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The 11th annual Black Harvest International Festival of Film and Video kicks off Thursday night at the Gene Siskel Film Center. The festival is committed to showcasing "the black experience" in all its forms, from movies made here in Chicago to foreign films from places like South Africa and Nigeria. There's even a movie set in Haiti that was made here in Illinois.

This year's opening night is a change of pace from previous years. Instead of screening one feature, the festival is showing four short films. This wise decision allows the programmers to present a variety of perspectives and tones, a nice potpourri that's indicative of the festival at large. My favorite of the four is a brilliant first-person documentary named Hardwood. It's directed by Hubert Davis, who is the son of Chicago native and Harlem Globetrotter "Frail Mel" Davis. The film is initially reminiscent of many first-person documentaries of the past few years (My Architect, Capturing the Friedmans). Hubert even comments in a voiceover, "I couldn't tell my father's story without telling my own, and I couldn't tell my own without telling my family's"--a quotation I swear I've heard in at least a couple films before. What sets Hardwood apart, though, is that it's not some narcissistic enterprise designed to flatter the director. He explores his father's past as well as his present, and has the good grace to give equal screentime to his own half-brother, who was left without a father when Mel went to live with Hubert's mom. The short might only be a half hour, but it does a beautiful job of thinking about the legacy of absent fathers while also recognizing how a father might still care about the son he's left behind. The editing beautifully mixes archival footage and old photographs with present-day interviews, and the cinematography, especially of south-side Chicago, is stunning. Hardwood was justifiably nominated for an Oscar this past winter. It's one of the best things I've seen all year.

Another fine short on the program has a much different outlook, though it's almost as enjoyable. In His Kiss is a hilarious eight-minute portrait of a relationship that's almost ruined by cultural differences. In this case, the man is an African prince (literally), while the woman is a down-to-earth African-American who dreams of living in her prince's castle. There's a lot of mugging for the camera, but Dawn Marie Guest as the woman is fantastic. And the ending is a masterpiece of comic editing. Rounding out the night are two shorts that don't quite measure up to their program-mates but are certainly worthwhile. "The Male Groupie" features a performance by Chicago actor Morocco Omari as a hanger-on to a famous rapper, while The Missing Peace (the aforementioned movie about Haiti) does an amazing job of making the Kankakee area look like that Caribbean country. Opening night (Aug. 4) is hosted by Wayne Johnson of NBC-5 and always sells out, so make sure to arrive early. And if you can't attend that evening, each of the shorts is being shown in other shorts programs throughout the festival.

The best feature film I've seen so far in the festival is Beat the Drum (Aug. 5, 9 & 18), a strong drama about AIDS in South Africa. It stars Junior Singo as a young boy named Musa whose parents (and many other relatives) have died of the disease. The local witch doctors kill the family's cow in a vain sacrifice to the ancestors, and Musa's cousin is molested by her teacher. That's a lot of suffering to absorb in the first fifteen minutes, but the movie isn't one long cry-fest (though there are certainly some sentimental moments). The reason is that Musa emerges as a forceful character who, as he heads to Johannesburg looking for work, is smart enough to look after himself and kind enough to watch out for those around him. He makes friends with a trucker (a warm performance from Owen Sajake, In My Country) who's grown callous about the disease as well a teenage girl trying to make it on the streets. Some of the subplots, which all involve people who either have AIDS or are affected by it, come off as didactic, and debut screenwriter David McBrayer certainly has a drum he wants to beat (literally in one scene). But given the importance of the issue, I can overlook these shortcomings. And besides, Musa is such a marvelous protagonist I would be willing to follow him almost anywhere. That director David Hickson captures the South African landscape in such brilliant hues makes it all the better.

I'm also happy to recommend one other night of shorts. As I mentioned in last week's feature on the festival, each shorts program has been designed around a common theme. The one entitled Urban Visions (Aug. 6 & 11) has a particularly nice mix. The best is Shooter, a tale of a teenage girl whose older sister is wanted for armed robbery. The short uses a smart flashback structure, and the lead performance from Jamie Burton-Oare is fantastic. Among Thieves used the same cinematographer, John O'Shaughnessy, who grew up in Chicago and attended Columbia College. His use of lighting in both shorts is brilliant. While the story of Among Thieves isn't quite as strong as Shooter's, it hits the hot-button issues of assisted suicide and African-American crime. Rounding out the program is the Chicago-made Walt Brother Walt which had me scratching my head at first and then laughing out loud by the end. The Male Groupie gets another screening, and then women who are angry at the men in their lives might enjoy Mean Jadine.

Besides the movies, the Black Harvest festival also hosts a series of events for aspiring filmmakers. The popular panel discussion "How to Get a Movie Made" is free and takes place Sun. Aug. 7 at 3 p.m. Then on Thurs., Aug. 11, there's a panel on "Hip Hop in the Movies." Other highlights of the festival include a sneak preview of John Singleton's new movie Four Brothers (Aug. 6, special benefit prices apply) as well as a showing of a new documentary on the late, great Oscar Brown, Jr. with a post-film musical tribute by his daughter. That takes place Sun., Aug. 13.

There are a host of other features and shorts, so check out www.siskelfilmcenter.org for a complete schedule.