Closet2Pride reception & documentary premieres March 2nd at Robinson Film Center!
Shreveport, LA – February 5, 2024
PACE’s OUTnorthLa is delighted to announce a special premiere that will show halfway to our next film festival! Closet2Pride: A Memoir of Shreveport, a documentary about the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals in Shreveport, LA, will premiere at the Robinson Film Center in downtown Shreveport on Saturday, March 2, 2024. A reception will precede the premiere with a Q&A with the filmmakers Robert Darrow and David Hylan afterwards.
Closet2Pride provides a historical background to the struggles and successes of the LGBTQ+ community, featuring heartfelt interviews, archival footage, and personal stories. The film examines the difficulties of coming out and living openly and authentically in a conservative and religious environment, and the discrimination, violence, and social stigma this community faces. It also celebrates the ways in which the LGBTQ+ community has united to fight for their rights, from earlier activists to present-day movements. It is a powerful reminder of the ongoing struggle for acceptance and equality. The film celebrates the strength and courage of the LGBTQ+ community and highlights the challenges they still face.
PACE will host a reception before the film’s showing at the Robinson Film Center at 6 pm, Saturday, March 2nd, followed by the film premiere at 7:30 pm. The reception will feature the filmmakers, heavy hors d’oeuvres, and a cash bar; tickets for the reception ($10) can be purchased at the OUTnorthLa Film Festival website. Tickets for the film can be purchased through the Robinson Film Center website or box office. All tickets will go on sale February 21st. We expect tickets to go fast as many local residents of northwest Louisiana are interviewed in the documentary.
Filmmakers Robert Darrow and David Hylan have both been very active in Northwest Louisiana for many years in various capacities. Both have doctoral degrees from LSU-Shreveport, both have been longtime LGBTQ+ activists, both have experience with documentary filmmaking, and both have led non-profit organizations in Shreveport. They are widely known and beloved throughout our region.
Robert Darrow, retiring this spring as the longtime Managing and Artistic Director of the Shreveport Little Theatre, has been active in the theatre community for 54 years. In 1990, he helped establish The Philadelphia Center, northwest Louisiana’s HIV resource center. Darrow, along with Sherry Kerr, was the filmmaker on Shreveport Little Theatre: Maker of Dreamswhich premiered on Louisiana Public Broadcasting in 2023.
David Hylan recently retired as the longtime Executive Director of the Betty and Leonard Phillips Deaf Action Center in Shreveport, and is enjoying life in Cozumel with his husband Troy. Hylan was a founding member of PACE, and along with Raydra Hall, was the filmmaker of Small Town Rage: Fighting Back in the Deep South which premiered at PACE’s 2016 film festival and which won the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Documentary Film of the Year award.
All tickets for the reception and showing of Closet2Pride go on sale February 21st! Also mark your calendars for PACE’s 2024 OUTnorthLa Film Festival at the Robinson Film Center which will open the Friday after Labor Day, September 6, 2024.
For more information about PACE, “People Acting for Change and Equality”, Northwest Louisiana’s leading advocacy organization for the LGBTQ+ community, go to www.pacelouisiana.org or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pacelouisiana.
Contact Info
Wendell Riley, Executive Director, Robinson Film Center
wendellr@robinsonfilmcenter.org
Robert Darrow
rkdarrow58@gmail.com
David Hylan
davidhylanjr@gmail.com
Submitted by
Adrienne Critcher
critcher@earthlink.net