Special guest: Mario Van Peebles

Mario Van Peebles, film and tv director, actor, producer, and writer, tours Finland this week honouring our Black History Month dedicated to the representations of African-Americans in the cinema. Mario is not only a talented artist but also a serious thinker in world affairs, a nice guy and a devoted father of five children. He gave an inspired speech to launch our historical retrospective of African-American cinema. Also Pirkka Kivenheimo, the leading Finnish expert on the topic, gave a solid introduction. The cinema was packed. Organized by the U.S. Embassy. Cinema Orion, 1 Feb 2010.