Langston Hughes Film Festival grows and it shows

The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival took a big jump last year, expanding from three days to nine. Now in its fourth year, the festival is back and even bigger: still nine days long, but now with 48 feature-length and short films, up from around 40 in 2006.

"We survived the test of last year!" said festival curator Zola Mumford, happy relief in her voice.

This year's edition, which begins Saturday at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center in Seattle's Central District, follows up on some lessons learned last time. For example, Mumford noted, audiences requested more films suitable for kids and families. The result is a special after-school screening Wednesday that includes short films made by local young filmmakers, and a school screening of the animated series "Adopted by Aliens," with filmmakers Shawnee and Shawnelle Gibbs discussing their work and Flash animation.

And the closing-day event is crafted to appeal to all ages. "The Federation of Black Cowboys," directed by Eric Martz, is a documentary about an urban ranch in Brooklyn, N.Y., that runs a youth mentorship program. Prior to the screening, an outdoor horse-and-rider event, featuring African-American horse enthusiasts from around the state, will take place on the lawn outside the Langston Hughes center. The screening will be followed by a barbecue.

The closing film fits nicely into what Mumford described as this year's unofficial theme: "telling unusual stories," whether in features, documentaries or interactive workshops. Opening night brings a restored rarity: "The Spook Who Sat by the Door," a '70s studio film about a black CIA agent (Lawrence Cook) who uses his espionage skills to launch an underground movement. Co-screenwriter Samuel Greenlee, on whose novel the film was based, will attend opening night for a Q&A and book signing.

"The Spook ... " has an unusual story offscreen as well. Mumford described its troubled 1973 release: "The film played for about one month to packed houses, cities with large black populations. Then the word got out about the actual content of the film — the idea of a CIA-trained person using those skills to work against [the CIA] — and it was quickly pulled out of theaters. All of the prints were said to have vanished."

The film was unavailable on video for many years, but a restored version recently was released on DVD after the negatives and soundtrack were found in the United Artists vault.

Documentaries continue to form a strong backbone of the festival. Filmmaker donnie l. betts will host a post-screening Q&A Thursday for his film "Music Is My Life, Politics My Mistress," about musician/social activist Oscar Brown Jr. "Invisible Universe," a documentary that examines black people as characters and creators in science fiction, screens Tuesday night, with filmmaker M. Asli Dukan in attendance.

Friday night brings director David Walker with his documentary "Macked, Hammered, Slaughtered and Shafted," about the history and significance of the sex- and violence-filled blaxploitation films of the '70s, which were an economic boost for Hollywood. "[Blaxploitation films] were cheap, and they made a lot of money for studios," Mumford said. "They also were a training ground to provide practical skills to black people who wanted to learn how to run camera, run sound — you could work on blaxploitation and kind of get your foot in the door. The documentary looks at the meaning of blaxploitation and isn't just laughing at the stereotypical characters, but looking at what the real impact of the films ended up being."

"Macked ... " will be followed by a special offsite event: "Dolemite Explosion," a tribute to actor/writer/producer Rudy Ray Moore, whose character Dolemite was the centerpiece of several blaxploitation films. Moore will be present to reflect on his career; the event is at the Royal Esquire Club at 5016 Rainier Ave. S., and is for those 18 and over.

Two more feature-length documentaries explore violence against women: Aishah Simmons' "No! The Rape Documentary," screening Thursday, examines the stories of black female rape survivors; and Tuesday's "W.O.E. (Walking on Eggshells)," by local filmmaker Nation Son Holmes, looks at the issue of domestic violence.

Holmes is not the only local to be featured in the festival, which continues its tradition of supporting Northwest filmmakers. Malik Isasis will present his new feature "Naked Life," a drama shot in and around Seattle and Berlin, on Wednesday night. Screenwriter C. Rosalind Bell will present a screenplay-writing workshop Saturday, followed by a screening of her film "Tootie Pie," about two little girls from different class backgrounds in the '60s American South. The film, directed by Virginia Bogert, was shot in Pierce and Thurston counties.

The festival also includes a selection of lesbian/gay films presented with Seattle Black Pride on Sunday, an African film marathon on Saturday the 28th and several themed packages of short films.

It's a rich slate for a festival that, in Mumford's words, "tries to tell the stories that might not make it to the multiplex screens, but are, all the same, very real and have strong characters, really compelling story lines. That's what we found the audience liked. They liked seeing different points of view."

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com