L.A. DIGEST
Wave Staff Report
LOS ANGELES — The Pan African Film Festival will screen “41st and Central: The Untold Story of the L.A. Black Panthers” as part of the pre-festival kickoff.
The screening also will serve as a fundraiser for writer and director Gregory Everett’s family. Everett died from complications of COVID-19 Jan. 24.
The virtual screening will take place at 5 p.m. Feb. 20. For more information and tickets, visit www.paff.org.
Chancellor to visit
Dominguez Hills
CARSON — Cal State Dominguez Hills will be the first campus to virtually host new Cal State Universities Chancellor Joseph I. Castro on a virtual tour of the system’s 23 campuses. It will be held at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 19.
Castro became the eighth chancellor of the California State Universities, the largest four-year university system in the country, in January. Castro also is the first California native and first Mexican American to oversee the 23-campus university system.
Cinematographer
to display work
LOS ANGELES — Emmy Award-winning cinematographer John Simmons will exhibit his photos and cartographies in an exhibit “Capturing Beauty: The Artwork and Photography John Simmons” during Black History Month through June 5.
The exhibit is a free online virtual tour by Simmons of his multi-layered paper collage cartographies and his black and white photographic images of life from 1965 through 2021.
A Zoom Webinar question-and-answer session with Simmons, moderated by Jimmy Centeno, will be held from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 28.
To register for the Zoom, visit https://casa0101.org/?shows=webinar-capturing-beauty-the-artwork-and-photography-of-john-simmons.
‘Water Man’ to lead
Pan African film fest
LOS ANGELES — The Pan African Film Festival has announced that “The Water Man,” directed by David Oyelowo, will be screened during a virtual opening night celebration at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 28. Tickets are $30.
“The Water Man” is a fantasy adventure film about a young boy named Gunner who sets out to save his ill mother by searching for a mythic figure who knows the secret to immortality.
A question and answer session with the filmmaker and actors will be after the film screening. The Pan African Film Festival will take place from Feb. 28 to March 14. Tickets and more information are available at www.paff.org.
Film critics group
offers competition
LOS ANGELES — The African American Film Critics Association is holding a Social Justice Short Film Competition for rising creatives. Films chosen for the competition will confront societal structures in the United States on a macro and micro scale and also show how filmmaking plays an important role in encouraging social change.
The competition will be handled across the first half of the annual American diversity calendar. That means there will be a winner for February, which will honor Black History Month; March honoring Women’s History Month; April for Asian Pacific Heritage Month and May for Gay Pride Month. Winners from the four months will win l prizes and will compete against one another in June for a grand prize.
The deadline for the competition is Feb 28. For more information and to submit short films, visit https://aafca.com/shorts/.
Underwood featured
in conversation
LOS ANGELES — The Robey Theatre Company’s next installment of the online series of “Evening Conversations” will include Blair Underwood on Feb. 19 via zoom.
Underwood will talk about the existing and future state of theatre, the effect of the pandemic on the performing arts, and the arts’ response to the recent global uprising in support of racial justice.
The virtual event is free. To register for tickets, visit http://therobeytheatrecompany.org/our-events.
Six-part virtual
series to be held
LOS ANGELES — The Positive Results Center will host a six-part virtual conversation series titled “Advancing Social Justice and Equity; Opportunities and Possibilities for BIPOC Communities,” beginning Feb. 18 through March 27 for Black History and Women’s History Month.
The targeted audience includes young adults, parents, educators, advocates, nonprofits, faith leaders, health, law enforcement, government, elected officials and corporate partners.
For more information, contact Kandeele@prc123.org or https://prc123.org/asj/.
Compiled by Taylor Goodson.
L.A. Digest is designed to help promote events, activities and initiatives that are serving the interests of residents in L.A. To submit an item, send emails to newsroom@wavepublication.com.
