Syracuse University

The Syracuse University South Side Initiative and the Southside Community Coalition will sponsor a South Side Film Festival during the month of July.

A film will be shown each Friday beginning at 8 p.m. in the Key Bank parking lot, located on the corner of South Salina and Colvin streets. The showings are free and open to the public. Those attending should bring chairs or blankets. Refreshments will be available for purchase; no coolers, alcohol or glass bottles will be allowed on the premises.

The films to be shown are:

• July 6: Madea's Family Reunion (2006) -- Based on Tyler Perry's acclaimed stage production, the movie continues the adventures of Southern matriarch Madea that began in the film Diary of a Mad Black Woman.
  

  
  

• July 13: Stomp the Yard (2007) -- DJ, an underground street dancer, struggles to fit in at college, and becomes a member of a step group. The film follows DJ as he learns how to stop dancing as an individual and to start stepping as part of a team.
  

  
  

• July 20: Dream Girls (2006) -- a compelling story that tracks the struggles, sacrifices and triumphs of a group of outsiders carrying their landmark sound into mainstream America in the 1960s and '70s.
  

  
  
  
  

• July 27: Pursuit of Happyness (2006) -- The true story of Chris Gardner, a San Francisco salesman struggling to build a future for himself and his 5-year-old son. Against all odds and obstacles, Gardner becomes a Wall Street legend.
  

Tiffany C. Rush, a member of the Southside Community Coalition and film festival project manager, says the weekly event is a great way for families, extended families and friends to come together and build community, pride and enjoy one another's company. `The idea of a South Side film festival is phenomenal, and it comes at a time when the concept of unity not only needs to be encouraged but demonstrated," says Rush. "As we continue this event each year, we hope that in the very near future we will enjoy an original film made by one of our own Syracuse South Side residents."

For more information on the South Side Film Festival, contact Rush at (315) 751-7985 or Margie Gantt at (315) 443-1979.