BlackStar films by and for the young
On Saturday at the Annenberg School for Communication, the BlackStar Film Festival spotlights movies by local youths and kids from around the country, screening short films written, directed, and produced by African American filmmakers 14 to 22. The festival, which features indie black films, continues through Sunday at International House with celebrity appearances and post-film Q&A sessions.
On Saturday at the Annenberg School for Communication, the BlackStar Film Festival spotlights movies by local youths and kids from around the country, screening short films written, directed, and produced by African American filmmakers 14 to 22. The festival, which features indie black films, continues through Sunday at International House with celebrity appearances and post-film Q&A sessions.
Saturday's cinematic journey begins at 1:30 p.m. with the full-length film Troop 491: The Adventures of the Muddy Lions, about a young boy caught between the code of the street and the Boy Scouts. Beginning at 3, short films by students and young adults from Strawberry Mansion High School, Temple and La Salle Universities, the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition, New Media Technology Charter School, and more will be screened consecutively.
Actress Eden Duncan-Smith, 14, will moderate a Q&A with the young filmmakers. Duncan-Smith has costarred with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in August Wilson's Tony-winning Fences and is starring in Sony Pictures' remake of Annie as foster child Isabella.
The festival's free Saturday youth programming is presented by Peco.
Everything's better with bacon
The Second Annual (Kevin) Bacon Fest hits the Oval on Benjamin Franklin Parkway Friday with bacon treats, a bacon launch, and a movie screening that includes, of course, Kevin Bacon.
Bacon-themed trucks will offer samplings of all things bacon, from pork to beef to turkey. The Franklin Institute sponsors a bacon space capsule where attendees can watch the bacon astronaut launch into "space." The film Apollo 13 will follow.
The event is sponsored by Godshall's Turkey Bacon.
Embrace the ogre
The Mainstage show at Upper Darby Summer Stage presents Shrek the Musical this weekend at Upper Darby Performing Arts Center.
Things get weird when a ghastly ogre shows up to rescue a princess along with a talking donkey, a villain, and more oddities that make this journey in a majestic land very entertaining. Based on the Oscar-winning film, the production features a score of 19 new songs.