The 7th black film magazine International Film Festival [bfm IFF] hosts an amazing line up of films from the finest the African Diaspora has to offer: films made in Hollywood, the Caribbean, Africa, Canada, Europe and our own UK talent will compete for prizes and awards.

The bfm IFF is a six day event - with world premieres, European premieres, UK premieres, seminars and culminates with the annual short film awards. It is an industry supported night where bfm recognizes the talent of our own filmmakers. CEN Magazine has pinpointed for you a series of events worthy of attention.

The festival kicks-off ‘big-style’ on Friday the 9th of September at the Institute of Contemporary Arts with the John Singleton directed feature Four Brothers. This will be the UK premiere of a film which boasts a stellar cast of African-American actors including Terrence Dashon-Howard, model-turned-actor Tyrese Gibson, Outkast member Andre 3000 and the UK’s Chiwetel Ejiofor. UK premiere of Constellation: this award-winning film was the audience’s favourite at the Urban World film festival in New York earlier this year.

European premiere of Diary of a Mad Black Woman. The film took the US by storm with box office success making $21.9m in its opening weekend. Forgiveness is about a disgraced ex-apartheid cop, granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, The Golden Blaze which is a feature-length Caribbean animation. Hip Hop Colony is a documentary into the heart of the East African country Kenya, a former British colony, where hip hop has firmly established its roots. Directed by Owen Alik Shahadah 500 Years Later is an award-winning documentary which was filmed in five continents, across 20 countries.

In the short-film section, among others: Seeker which received a runners-up prize in the American Black Film Festival in July is a powerful portrayal of a Nigerian asylum seeker. Morally Speaking which amusingly tackles a sexual act that some men refuse to even talk about let alone perform.

For more information about the festival go to: www.bfmmedia.com

bfm IFF
Features, documentaries, shorts with Q&A’s
9-12 September, 2005
Institute of Contemporary Arts [ICA]
The Mall
London SW1Y 5AH
www.ica.org.uk
Box office: 020 7930 3647