Photographs by Seitu Oronde
On Monday, December 26th, 2022, Seitu was at the Harlem Renaissance-themed Award Ceremony at the Shrine Music Venue in Harlem, NY.
The Kwanzaa Film Festival (KFF) celebrated its sixth(6th) consecutive affair this year from December 26th to the 30th of 2022 in New York City. The festival presents a 5-day visual arts extravaganza at multiple locations throughout the metropolitan area.
The Kwanzaa Film Festival dedicates itself to the screening of a wide variety of short and full feature films and the presentation of moving pictures that identify with the concepts of Kwanzaa and the embodiment of its living tenants.
The debut evening of the 26th was by invitation only, and it hosted an awards ceremony that celebrate both honored guests and distinguished awardees, Tracy “Twinkie ” Byrd, Cynthia Horner, and others of notoriety who were bestowed with the festival´s most esteemed honors.
On December 27th, there was a film festival Youth Symposium, which featured films by women film directors. On December 28th, will be a day of film screenings that are celebrating the principles of “Collective Work” and “Responsibility” by presenting the films, “It takes A Village”, “The Nine O’clock Whistle” and “The Sun sets in the East”.
These visual pieces shall be followed by a panel discussion that shall cover the topic of “How To Sustain Black Organizations Through The Use of the very principles of Collective Work and Responsibility”.
This informative panel discussion shall be followed by films that have been created by black male writers. These three days will take place at the world renown Shrine World Music Venue which the Kwanzaa Film Festival will be transforming into a movie theater and film screening house.
The next day, The Kwanzaa Film Festival shall be celebrating the theme of Cooperative Economics by having a Black Business Vendor´s Market taking place while films are being shown. Dame Dash Studios will have an exclusive audition for the esteemed Dame Dash and his upcoming films which shall only be for actors and actresses who are in attendance of the festival.
The 30th day of December shall be celebrating the principle of (Nia) which means Purpose, and the commemoration for this hallowed principle shall be displayed through showing films of inspiration. After the in-person film festival , the KFF will continue with its series of virtual events with workshops on film funding, distribution, casting and various informative speakers to inspire, educate and inform the creative community.
The official ceremonial closing shall be virtual this year, with the presentation of the documentary Di Ankh: The Science Of Kemetic Yoga by Gaile C Ferguson. Last, but not least, the Kwanzaa Film Festival will cast an ensemble of its “Black Enlightenment And Renaissance Through Thought” leaders to inspire and enrich us with words of wisdom for the New Year.
Here are photos from the rally:
Click here to find more of Seitu Oronde’s photographic essays at Seitu’s World.
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