specific circumstances leading to Teddy’s death have not yet been reported, but he had been in the hospital for the past several months after undergoing colon cancer surgery. Teddy’s son, Teddy Pendergrass II, reported that the recovery since his father’s surgery had not been going very well. In 1982, Teddy was in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. While he maintained a career on some level, his signature voice that we loved in the 70s an 80s was not quite the same.

The latest on Jill Scott from tv/film to fashion to music

Grammy Award winning singer/actress Jill Scott preps two movies, a cartoon series, a new bra for her Ashley Stewart intimate apparel line, new album “The Light Of The Sun” as well as main stage inclusion in the upcoming Lilith Fair tour. Scott was recently seen as lead role in HBO’s critically acclaimed “The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency,” directed by the late Oscar winning director Anthony Minghella. Jill and the show have garnered rave reviews and nominations from the Golden Globes, IPA Satellite Awards to the American Film Institute (AFI). Scott most recently nominated for NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Actress alongside 2 others the series earned including Outstanding Drama Series and Supporting Actress in Drama Series. This gears the triple threat artist for a huge 2010 year.

If there’s a reason I should rush to get married, speak now or hold your peace

Is it just me or does it seem like Valentine’s Day has become more of an assault on single life than it is a celebration of loving couples? There’s nothing wrong with wanting someone to share your life with but being made to feel as if something is wrong with you because you haven’t landed the “one” doesn’t seem like a loving message to me. Nor, does it seem that shoving general relationship advice down people’s throat is the best way for them to find the unique individual that best suits them or their lifestyle.

BET travels to Africa to audition contestants for Season 3 of “Sunday Best”

More than 1000 hopefuls showed up at BET’s first ever international Sunday Best auditions held in Lagos, Nigeria…BET marked its one-year celebration on DStv (the digital satellite television platform on which BET is seen in Africa) with a unique opportunity; an open call to its best and most talented gospel singers to audition for a chance to be on BET’s hit competition series, “Sunday Best.”

Are They Hebrews Or Negroes? Documentary Filmmaker Says He Has The Answer

Yahya Bandele doesn’t shout through a bullhorn on busy urban street corners. Nor, does he hurl insults at white passersby who have been taught all their lives of a white Christ. Though an imposing figure at 6′ 3″ and over 300 pounds, Bandele is a gentle giant. He has spent almost all of his waking moments since 2006 putting together a documentary that has turned Christianity on its ear. Yahya Bandele whose name means “YAH’s [God’s] gift born away from home”, has published a DVD entitled, Hebrew or the So-Called Negro?

Hart’s debut inspirational bestseller possibly a self-help novel for young adults

Growing up, Justin C. Hart had always admired those who walked with significance and encouraged others, now it is his turn to do the same through his authorship of his debut fiction novel, Liquid Sunshine; a Story About Love, Life, and Finding the Will of God. Liquid Sunshine Hit #1 on Amazon’s Inspirational Bestseller List and Hit #5 on Amazon’s Spirituality Bestseller List on the day of Hart’s highly anticipated Amazon launch in September, beating out such books as Become a Better You by Joel Osteen and Battlefield of The Mind by Joyce Meyer.