SPOTLIGHT: MAHEN BONETTI'S AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL

Sick and tired of seeing how the world depicted Africa, Sierra Leonean Mahen Bonetti took matters into her own hands and created one of the most celebrated and influential film festivals to date.
The non-profit  African Film Festival Inc., which Bonetti is both founder and Executive Director, is an art organization dedicated to showing the works of African filmmakers as well as developing ways to share the vision, art, and culture of Africa on an international scale. In celebration of its 20th Anniversary, the AFF will commemorate half a century of  African films as well as an homage to Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, the "Father of African Cinema". 

When asked the reason behind starting the African Film Festival, Bonetti replied, “There were lots of images of Africa circulating in the media at that time, but they were mostly negative and decontextualized. So, I wanted to educate not only Americans, but Africans living here...I had to find a way to make a contribution, to correct some of these misconceptions, about Africa."

A woman with a mission, gotta love that!


Check out the schedule for this year's African Film Festival here.

- FARIDA