The Oscar-qualifying animated short film The Power of Hope 14-year old director Kalia Love Jones is the youngest director ever selected for the Oscar-qualifying Pan African Film and Arts Festival.

The Power of Hope animated short film has been selected into four Academy Awards qualifying film festivals: Urbanworld Film Festival, LA Shorts International Film Festival, HollyShorts Film Festival, and the Pan African Film and Arts Festival.

The 29th Annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF) will be held virtually from February 28, 2021, to March 14, 2021.

Co-founded in 1992 by actors Danny Glover, the late Ja’Net DuBois, and executive director Ayuko Babu, PAFF has become America’s largest and most prestigious Black film festival. Each year PAFF screens over 190 new Black films from the United States, Africa, the Caribbean, South America, the South Pacific, Europe, Canada, and Asia, made by or about people of African descent.

The 14-year-old filmmaker Kalia Love Jones’s first animated short film, The Power of Hope – inspired by a Michelle Obama speech – tells the inspirational story of a young woman with big dreams. An inspiring architect feels helpless when her mother falls ill, but moved by the words of Michelle Obama, she finds the will to persevere and bring her dreams to life.

The Power of Hope animated short film will be screened at the 2021 Pan African Film and Arts Festival available virtually from February 28, 2021, to March 14, 2021. For more information and tickets, they are available here.

Kahlia Love Jones co-wrote The Power of Hope film’s song and funded the film on her own to prove to her father how serious she was about the film. Kalia Love Jones looks up to influential female figures like Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Ava DuVernay and spends hours every day drawing, crafting, and studying films to create unique animations.

Kalia Love Jones is a 14-year-old filmmaker that is inspiring young women to pursue their animation and filmmaking dreams.

The Power of Hope animated short film and Kalia Love Jones is featured in national media and TV media including FOX 11 TV Good Day LA, ABC 7 TV Los Angeles, CBS News 8 TV San Diego, NBC TV, CW TV, ABC TV, CBS TV, FOX TV, The Kelly Clarkson Show and many more.