TANZANIAN actress, Yvonne Monalisa, and Sierra Leonean actor and Voice of America TV presenter, David Vandy, will host the 2018 edition of The Africa Film Festival (TAFF) happening in Dallas, the US in June.
Explaining the choice of the duo, festival director, and founder, Kelechi Eke, said that they were selected because of their outstanding accomplishments.
Speaking on activities for this year’s event, Eke who was recently honoured with the African Community Achievement Award by a North American group, AFRIFAMU, said the festival would open on June 29, at the Dallas City Performance Hall and end on July 3rd, with an awards night. The opening will feature folklore storytelling sessions by Vanessa Danso from Ghana and Ruth NduluMaingi from Kenya.
The host of last year’s festival, Richard Mofe-Damijo, will step back from the limelight this time around to take an acting masterclass, while film director, Lancelot Imasuen, will do same by taking a class in directing. The classes will be held at Southern Methodist University, a prestigious Texas university that supports TAFF in promoting African arts and culture through motion pictures.
The Association of Nigerian Physicians in America (ANPA), holding its convention in Dallas ahead of the festival, will also be part of this year’s event. ANPA will be partnering TAFF to showcase the power of medicine and film, while Eke will also speak at the ANPA convention.
Other notable filmmakers participating at TAFF 2018 include Nollywood’s EmemEsong, UcheJombo, Stella Damasus, Charles Billion, Jim Iyke and Nigerian filmmakers in the US; Cameroonian filmmakers Kang Quintus, Ruth Nkweti, Terence Limona, Tiana Bibish and Gambia’s AlhagieManka. Others are Sierra Leone’s Winstina Taylor; Congolese Soleil Marie; Kenya’s Benjamin Onyango and other filmmakers whose works are among the 40 selected films to be showcased at the three-day festival.
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