Chicago, IL - The full-length feature THE LAST GOSPEL OF THE PAGAN BABIES — a documentary about a 150 year old, gender-bending, sexual outlaw community in the American south — will be screened on Monday, April 16. AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL HORVICH AND HIS FILM ALZHEIMER'S: A LOVE STORY — a screening of Horvich's short documentary and a talk by the filmmaker will be presented on Tuesday, April 17. Both events will be in The Broadway, Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway, Chicago.
Monday, April 16, 7:30 pm
The Last Gospel of the Pagan Babies
Directed by Jean Donohue, USA, 95 min.
Sweet Evening Breeze and Sue Mundy. Henry Faulkner, Tennessee Williams and Rock Hudson. Bob Morgan and Bradley Picklesheimer. These are some of the colorful characters who shape "The Last Gospel of the Pagan Babies," a documentary excavating a 150 year old, gender-bending, sexual outlaw community in the American south of Lexington, Kentucky.
This Kentucky lineage of gay pioneers and rebels grew strong underground. They documented their identity and history as a community through shared storytelling, troves of personal photographs, home movies, and early video. The archives include cross-dressing guerilla soldier Sue Mundy, who fought in the Civil War. Sweet Evening Breeze, the notorious transgender, black drag queen was born in the 1880s and entertained Lexington until xxx. Artists Henry Faulkner and Bob Morgan worked with, and partied with Tennessee Williams. Hollywood movie star Rock Hudson would come through town as the owner of its only gay bar.
Starting in the 1960s, a collective of artists and drag queens, who called themselves The Pagan Babies, banded together in Lexington to open up and change this pocket of secretive and genteel southern gay society. Through exuberant performances, art, photography, design and music, they created a social and cultural history of an era in transition — from the sexually liberated 1970s to the AIDS epidemic of the 80s and 90s. Artists Bradley Picklesimer and Bob Morgan trace how the community connected their own defiantly open gay lives with those of their elders across history.
Rich with shared storytelling traditions, explosive creativity, and the courage to face both the humor and sorrow of their legacy, "The Last Gospel of the Pagan Babies" weaves together a story of an enduring and fearless gay culture in a place where it was least expected, and most surprising.
Special Screening and Guest Appearance
Tuesday, April 17, 7:30 pm
An Evening with Michael Horvich and his film ALZHEIMER'S A LOVE STORY
Michael Horvich introduces and discusses his 16-minute film,Alzheimer's: A Love Story, a moving short documentary on the power of love through all obstacles, which beautifully captures one couple's struggle with a disease that indiscriminately impacts millions of elders.
Alzheimer's: A Love Story has screened at over 90 film festivals locally, nationally, and internationally and won over 35+ audience and juried awards, including both the Best Short Film and Best LGBTQ Film at Cannes.
Those diagnosed with Dementia/Alzheimer's live an average of seven years after their symptoms first become noticeable. It has been eleven years for Greg, who after living at home for ten of those years now lives in a memory care facility in Chicago.
Every day, his husband Michael; a kind, earnest and resilient man who looks like Santa Claus and approaches the disease with the practicality of a retired educator ( which he is ); visits the love of his life and fights to preserve the memory of their 41 years together.
ABOUT PRIDE FILMS AND PLAYS
Pride Films and Plays changes lives through the generation of diverse new work ( or work that is new to Chicago ) with LGBTQ+ characters or themes that is essential viewing for all audiences. We accomplish this mission through fully-staged productions, writing contests and staged readings, film screenings, and special events. We foster long term relationships with artists to create programming that is as diverse, unique, and complex as the community we represent. In 2015, Huffington Post called PFP "A powerful and empowering entity." The company acquired its two performance spaces at 4139 and 4147 N. Broadway in July 2016, renaming the spaces the Pride Arts Center.
Pride Films and Plays is supported by The MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at The Richard Driehaus Foundation, The Illinois Arts Council, City of Chicago's City Arts Fund, the Elliott Fredland Charitable Trust, Proud to Run, the AmazonSmile Foundation, Arts and Business Foundation, Tap Root Foundation and Alphawood Foundation.
PFP is a member of the Smart Growth Program of the Chicago Community Trust. Pride Films and Plays is a member of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce of Illinois and The League of Chicago Theatres.
For more information, visit www.pridefilmsandplays.com or call Tickets available at www.pridefilmsandplays.com or by phone at 773 857 0222 or 866 811 4111.
ABOUT PRIDE ARTS CENTER
Pride Arts Center ( PAC ), operated by Pride Films and Plays, opened in 2016 and consists of two performance spaces: The Buena at 4147 N. Broadway which has 50 seats and The Broadway at 4139 N. Broadway which has 85 seats. PAC has become an important part of the arts environment in the Buena Park neighborhood and beyond by hosting events including After Orlando, Bechdel Fest, SheFest and the 525,600 Minutes Cabaret. Additional tenants in 2017 include Walkabout Theater, New American Folk Theater, Cor Productions, Underscore Music Theater, 20% Productions, About Face Youth Theater, Another Door Productions, and of course Pride Films and Plays.
For more information about space at Pride Arts Center, visit www.prideartscenter.com, or www.pridefilmsandplays.com .
