Founded in 2007 by Senegalese filmmaker and New Orleans resident Joseph Gaamaka and Eileen Julien, a native New Orleanian and professor of French, comparative literature, and African diaspora studies at Indiana University, the New Orleans Afrikan Film and Arts Festival Project (NOAFEST) exposes the New Orleans public to new ideas and other worlds through multi-media events involving film, music, and dance, as well as literary or visual arts.  We strive to cultivate the excitement and energy produced by encounter and exchange between the artists whom we bring to our screenings and spectators.  Africa and its diasporas are points of departure though which we open ourselves to the world.  

Thanks especially to a multi-year grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, 2010-11 will be a year of building on past initiatives and creating new ones.

The Annual Toni Cade Bambara Award for Cultural Leadership is a monetary award which we will offer annually to a cultural worker or workers who have contributed significantly to the cultural and artistic diversity of the City.  We will host a celebration to present the first annual Toni Cade Bambara Award for Cultural Leadership on October 1, as the opening event of the 2010 Mississippi River 9th Ward Film and Arts Festival. 

The 2010 Mississippi River 9th Ward Film and Arts Festival will be held October 1 through October10 in venues around the city.  Our objective is to screen international and domestic films in the presence of filmmakers in a festive atmosphere with food and drink, live music performances and other arts. 

Cinéma Première is a monthly celebration of new international and American films, preceded by short live performances of new music or other arts, followed by discussion with the filmmakers, and premiering in diverse New Orleans neighborhoods.   Cinéma Première's free screenings and performances have brought together a public that is multi-racial, multi-generational, of differing educational and socio-economic backgrounds, encompassing the diversity of New Orleans, yet united by the desire to enjoy powerful artistic experiences.  The festive atmosphere of Cinéma Première events favors camaraderie, spirited interpretation and debate and allows audiences to share and connect through their differences.

In 2010-11, Cinéma Première will host independent filmmakers and hold screenings of their films at the Cafè Rose Nicaud  (September 24, October 22, November 19) and the French Market (February 18, March 18, April 15).

NOAFEST is a public charity exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.