2021 Pan African Film Festival: A Fine Collection of Black Cinema By Dwight Brown, NNPA Syndication Film Critic Published March 11, 2021 Movie fans attending the 29th PAFF could watch its choice programming on a streaming app or computers, versus making the annual pilgrimage to Los Angeles. The setting is different, but the usual array of international African diaspora films is still impressive. Check out these four festival films that are on view from February 24 to March 14 at paff.org and in theaters near you in the future. “41st & Central: The Untold Story of The L.A. Black Panthers” ( 1/2) If you want to know the real story of the Black Panthers, ask ‘em. That’s what documentarian Gregory Everett did. Through vivid recollections by L.A. Panthers who survived to tell the story, he reconstructs the history of a social/political party that left its mark on the City of Angeles and Black history. Legendary members (Elaine Brown and Kathleen Cleaver) share insightful anecdotes. Less known members (Roland Freeman and Wayne Pharr), who have survived jail sentences and LAPD gun battles, relive both their ups and downs like elders telling folk tales to a village. Before the L.A. chapter was founded, police routinely brutalized African Americans, with impunity. After their rise, which was born out of oppression, channeling anger and fueled by righteousness, police and the militants were at war. Panther commanders, like Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter and John Jerome Huggins, learned their leadership skills running gangs: Slausons, Gladiators, Del Vikings.