The “Black Is Culturefeast,” formally known as the Denver Pan African Film Festival, marks its eighth year with a five-day celebration beginning April 25. The event is a collaboration between the Pan African Arts Society (PAAS), Denver Film Society, Eulipions Fund, Just Media, Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, and the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District, and features film, theater, live music and performance arts.

“We decided to focus on the most popular aspects of (festivals) of the past as a way to transition the organizational and community mindset about the event,” said PAAS founder and Artistic Director Ashara Ekundayo. “We’re highlighting the performance events that have always been a major part of the celebration, but were taken for granted because it was deemed a ‘film festival.’

This is a year of firsts for the festival, which includes such new venues as the Crossroads Arts Center, new partners such as the Denver Art Museum, and a new staff. This year’s films were hand-selected by Black Film Festival directors from Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The 2007 CultureFeast will open at Landmark’s Mayan Theatre on Wednesday, April 25 at 7 p.m. with award-winning Nigerian-British filmmaker Ngozi Onwurah’s Shoot The Messenger. It is a story about a teacher with a mission to save youngsters from a life of crime and underachievement. The evening also will include a VIP soiree at Rule Gallery and a reception at LaRhumba in the Golden Triangle District. The PAAS Achievement Awards and a concert performance will be emceed by hip-hop veteran Bahamadia.

The festival continues April 26 in the Five Points and North Tennyson neighborhoods with provocative art and performances. On April 28, the youth-organized “BrownSuga Fest” returns to the Auraria campus. Children and young adults will engage in a half day of hip-hop activities including interaction with deejays, break dancers, emcees, graffiti artists, civic organizations and activists for a series of performances and interactive sessions bent toward “conscious consumerism” and educational development. Performers include the I-Zon Dance Ensemble, Monti Cleva, emcee/poet/student filmmaker Jai Harris, and Acumen-1 from Colorado Springs.

Final day happenings on April 29 include movie screenings, Denver Urban Spectrum’s Fade2Black party, with live music from Dragonfly with Selina Albright, and the “Audience Choice” film awards. The Community ‘Activist’ Awards will recognize Thedora Jackson, Twisted Sol, the Mercury Café, Sisters of Color United for Education, and the Institute of Indigenous Cultural Studies. These awards are presented to organizations or individuals who work to encourage, engage and support arts education, personal creativity and community engagement, often without public recognition.

As the largest Black cultural arts gathering in the Rocky Mountain region, over the years it has brought such cultural luminaries as Maya Angelou, Melvin & Mario Van Peebles, Don Cheadle, and Cicely Tyson to town.

Editor’s note: Tickets for festival events are available at their venues. Movie tickets, available at the Starz FilmCenter Box Office, are $9 general, $6 for elders, students and Denver Film Society members. Other BICF prices range from free to $30. For more information and schedules, visit www.panafricanarts.org or call (303) 298-8188.