Carbondale Reporter

Carbondale Chamber of Commerce recently issued the following announcement.

The Varsity is happy to announce that two double-features will be shown as part of Pride Festival the weekend of June 1. The Varsity also will host the opening reception for the festival, which will also serve as the reception for new artwork by Shawn Vincelette. First Christian Church of Carbondale, Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship and The Church of the Good Shepherd are co-hosting the reception.

Shawn’s exhibit, which will be up throughout the month of June, is titled “The Iconic Personalities Series.” The reception will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 1.

Immediately after the reception, the movie “Milk” will be shown. Screen time is 8 p.m. At 10:30 that same night, the movie “The Birdcage” will be shown. Tickets for each are $5.

Directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, “Milk” stars Sean Penn as Harvey Milk and Josh Brolin as Dan White, a city supervisor. The film received earned critical accolades and award nominations, including eight Oscars. It won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Penn) and Best Original Screenplay for Black.

The movie begins on Milk’s 40th birthday in 1970. The story follows his move to San Francisco, his foray into city politics. Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into public office in the United States.

His romantic and political relationships are portrayed, as is his tenuous affiliation with troubled co-supervisor White. The film ends with White's double homicide of Milk and Mayor George Moscone in 1978.

“Milk” is rated R for language, some sexual content and brief violence.

“The Birdcage,” a 1996 comedy, begins with Armand Goldman (Robin Williams), who owns a popular nightclub in South Miami Beach. His long-time lover, Albert (Nathan Lane), stars there as Starina. "Their" son Val (Dan Futterman), who is a result of Armand's only heterosexual fling 20 years before, comes home to announce his engagement to Barbara Keeley (Kalista Flockhart), daughter of Kevin Keeley (Gene Hackman), U.S. Senator, and co-founder of the Committee for Moral Order. The Keeleys arrive in South Beach to meet Val, his father and "mother." What ensues is comic chaos and realizations about the value of accepting people for who they are.

The film, which is rated R for adult situations and language, is a remake of the 1978 Franco-Italian film “La Cage aux Folles.” The 1996 version was written by Elaine May and directed by film great Mike Nichols. Tickets are $5, and the screening begins at 10:30 p.m.

Vincelette, a Southern Illinois native now living in Atlanta, was the recipient of five Scholastic Art Awards at the Annual Regional High School Art Show held at Mitchell Museum in Mount Vernon. As a result of one of the awards, Shawn was awarded the Frances McLarken scholarship at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. Shawn also received a fellowship through the American College of Rome, where he worked on masterpiece works of art and sculpture.

Since graduating from SCAD, Shawn has been working in the art domain, independently and for major corporations. He founded the Vincelette Collection Art Gallery in Atlanta and has served as Creative Coordinator for Macy’s South.

The opening reception is free, and snacks will be provided. For the reception and both movies, The Varsity bar will be open for purchase of beer, wine, select cocktails, soda and other non-alcoholic beverages, as well as snacks.

The Varsity is downtown Carbondale at 418 S. Illinois Ave. For more information about events at The Varsity, go to facebook.com/varsitycenter.

Original source can be found here.