All Roads Film Festival Starts Tonight

The Egyptian's hosting the All Roads Film Festival this wekend. / Photo by Brad Herman via LAist's flickr pool.

National Geographic’s 5th Annual All Roads Film Festival begins tonight and lasts though Sunday at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. It’s a showcase of films from around the world, with a focus on stories from indigenous and underrepresented minority cultures. During the festival, there’ll be music performances, art and, of course, film screenings.

Here are a few of the festival’s highlights:

-- Somali-born, hip-hop artist K'NAAN will take to the stage tonight at 9:30 pm for a concert of material from his latest album. He’s seen a lot of violence in war-torn Somalia, but now he serves as a peacemaker and a cultural ambassador between the developing world and the West.

-- The All Roads Photography Exhibit is a free exhibit in the Egyptian courtyard, open from 10 am-8 pm during the festival. Photographers from Argentina, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh will be on display.

-- Italian singer-songwriter Carmen Consoli will perform at the Hotel Cafe as part of the festival tomorrow (Friday) night at 11. Tickets are $10.

-- Under the Bombs is the LA premiere of Lebanese filmmaker Philip Aractingi. The film follows an odd pair as they travel through war-torn Lebanon looking for the woman's sister and son. The film screens tomorrow night at 7:30.

-- The Linguists, a film from the United States/Russia/India/Bolivia, tells the story of linguists David Harrison and Gregory Anderson on a whirlwind race against time to document endangered languages before the last fluent speakers die. The film screens at 7:30 pm on Saturday.

Check out the complete schedule here.