Roswell Park to Host Monthlong Festival of Short Films Highlighting Work by African-Americans

BUFFALO, NY — As a commemoration of Black History Month 2014, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (Roswell Park) will host the first-ever Queen City Black Film Festival throughout the month of February. The series, produced in collaboration with the African-American Roswell Employee Network (AREN) and Western New York Minority Media Professionals Inc. (WNYMMP), will feature screenings of independently produced short films that star or were written, produced or directed by African-Americans.

“The purpose of our film festival is to promote independent storytelling in an effort to unite, inform and inspire a broad and diverse audience,” said AREN President Terry Alford.

“The audiences that join us for these screenings will share in the discovery of innovative and unique films, and will also have a chance to hear directly from local film experts before and after the screenings,” added Michael Quinniey, Chairman of WNYMMP, a nonprofit organization committed to promoting social and educational opportunities through media for underserved youth residing throughout Western New York.

Kezia Pearson, a Buffalo-area filmmaker, author, fashion designer and educator, is also helping to organize the festival. 

Thirteen short films will be shown during the course of the four-part festival. Screening dates, titles and details:

• Thursday, February 6 — noon to 1 p.m.: “Room 8,” “The Painter,” “Fly On Out,” “Haze”  
• Thursday, February 13 — noon to 1 p.m.: “Close Your Eyes,” “Rosita Lopez for President,” “El Doctor,” “Scapegoat”          
• Thursday, February 20 — 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.: “A Higher Power,” “Love Supreme,” “Free Lunch”
• Thursday, February 27 — 4:30 pm to 5:30 p.m.: “A Different Tree,” “Colored My Mind”

All film screenings will be held on the Roswell Park campus in the Gaylord-Cary Meeting Rooms, located inside the Research Studies Center directly across from Roswell Park’s main hospital on Carlton Street in Buffalo, NY.

The film festival is free and open to the public; pre-registration is not required.

###

The mission of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is to understand, prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1898, Roswell Park is one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York. The Institute is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers; maintains affiliate sites; and is a partner in national and international collaborative programs. For more information, visit www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email AskRoswell@Roswellpark.org. Follow Roswell Park on Facebook and Twitter.