TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The works of Kenneth Jones, an award-winning filmmaker and Florida A&M University (FAMU) journalism professor, plus two other FAMU alumni filmmakers, will be showcased during the inaugural Tallahassee Film Festival May 15-17.
Jones’ film “Love & Fate,” an 89-minute feature film, was selected from more than 150 entries from all over the world for the TFF. The film is “about a home for the mentally ill and a young lady who falls in love with a visitor without the visitor knowing her mental status,” said Jones. “Love & Fate” will be shown for free on May 16 at 8 p.m. at the Florida Museum of History’s Heritage Hall, 500 S. Bronough St.
Jones, who serves on the Tallahassee Film Festival Board, said the film cost about $75,000 to produce and was originally distributed on Encore, Starz and Eastern Federal Theatres between 2001 and 2003.
Jones said he is excited about the festival because it will “showcase stories, cultures and environments that you don’t see in the multiplex theatres … It’s important to educate our community about the process of filmmaking. We will have panel discussions and a question and answer session so people can understand the whole film process including writing, directing and producing.”
In addition to Jones’ film, the documentary work of two other FAMU alums will be shown during the festival. For example, Leonard Horton’s “Dawson Days,” a film about the historic, award-winning Tuskegee Choir, won the National Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame Award in 2004. “Dawson Days” will be shown May 17, at 2 p.m. in the All Saints Cinema, 903 Railroad Avenue, and again that same day at 6:30 p.m. at FAMU’s School of Journalism and Graphic Communication Lecture Hall, 510 Orr Drive. Augustine Rho’s “Voice of Rape,” which won a first place Florida AP Award, will be shown on May 16, at 3:45 p.m. in the Museum of Florida History’s Heritage Hall and again on May 17, at 9 p.m. in the FAMU SJGC’s Lecture Hall.
Another film with FAMU ties is “Fear in Florida: When Hate Becomes A Crime,” a film about the bombings on FAMU’s campus in August 2000. It will air May 16, at 3:45 p.m. in the Museum of Florida History’s Heritage Hall and again May 17, at 9 p.m. in the FAMU SJGC Lecture Hall.
FAMU’s SJGC Lecture Hall is one of five venues for the Tallahassee Film Festival. Other venues include the Museum of Florida History’s Heritage Hall, Florida State University Student Life Center Theatre, the FSU Film School Mix Theatre and All Saints Cinema. For more details about the festival, go to
www.tallahasseefilmfestival.com.
About the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication
The School of Journalism and Graphic Communication was founded in 1982. Its Division of Journalism was the first journalism program at a historically black university to be nationally accredited by the ACEJMC. It offers four journalism sequences: newspaper, magazine production, broadcast (radio and television) and public relations.
- 30 -
