November 5 | Volume 30 No. 33

Senegal's Youth Olympics' Welcome Should Include Everyone

By Larissa Kojoué and Minky Worden

Thursday, November 5, 2026

Third Annual Inland Film Festival Celebrates Local Filmmakers

When the Olympic flame is lit in Dakar on October 31, Senegal will become the first African country to host an Olympic event. Nearly 3,000 athletes from 206 countries will compete at the Youth Olympics under the motto “Africa Welcomes, Dakar Celebrates.” Organizers have promised to greet them with teranga, a word that refers to the Senegalese tradition of hospitality, sharing and generosity. On September 24, Senegal’s President

Bassirou

Diomaye Faye told the UN General Assembly: “By welcoming the world’s youth, Senegal will be hosting much more than just a sporting competition.” He said hosting the Youth Olympic Games shows “our differences [are] a strength, our diversity a richness, and our common humanity the foundation of peace.” These lofty values are, however, in stark contrast to a law adopted in March that provides for a 10-year maximum prison term for consensual same-sex conduct and punishes “promotion” of homosexuality, or financial or other support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and organizations.

A new Human Rights Watch report documents rights abuses under the amended law, including mass arrests, forced HIV testing, barriers to accessing legal representation, and degrading detention conditions.

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SAN BERNARDINO, CA — From a comedy set in Moreno Valley to a documentary by a Fontana high school student, Inland Empire stories took center stage at the third annual Inland Film Festival. Produced by Arts Connection, the Arts Council of San Bernardino County, the 2026 festival featured 71 films, nearly 60 per cent of them made by Inland Empire filmmakers. This year’s call for films also drew international submissions from as far away as Brazil and Korea. The festival wrapped October 24 in Fontana, where INFINITY! took home the Best of Fest award. The celebration began September 4, when more than 80 filmmakers gathered at KVCR Public Media for the Nominee Reveal and Mixer. Christian De Leon Gonzalez set his short comedy You Got a Light? in familiar Moreno Valley locations. Fontana student film maker Adriana Garcia explored the pressures young athletes face in Pressure To Perform. Lizbeth Calleja and Mayra Cortez told a multigenerational story set in a Hemet mobile home community in Tú y Yo, and Colton animator Adriannah Quiroz drew on music and years-old storyboards for I Thought of This One in My Car. On October 17, audiences had five theaters to explore at Regal San Bernardino, with a lineup spanning animation, documentaries, experimental films, music videos, narrative films, student productions and series pilots. The festival picked up in Fontana on October 23 with the free Storytellers Summit at Steelworkers’ Auditorium. A keynote, industry panel, and hands-on workshops gave students, emerging filmmak ers, and working creatives time to sharpen their skills, swap ideas, and meet others making films in the Inland Empire.

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