{"id":107862,"date":"2021-08-23T23:21:30","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T03:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=107862"},"modified":"2021-08-23T23:21:53","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T03:21:53","slug":"artsquests-frank-banko-alehouse-cinemas-relaunch-lgbtq-film-series-all-screenings-free-to-attend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=107862","title":{"rendered":"ARTSQUEST\u2019S FRANK BANKO ALEHOUSE CINEMAS RELAUNCH LGBTQ+ FILM SERIES, ALL SCREENINGS FREE TO ATTEND"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo from the film\u00a0Swan Song<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Series kicks off on Aug. 28 with\u00a0Swan Song<\/em>, plus an appearance from director Todd Stephens<\/h3>\n

BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2013 ArtsQuest\u2019s Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas will restart its LGBTQ+ Film Series \u2013 which previously ran every year from 2012 through 2019 \u2013 on Sat., Aug 28 at 6:30 p.m. with a screening of the award-winning feature\u00a0Swan Song<\/em>. Todd Stephens, the film\u2019s director, will be in attendance to participate in a talkback\/question and answer session after the film. Tickets are free and can be reserved at\u00a0steelstacks.org\/film<\/a>\u00a0or by calling the ArtsQuest Box Office at 610.332.3378.<\/p>\n

The LGBTQ+ Film Series, when produced prior to the pandemic, would last for one month of the year and tickets cost $10 each. Thanks to grant support from the Neighborhood Assistance Tax Credit Program, the series will now run throughout the year and will be free to attend. The series is also now curated by three of ArtsQuest\u2019s Cinema Committee members: Alessandra Fanelli, Catherine Ford and Adrianna Gober.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am beyond ecstatic to be playing a role in the return of the LGBTQ+ Film Series, which is now more accessible than ever,\u201d says Gober, who also serves as the co-curator of the cinema\u2019s First Saturday Horror Series. \u201cWe aim to highlight films from the rich history of queer cinema that are not only diverse in genre, style and country of origin, but also inclusive of a wide and diverse scope of LGBTQ+ identities, experiences and perspectives and to share them with the community.\u00a0Swan Song\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0themes of queer resilience, connection and reconciling inter-generational differences, explored through an authentic queer voice, make it a perfect choice to kick the series back off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swan Song<\/em>, the winner of the 2021 NewFest Pride Audience Award, stars renowned actor Udo Kier as retired hairdresser Pat Pitsenbarger, who escapes the confines of his small-town Sandusky, Ohio nursing home after learning of his former client\u2019s dying wish for him to style her final hairdo. Pat embarks on an odyssey to confront the ghosts of his past \u2013 and collect the beauty supplies necessary for the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am thrilled to be coming to Bethlehem,\u201d says Stephens, whose credits also include writing 1998\u2019s\u00a0Edge of Seventeen<\/em>\u00a0and writing and directing 2001\u2019s\u00a0Gypsy 83<\/em>, among others. \u201cBethlehem reminds me a lot of my own hometown of Sandusky, Ohio, where Swan Song is set. The film is about a man and his town coming back to life \u2014 and I have watched the same thing happen in the Lehigh Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following is the list of events taking place as part of the screening of Swan Song:
\n\u2022 6:30 p.m. \u2013 DJ set by Goodnight Stars Goodnight Air
\n\u2022 7:30 p.m. \u2013 Opening remarks from the curators and Director Todd Stephens
\n\u2022 7:45p.m. \u2013 Screening of\u00a0Swan Song<\/em>
\n\u2022 9:30p.m. \u2013 Talkback\/Q&A with Stephens<\/p>\n

The next film in the LGBTQ+ Film Series will be 1999\u2019s\u00a0But I\u2019m a Cheerleader<\/em>, starring Natasha Lyonne, on Thurs., Oct. 7. Full details will be announced soon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About ArtQuest<\/strong>
\nArtsQuest\u2019s <\/a>mission is to provide access to exceptional artistic, cultural and educational experiences using arts and culture as key elements of economic development for our urban communities. ArtsQuest\u2122 supports this mission via the presentation of performing and visual arts, film, arts education classes and outreach, youth programming and cultural events.<\/p>\n

Through festivals such as its flagship event, Musikfest<\/a>; the Banana Factory Arts Center; and the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks<\/a> arts and cultural campus, ArtsQuest\u2019s programming reaches more than 1.9 million people annually. The organization\u2019s programs and events, approximately 50 percent of which are free to attend, have a combined economic impact of more than $136 million annually in the region. ArtsQuest is a proud member of NIVA, the National Independent Venue Association<\/a> and NATO, the National Association of Theatre Owners<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nNicole Harrell
\nArtsQuest Director of Communications
\nhttp:\/\/www.artsquest.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo from the film\u00a0Swan Song   Series kicks off on Aug. 28 with\u00a0Swan Song, plus an appearance from director Todd Stephens BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2013 ArtsQuest\u2019s Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas will … Continue reading ARTSQUEST\u2019S FRANK BANKO ALEHOUSE CINEMAS RELAUNCH LGBTQ+ FILM SERIES, ALL SCREENINGS FREE TO ATTEND<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5715,69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artsquest","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Swan-Song.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107862"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/107863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}