Neda has decided to transit narcotics by swallowing them to solve her financial problems. The job, however has its own dangers.
Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 8pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10
THIS IS HOME is an intimate portrait of four Syrian refugee families arriving in America and struggling to find their footing. Displaced from their homes and separated from loved ones, they are given eight months of assistance from the International Rescue Committee to become self-sufficient. As they learn to adapt to challenges, including the newly imposed travel ban, their strength and resilience are tested.
After surviving the traumas of war, the families arrive in Baltimore, Maryland and are met with a whole new set of challenges. They attend cultural orientation classes and job training sessions where they must “learn America” – everything from how to take public transportation to negotiating new gender roles.
THIS IS HOME goes beyond the statistics, headlines, and political rhetoric to tell deeply personal stories, putting a human face on the global refugee crisis.
Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 8pm
Venue: The GoggleWorks Boscov Theater
Address: 201 Washington St, Reading
Tickets: $10
In the midst of a messy divorce and a nervous breakdown after catching his best friend sleeping with his wife, Luke is out of options. He is forced to move in with his father, who he hasn’t spoken with in four years. Everyone around Luke seems to have things in place; careers, families, money, etc., but things aren’t what they appear to be for everyone. While attempting to piece his life back together and figure out how to move forward, an old friend, Pam, reenters Luke’s life, and they both begin rediscovering who they once were while figuring out how they got to be who they are now.
Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 7pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10
Mena Isaac is a single, successful Lebanese-American lawyer, married to her career. Sarah, her mother, desperately wants grandchildren and even arranges some “dates” (including, unwittingly, one with a gay Lebanese man). But Mena is getting older and Sarah is losing hope. Although, the Isaacs are a modern Lebanese-American family, their conservative cultural roots are not completely left behind.
Mena has been working so hard on her career that she doesn’t notice that she has lost something. Her natural spark and light have disappeared. But all of that is about to change when she signs up for belly dance classes. Mena finds she is a natural and soon her teacher asks her to perform at a local restaurant/club. Mena has serious misgivings: No one in her family would dance like this in public. Belly dancers are considered one step up from prostitutes, although ironically, they are often hired to dance at family weddings and events. And what if they find out at her conservative law firm? But, Mena is starting to feel something she thought she’d lost forever, reclaiming some piece of herself, and just maybe that is worth the risk?!
Soon, she’s dancing regularly at the restaurant. Her co-workers start to notice something different about her: Does she have a new boyfriend? Extra B12? Mena laughs them off, but how long can she keep up this double life? Inevitably, her secret is revealed in a very public way. Will she lose her job and family’s respect? Will she have to give up the one thing that has reconnected her to herself?!
Tarab will have broad appeal to audiences across many demographics. It touches upon universal themes that transcend age, gender, and cultural differences: Secrets long held, dreams deferred and rediscovered later in life, and the conflict between family obligations vs. personal fulfillment.
Tarab is Arabic for musical ecstasy, bliss, or enchantment; an extreme emotional transformation leading to intense feelings of joy, sorrow, or sadness; a concept with no exact English translation. Its timely themes include the societal and cultural pressure upon women to conform to certain norms, acceptance of homosexuality in Arabic culture, and the difficulties women face in owning their sexuality in today’s climate.
Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 6pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10
From Liberty to Captivity examines how one of America’s original 13 states, Pennsylvania, went from a place that represented the fight for freedom historically and now has become a state where modern-day slavery is flourishing – threatening the principle of “liberty and justice for all.” This award-winning film zooms in on Pennsylvania’s lucrative sex trafficking industry, revealing the reality and complexities of sex trafficking crimes and this social justice issue, sharing the personal and inspiring stories of victim survivors and others on the front lines of this war, and presenting the very real hope for victory.
Date: Sunday, November 3, 2019 at 12pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10
Tehran’s Grand Bazaar. Every product has a story and every porter has a secret. Ako does not want anyone to know his secret
Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 4pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10
After a series of unexplainable night terrors Tess (Syd Stauffer) becomes obsessed with finding her estranged sister, Janie (Karisa Hope). Tess and her best friend Ashlyn (Kate Huges) enlist her sister’s ex girlfriend Tick-Tick (Jenna McBreen) to help search for her in the drug underworld.
Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 4pm
Venue: The GoggleWorks Boscov Theater
Address: 201 Washington St, Reading
Tickets: $10
POWER TO HEAL: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution tells a poignant chapter in the historic struggle to secure equal and adequate access to healthcare for all Americans. Central to the story is the tale of how a new national program, Medicare, was used to mount a dramatic, coordinated effort that desegregated thousands of hospitals across the country practically overnight.
Before Medicare, disparities in access to hospital care were dramatic. Less than half the nation’s hospitals served black and white patients equally, and in the South, 1/3 of hospitals would not admit African-Americans even for emergencies.
Using the carrot of Medicare dollars, the federal government virtually ended the practice of racially segregating patients, doctors, medical staffs, blood supplies and linens. POWER TO HEAL illustrates how Movement leaders and grass-roots volunteers pressed and worked with the federal government to achieve justice and fairness for African-Americans.
Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 2pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10
In 2013, in Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court invalidates the part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act requiring certain states to submit changes in voting laws to the Justice Department for approval. Almost immediately, certain states take voter suppression measures such as enacting voter ID laws, redrawing district boundaries, and repealing same-day registration.
Three months before the 2016 election, a group of volunteers across the country mobilizes to work on voter protection – to observe elections and to assure that all those who wish to vote are legally allowed to do so. Laverne Berry, Steven Miller, and Claire Wright head to North Carolina. What they find at the polls serves as both a warning and a call to action for anyone interested in protecting the “One Man, One Vote” fundamental of our democracy.
Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 12pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10
Strange Tenants were the “Godfathers of Australian Ska”, emerging in the 1980s in the wake of UK two-tone ska bands like The Specials but producing original political ska songs unlike most other Australian ska bands. 36 years later they’re still around and still political.
Date: Friday, November 1, 2019 at 9:30pm
Venue: Reading IMAX Theater
Address: 30 N 2nd St, Reading
Tickets: $10