FREDONIA – This past year, NYC-based filmmaker Steven Cantor spent much of the summer in nearby Lily Dale filming a documentary about the world’s largest center for the practice of the Spiritualist religion. On Friday, June 18, at 7:30 p.m., "No One Dies in Lily Dale" will receive its world premiere when the Lily Dale Assembly presents a free screening at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House.
Produced for HBO Television, this 90-minute documentary captures the journeys of a diverse set of visitors making a pilgrimage to this off-the-beaten-path town with hopes of connecting, healing, finding answers and gaining closure with deceased loved ones. The film allows viewers to experience first-hand their various stories of personal loss as they collide and unfold. It will be shown on HBO Television 77 times over the course of this summer beginning on July 5.
Visitors whose stories are featured in the film include Ron Holt, a Chicago police officer, whose son Blair was tragically gunned down in a random act of gang violence. Ron is trying to make peace with his son's death and the doubts that haunt him. Susan Hinrichs, a born-again Evangelical Christian, questions her own religious faith in a search for answers surrounding the death of her son Scotty, at the age of 18, from a deteriorating form of cancer. Rebekah Fabricious journeys from Ohio trying to connect with her late partner who had a tragic death. She wants to get answers, test her faith and find the closure she's been lacking since her fiancé’s passing.
Cantor, of Stick Figure Productions, will attend the premiere screening and will lead a Question & Answer discussion about the film immediately following its showing. Thanks to Lily Dale Assembly’s rental of the Opera House, admission to the film is FREE and open to the public. For more information on the screening, call the Opera House box office at 716-679-1891.
Lily Dale Assembly boasts the largest Spiritualist community in the world, with more than 40 registered mediums who communicate regularly with those who have passed over. Mediums channel spirits via readings performed in quaint, 19th century-style Victorian homes and by public platform services conducted in Leolyn Woods, one of the state's few remaining old-growth forests. For information on the 2010 season, visit www.lilydaleassembly.com.
Chautauqua County’s only year-round performing arts center, the 1891 Fredonia Opera House is a member-supported not-for-profit organization located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.fredopera.org.
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lily dale, assembly, 1891 fredonia, opera house, steven cantor, HBO |
