Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells is proud to announce the continuation of the 2008 Newark Black Film Festival News Archive

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE

July 24, 2008

Trenton, NJ – Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells is proud to announce the continuation of the 2008 Newark Black Film Festival (NBFF) Thursday, July 24 at 6 p.m. at the State Museum Auditorium with a presentation of The Ditchdigger’s Daughters, an inspirational story of one father’s quest to instill the highest values of love, passion and discipline in his six daughters, lessons that would prove invaluable to overcoming the odds to achieve their most ambitious of personal and professional dreams. Admission for the 2008 Newark Black Film Festival is free.

Based on the national best-selling family biography by Yvonne S. Thorton, The Ditchdigger’s Daughters chronicles the lives of herself and her sisters, and how their father, Donald Thorton, raised them with ideals and values that allowed them to all become accomplished professionals despite growing up in poverty.

Following the presentation, there will be an address by author Yvonne S. Thorton, M.D., MPH, herself – both on the film and her own recollections of her father’s rich and considerable legacy he bestowed to his children.

The 2008 Newark Black Film Festival presentations in Trenton will continue to run Thursday evenings through July 31 and, in all, feature twelve unique works on differing aspects of the African American experience, in addition to eleven other presentations in youth cinema throughout afternoon hours for children.

Made possible by a grant from Bank of America, the Festival is celebrating its thirty-fourth year as the oldest running black film festival in the United States. Dating back to 1974, and growing considerably thanks to the generous support of Bank of America, the Festival expanded to Trenton under the auspices of the New Jersey State Museum in 2003; to Asbury Park, presented by the Monmouth County Arts Council, in 2005; and this year to Camden, presented by Rutgers University – Camden Center for the Arts.

For more information on the history of the Newark Black Film Festival, locations, times and descriptions of the films and their filmmakers, and a list of keynote speakers for this year’s Festival, visit http://www.newarkmuseum.org, http://www.newjerseystatemuseum.org, http://www.monmoutharts.org, and http://www.rutgerscamdenarts.org, respectively.

For more information about the diverse array of services offered under the Department of State, visit http://www.state.nj.us/state. ,