Celebrate Black history with film, song

Film fest brings game arts to big screen

March 12-19

Atlanta, (404) 249-9529

Merging film, 3D animation, broadband and gaming technologies, the 2006 Independent Black Film Festival will celebrate the achievement of artists of color in the arts and cultural entertainment community while encouraging and empowering upcoming artists through a showcase of diverse and provocative workshops, seminars, conferences, panels and screenings. This landmark convergence of the arts provides the backdrop for the 2006 Independent Black Film Festival (IBFF), to be held in various venues throughout Atlanta’s Buckhead and Midtown areas.

“We want people of all experience levels across all of these industries to have the opportunity to talk with and learn from each other,” said Asante Addae, creator and CEO of the IBFF.

For more information: www.indieblackfilm.org.

In concert at Arab American National Museum

Dearborn, Mich., (313) 624-0200

Odetta

Feb. 16, 8 p.m.

Odetta graces the stage with her special gifts and signature style that have touched listeners’ hearts for decades. Her soulful and insightful songs have changed lives, moved mountains, and helped to define social justice issues and beliefs since the 1950s.

Feb. 23, Thursday, 8 p.m.

Vusi Mahlasela (South African Folk)

Vusi’s music skims the styles of folk, rock, and traditional African, with hints of reggae. As an accomplished guitarist, percussionist, composer and arranger, he offers masterpieces that were at the heart of the struggle for freedom, reconstruction, and reconciliation in the post-Apartheid era. His life and music were featured in Amandla!, a celebrated and award-winning film of 2003.