The Juneteenth Florida Arts and Film Festival or JFAFF offers an exciting platform for emerging filmmakers to premier four documentaries and introduces a distinguished festival. Each documentary/film makes a powerful statement in a condensed format.
JFAFF aims to support aspiring filmmakers in their career development by bringing fresh perspectives to the film industry. The JFAFF provides a platform for filmmakers to stretch their artistic creativity in Central Florida.
JFAFF is supported by the National Juneteenth Films Initiative and is proud to announce the four shortlisted filmmakers who will have the opportunity to showcase their talent at the prestigious JFAFF in Lakeland Florida with sponsors: Polk State College, MidFlorida, Morris & Leah West Foundation, The African American Chamber of Commerce Polk County Inc, and The Bailey Family.
Personally, it has been a rewarding experience and honor to showcase this level of vibrant, intuitive, and exceptionalism. Each filmmaker/director shares an enriching experience and passion for the craft.
The Filmmaker’s films were selected for their unique stories in 10 minutes to 90 minutes short films or feature documentaries adhering to the theme of the “Juneteenth Wave of Freedom ”. The caliber of shortlisted applicants is a testament to their challenge to resonate deeply with the current cultural climate to captivate audiences.
The JFAFF judges are Paula Edwards, Florida; Lee Jordan, Minnesota; Barry Martin, Atlanta; Tim Myrick, Michigan; and Ramona Roberts, Florida. The overall winners were announced as part of the FilmFreeWay system on 14 June 2023.
Featured documentary is African American descendants living in Samana, Dominican Republic – Runtime 20 Minutes
An important historical film because it discusses the freed blacks living in Philadelphia who fled to the Dominican Republic (what was then Haiti) and their descendants who live there today. A lot of people don’t know this history. If you go on the island’s northern coast, you will meet a lot of Blacks with English last names.
Also, “it’s a very grassroots film that Claytor believes the information would be very important and informative for this audience to hear and also cater to the many Latinos we have living in Polk who also don’t know about this history.”
Directed by Stephanie Claytor, who is an author, travel blogger, and an experienced, award-winning bilingual multimedia reporter who is passionate about travel. Stephanie is the creator of the travel blog, www.blacktrekking.com, and the author of “Kyler Treks to Ghana,” and “Blacktrekking: My Journey Living in Latin America.” When she’s not traveling and writing blog posts, she’s speaking to youth about the importance of travel or freelance writing for publications across the United States. Stephanie spent the first 10 years of her career as a television reporter, covering the news in Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, New Mexico and Florida. Many of her news stories have made national news and continue to do so.
The four shortlisted films are:
1. “AFRIKAN BY WAY OF AMERICAN” Runtime: 44:50
– The Hiztorical Vision Productions (HVP) team, with the assistance of the Africatown community, tells the story of the legacy and future of the Africatown community in Mobile, Alabama. The film highlights many unsung heroes that played a pivotal role and contributed to this unique African settlement. This film has been made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Director Theo M. Moore II founded Hiztorical Vision Productions (HVP) in Lee County, Alabama, in 2017. HVP is a 501 c(3) nonprofit organization that educates the public on the untold-but-inspiring history of African Americans in the South. Moore is originally from Anniston, Alabama, but attended Troy University in Troy, Alabama, during his collegiate career. At Troy University, Moore earned a B.S. in History and an M.S. in Post-Secondary Education-History. Currently, Moore is a Collections Manager at Tuskegee University’s Legacy Museum and a first-year Ed.D. student. JFAFF’s Best in Festival Theme
2. “ALEMANJI ” Runtime 01:41:00 – Alemanji (2023) is the new comedy movie starring Stamaur Mitchell, Dulo Harris and Chinna Palmer. Facing severe consequences of being sent back home to his country, Alemanji Fouka (Stamaur Mitchell) has to decide whether partying with his friends and possibly landing the girl of his dream is worth disobeying his strict parents (Dulo Harris & Nnenna Ngwu).
Directed by Chuckwunonso Dureke. Note: Movie Premiere 50 minutes.
JFAFF’s Best Full Feature Film
3. “THE ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST AFRICAN IN ENGLISH AMERICA” Runtime 55:24. In 2019, Americans commemorated the four hundredth anniversary of the first documented Africans in English America, who arrived in Virginia from Angola in August 1619. This momentous arrival, an event that inspired new scholarship on the meaning of our nation’s origins and founding principles, as well as fierce controversy over the legacy of slavery. Based on the book the Arrival of the First Africans in Virginia (2020), the documentary considers all the forces at play in this complex story: international politics during the era of European maritime exploration; the rich if not well understood history and culture of West Africa; the role of religion, from the indigenous to the institutionalized; the transatlantic slave trade; and the often-tragic consequences of global financial competition, piracy, and corruption. Most of all, the story of these thirty-two Africans, finally returning to them something that history and all its controversies had stolen: their voices.
Director Ric Murphy is an acclaimed historian, educator, lecturer and has received multiple awards for his documentary Arrival of the First Africans in English America (Verity Media, 2023), based on his award-winning book Arrival of the First Africans in Virginia (History Press, 2020). JFAFF’s Best of Festival
4. “DESTINY MADE” Runtime 14:22 – After several stints in jail, Ashenka’s re-entry into her children’s life was hard after never confronting a loss as Destiny Made looks at how her time in jail affected her older children’s path. JFAFF’s Best Short Documentary
Director Joenique Rose – Originally from Central Florida, Joenique C. Rose moved to Los Angeles, CA in 2008 to attend USC where she earned a Master of Education in Post-Secondary Administration and Student Affairs in 2010. After graduation she worked at the USC Volunteer Center for 4 years as a supervisor all while studying and understanding writing and producing. She completed several programs, including a Certificate for Writing for Television from UCLA. After her short, KEYS, that she produced, wrote and directed, she enrolled at the AFI Conservatory as a Producing Fellow. She is a recent alum of Film Independent’s Project Involve Fellowship where she produced the short, EMERGENCY, which has won the Special Jury Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, Narrative Shorts Jury Award at SXSW, Best Narrative Short at the Bend Film Festival and the Harness Social Impact Award at the NBCUniversal Short Film Festival.
Rose is a filmmaker based in LA and the Manager of Inclusion and Diversity at a local film school.
The official Juneteenth Observance Lakeland Committee is observing its 31st year in Polk County, Florida, and the second year’s legal holiday. Juneteenth is the 11th federal holiday in the United States, which commemorates the next to the last enslaved ancestors in Texas to receive the news of freedom two and a half years later.
For more information about the Thirty-First Annual Juneteenth Florida Arts and Film Festival, including film schedules and ticket availability, please visit https://www.juneteenthflorida.org
Schedule:
July 1, 2023, 11 AM – 8 PM Polk State College Lakeland Campus
11:00 Welcome and Introduction of Sponsors – Ramona Roberts
11:15 Presentation of Guests – Judges/Filmmakers – Lee Jordan
11:45 Presentation – Preserving Black American History Through Song
in the Dominican Republic (Premier Intro – 20:00 running time)
Discussion & Q & A with (judges/filmmakers)
12:15 Break
12:45 Presentation – Afrikans by Way of America (44:50 running time)
Discussion & Q & A with (judges/filmmakers)
1:45 Break
2:15 Presentation – Alemanji (1:41 running time)
Discussion & Q & A with (judges/filmmakers)
4:00 Break
4:30 Presentation – Arrival of the First Africans in America (55:24 running time)
Discussion & Q & A with (judges/filmmakers)
5:45 Break
6:15 Presentation – Destiny Made (14:22 running time)
Discussion & Q & A
6:45 Closing remarks – Doris Moore Bailey
7:00 Reception and Mingle!
8:00 Event Ends