Featured Events in Lancaster in February, 2025(November Updated)

For over 30 years Thomas Allen Harris has been creating deeply personal films that re-interpret the idea of documentary, autobiography, and personal archive. This Body of Work will showcase two documentaries – Vintage: Families of Value and Family Pictures USA – featuring rarely-seen footage. As a Black queer artist, Thomas Allen Harris’ digital archive from the 1980s and 90’s captures themes of identity, community, and self-actualization. Through the personal documentation of himself, his family, and his community, Thomas examines the full range of the human condition while preserving the present moment. February 20, 2025 at 7:00 PM Vintage: Families of Value by Thomas Allen Harris (USA, 1995, 72 minutes) Vintage is a meditative and reflexive look at black families through the eyes of black lesbian and gay siblings. Contrasting traditional documentaries, Vintage places the camera in the hands of family members to construct a collective autobiographical presentation of the family. Interweaving conversations among family members, verite documentary footage, dramatic portrayals, experimental recreations, visual abstractions, music television strategies, and archival photographs, Vintage is a mosaic of extended black families. Thomas Allen Harris is a critically acclaimed, interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and scholar whose work explores family, identity, and spirituality. Drawing from the rich canon of African American and African Diaspora literature and arts, he utilizes a wide range of media including video, photography, installations, film, and performance, as well as curation and written texts, to draw audiences into internal and external dialogues that transcend the artificial barriers – personal and social – which separate people from each other and themselves. Harris re-interprets concepts around identity, autobiography, and representation using a model of co-creative socially engaged practice that he has been developing for over three decades. Darah Gaines Martin (she/they) is an NYC-based filmmaker and producer. She is the director of multiple short films and has created and collaborated on various creative projects working as a producer, creative director, videographer, and editor. She is a practitioner of joy and exploration, on a mission to activate deep levels of self-love and acceptance. She graduated from Delaware State University with a B.A. in Public Reltions and Advertising. Currently, Darah works as an associate producer at Little Light Productions under Independent Filmmaker, Luchina Fisher and as an associate producer on Thomas Allen Harris’ upcoming feature documentary film My Mom, The Scientist. Information Source: Scribe Video Center | eventbrite

For over 30 years Thomas Allen Harris has been creating deeply personal films that re-interpret the idea of documentary, autobiography, and personal archive. This Body of Work will showcase two documentaries – Vintage: Families of Value and Family Pictures USA – featuring rarely-seen footage. As a Black queer artist, Thomas Allen Harris’ digital archive from the 1980s and 90’s captures themes of identity, community, and self-actualization. Through the personal documentation of himself, his family, and his community, Thomas examines the full range of the human condition while preserving the present moment. February 21, 2025 at 7:00 PM Family Pictures USA by Thomas Allen Harris (USA, 2019, 3 episodes) Out of this methodology, in 2019, Harris created the PBS series Family Pictures USA, a new format of television that takes a radical look at neighborhoods and cities of the United States through the lens of family photographs, collaborative performances, and personal testimony sourced from their communities. In 2021, Harris launched the Family Pictures Institute for Inclusive Storytelling to expand upon this work through robust research, evaluation, scholarly discussion, and artistic interpretation. Director Thomas Allen Harris and filmmaker/producer Darah Gaines are expected to join us. Thomas Allen Harris is a critically acclaimed, interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and scholar whose work explores family, identity, and spirituality. Drawing from the rich canon of African American and African Diaspora literature and arts, he utilizes a wide range of media including video, performances, and written texts to draw audiences into internal and external dialogues that transcend the artificial barriers – personal and social – which separate people from each other and themselves. Darah Gaines Martin (she/they) is an NYC-based filmmaker and producer. She has worked on creative projects was a director, producer, creative director, videographer, and editor. She is a practitioner of joy and exploration, on a mission to activate deep levels of self-love and acceptance. She graduated from Delaware State University with a B.A. in Public Relations and Advertising. Currently, Darah works as an associate producer at Little Light Productions and as an associate producer on Thomas Allen Harris’ upcoming feature documentary film My Mom, The Scientist. Cassidy Arrington is a 23 year old nonbinary multi-media artist based in and from Philadelphia with a BA in Ethnicity, Race, & Migration Studies from Yale College. Arrington’s artwork is primarily lens-based and centers intimacy, wilderness, and transience in queer and Black coming of age. Information Source: Scribe Video Center | eventbrite

Patrice: The Movie by Ted Passon (USA, 2024, 101 minutes) preceded by David Block’s “How Sweet the Sound”A feature documentary romantic comedy from award-winning filmmaker, Ted Passon, about the next phase of marriage equality – disability. Patrice has finally found the love of her life, Garry, who is also disabled. They want nothing more than to get married, but if they do - or even if they just move in together - the government benefits they need to survive would be cut. Despite the scrutiny they’re under, they decide to plan a commitment ceremony that could risk their entire future. Patrice’s present-day battles are informed by her past. The film interweaves vérité scenes with recreated scenes from her past life imbued with her art and her uniquely tragicomic joie de vivre - Patrice designed the sets and co-wrote the scripts. Starring a cast of children, with Patrice as the only adult playing herself at every age, we see the struggles Patrice endured to get the house, the job, and the life that she’s now fighting to keep. Ted Passon is an award-winning director, writer, producer, and video artist. He created and directed the critically acclaimed docuseries Philly D.A., along with co-director Yoni Brook and producer Nicole Salazar. The series had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and had its international premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, becoming the first docuseries to ever screen there. It was named, “One of the best TV shows of 2021” by TIME, The NY Times, Variety, The LA Times, The Hollywood Reporter, The Washington Post, Vulture, Vogue, Slate, The Ringer, and Indiewire. He is a co-founder of All Ages Productions, a full-service film and video production company, and a board member of the Blackstar Film Festival. Preceded by David Block’s, How Sweet the Sound, the short documentary focuses on the blind African American street singer, John Sutton. Information Source: Scribe Video Center | eventbrite

Patrice: The Movie by Ted Passon (USA, 2024, 101 minutes) preceded by David Block’s “How Sweet the Sound”A feature documentary romantic comedy from award-winning filmmaker, Ted Passon, about the next phase of marriage equality – disability. Patrice has finally found the love of her life, Garry, who is also disabled. They want nothing more than to get married, but if they do - or even if they just move in together - the government benefits they need to survive would be cut. Despite the scrutiny they’re under, they decide to plan a commitment ceremony that could risk their entire future. Patrice’s present-day battles are informed by her past. The film interweaves vérité scenes with recreated scenes from her past life imbued with her art and her uniquely tragicomic joie de vivre - Patrice designed the sets and co-wrote the scripts. Starring a cast of children, with Patrice as the only adult playing herself at every age, we see the struggles Patrice endured to get the house, the job, and the life that she’s now fighting to keep. Ted Passon is an award-winning director, writer, producer, and video artist. He created and directed the critically acclaimed docuseries Philly D.A., along with co-director Yoni Brook and producer Nicole Salazar. The series had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and had its international premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, becoming the first docuseries to ever screen there. It was named, “One of the best TV shows of 2021” by TIME, The NY Times, Variety, The LA Times, The Hollywood Reporter, The Washington Post, Vulture, Vogue, Slate, The Ringer, and Indiewire. He is a co-founder of All Ages Productions, a full-service film and video production company, and a board member of the Blackstar Film Festival. Preceded by David Block’s, How Sweet the Sound, the short documentary focuses on the blind African American street singer, John Sutton. Information Source: Scribe Video Center | eventbrite