A marathon event of films ranging from topics like veteran affairs to hip hop will be shown at the Art Theater on May 21 in the second annual Hope and Freedom Film Festival.
The free festival will run from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Art Theater, located at Fourth Street and Cherry Avenue. Immediately following the festival, there will be free live music across the street, at the 4th Street Vine.
The festival started three years ago as a class project at Cal State Long Beach, and has since grown to a larger event.
The variety of films share common themes, such as the pursuit of freedom from hatred, discrimination and oppressive conditions. The festival aims to create a society where all individuals have equal rights.
“One of the things that we tend to do is face the media by ourselves … We never watch the screen with many people in the larger community.” Festival Director Kevin A. Johnson said. “It’s important for people to be exposed to more cult artistic films that the mainsream media do not cover all that much.”
Topics such as hip hop, sexuality and war-related trauma will be presented in the films. A discussion will follow the films, and special guests will include many of the filmmakers and experts in the themes of the films.
“We took that idea and turned it into the festival that it is today,” said Assistant Director of the Festival Jens-Oliver Pukke. “We’re using different contributions to promote the festival as well as carry the message of it.”
Pukke and Johnson plan to continue to increase the popularity of the festival over the coming years.
“Our goal is to have slow and steady growth until we can acheive a world-class film, arts and music festival in the city of Long Beach that bridges CSULB with the Long Beach community and the rest of the world,” Johnson said.
For a complete list of the films and showtimes, visit thehfff.org.
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