Scribe’s Street Movies! mix live performance with exciting independent films

If you want to see arthouse or independent films in the Philadelphia area, there are great venues like the Ritz theater chain, the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, the Ambler Theater, and others that show current and classic films. There’s also the annual Philadelphia Film Festival, which screens feature and short films from around the world. But what makes Scribe Video Center’s 21st annual Street Movies! program a unique kind of film festival is its partnerships with local community groups, its integration of live performance with film, and its deliberate selection of screening venues in neighborhoods outside of Center City in which independent films aren’t usually shown.

Spaces that serve the community

Street Movies! opened this year on August 9 and runs through August 25. Each screening is free and held outdoors (unless there’s inclement weather). Partnering with a community organization and featuring local performers is key to the program’s success, according to coordinator Corin Wilson.

“We’re very collaborative,” Wilson explains. “We partner with organizations that aren’t necessarily arts-focused, but that serve the community and are excited to bring independent films to their neighborhoods.” Wilson explains that Scribe Video Center, in its mission, is neighborhood-oriented; for example, its Precious Places community-history project invites community members to share about what makes their neighborhoods unique. “The Street Movies! program brings attention to spaces that many people across the city don’t know are here,” she says.

Strawberry Mansion, Norris Square, and Germantown

For example, Thursday’s program (August 23) will be held at Hatfield Historic House — the first time Street Movies! will be held in Strawberry Mansion. This is the location of the Amber Art & Design Residency — a new showcase for neighborhood arts activism. Neighborhood partners for the Street Movies! showing there include the Strawberry Mansion Neighborhood Action Center, plus Amber Arts and its partner, the Fairmount Park Conservancy. Thursday’s live performer will be Lyrispect, a local award-winning lyricist, author, and educator.

Friday (August 24) will take Street Movies! to a unique hidden treasure in the Norris Square neighborhood called the Open Kitchen Sculpture Garden, featuring Los Bomberos de la Calle, a Puerto Rican bomba and plena music group from North Philly.

On Saturday (August 25), the program wraps up at John B. Kelly School in Germantown, with Philly’s own spoken-word artist Ursula Rucker. Rucker, who has toured internationally and recorded with the Roots and many others, lives in Germantown, so this program is both especially local and something that Wilson hopes will attract people from around the city. “We’re ending in a phenomenal way,” Wilson says. “We know that some people will come out for the live performance but we hope they will stay to see the movies.”

All events start at 8pm. They’re free and open to the public. In case of rain, the events will move to an alternative indoor location. For details and the whole lineup of performers and films, check out the full schedule