11 Aug Street Movies!: A Catalyst for Community

BY IREASHIA BENNETT

August marks the start of Scribe Video Center’s annual Street Movies! program. Returning for the 26th year, the nine-week pop-up short film program spans across neighborhoods and community gardens around Philadelphia and New Jersey. From August 10 until August 26, Scribe Video Center will be hosting film showcases, musical performances, and community discussions with various organizations across the city. 

“We saw Street Movies! as an occasion to allow film [to] be a catalyst to talk about community issues,” says Louis Massiah, Scribe Video Center’s Executive Director and Founder. “Street Movies! was very much inspired by the outdoor film screenings at FESPACO, the Pan-African film festival that happens every other year in Burkina Faso.”

Street Movies! is also a way to activate underutilized outdoor spaces, like community gardens and parks, and bring community members together to discuss topics that apply to their geographic locations. This year, some notable organizations they are working with include Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture at Saunders Park, Taller Puertorriqueño in Kensington, and Olney Culture Lab at Fisher Park.

Each Street Movies! event has a live host alongside the film screenings. The hosts facilitate important discussions with neighbors. The events also include live performances by talented local musicians to bring in the community before the screenings start. This year, Street Movies! is presenting Puerto Rican plena and bomba band Bomplé, salsa bandleader Foto Rodriguez, soul vocalist Jordan Brown, multi-instrumentalist and performer Julius Masri, professional kora player Youba Cissohko, and master percussionist Hafez Kotain. 

The programming this year is spear-headed by George Elkind, the Street Movies! Field Producer, who cultivates connections between Scribe Video Center, community organizations, and Philadelphia-based artists. 

“We try to make it so that every night has a cohesive theme, subject, or focus,” explains Elkind. “Each event reflects the neighborhood in some way, whether it’s in terms of issues of constituency [or] the work on its own aesthetic terms.”

Some films also take us into the interior and vibrant lives of their filmmakers. For example, The Unveiling of God / a love letter to my forefathers by Nia June is an experimental short film that meditates on the lives of the forefathers and Black men prematurely taken from the filmmaker’s life through poetry, music, and moving portraits. New Moon, an animated short film by Jérémie Balais, Jeff Le Bars, and Raúl Domingo, is an “imaginative surrealist” journey of young Jay Jay and his mother Edie set in a backyard in West Philadelphia. Both films will be playing at James Shuler Memorial Boxing Gym on August 12 at 8pm.

“Street Movies! began in 1997 as a way of making real the idea that filmmaking was a community art form,” says Massiah. “Not only could films be made by community members as they were through various Scribe programs, but there were places in our local communities that we could see independent films together.”

The programming happening with Norris Square Neighborhood Project at Raíces Garden features short films about migration and agriculture. Some films featured include Papapapa (1997) by Alex Rivera, a playful yet dark look at the history of the potato from the idea of a “couch potato” to the sieving of potato roots in South and Central America. In the same program is Tierra del Leche, directed by Milton Guillén and Fiona Hall, a short film that provides a more straightforward examination of industrialized farming and immigrant labor. According to Elkind, this juxtaposition allows the audience to connect with these issues in expansive and meaningful ways.

“I always hope programmers will build a sense of trust with viewers so that they can go to interesting places with them. It’s sort of like an adventure they take together in a way,” describes Elkind.

At the core of Street Movies! is the opportunity for Philadelphia residents to enjoy themselves and think critically and publicly about issues that directly impact their lives, families, and livelihood. In addition, Street Movies! brings back the communal aspect of movie-watching that has been somewhat lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think there’s a lot of skepticism about going to theaters or seeing movies in public. But I think there’s a real joy [in] going to see something and not knowing what you’re going into and then being open to being surprised. That part of movie-going is really fun,” says Elkind.

Street Movies! 2023 begins in North Philadelphia with Norris Square Neighborhood Project at Raíces Garden. Find a Street Movies! event near you by checking the full list of events here.

*Featured Image: Image from Street Movies! Courtesy of Scribe Video Center.

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Ireashia M. Bennett (they/them) is a Philadelphia-based filmmaker, photographer, and writer whose work aims to celebrate Black queer and disabled folks in the form of new media, short films, and photoessays. They earned a B.A. in Journalism from Columbia College Chicago and are pursuing an MFA in Film and Media Arts at Temple University.