Storyville - in love, in memory

A mediative, collage-like portrait of life in the midst of ongoing loss and erasure, in love, in memory traces the everyday movements of a mother gathering cherished memories of her son and unearthing interrelated stories of violence in her hometown. Shalon Buskirk’s advocacy orbits around her firstborn son, Parris Jerome Lane, whose M**der in 2017 marked the end of an unprecedented year of gun violence and housing instability in Allentown, Pennsylvania. To memorialize her son and connect his story to the enduring systemic racism of a post-Industrial city, Shalon collaborates with an intergenerational ensemble of Black women. An artist pens a poem for Parris, a historian sifts through Allentown’s haunting legacy of housing discrimination, and an activist struggles to remember her trailblazing battle for fair housing in the 1960s. in love, in memory refracts these revolving scenes of artistic intervention, collective storytelling, and tender remembrance through a prism of passing time.

Shalon Buskirk

Producer, Director, Co-Editor

Shalon Buskirk is a community leader who has dedicated her life to protecting, helping, and saving young adults from violence within her community. She was born and raised in Allentown, PA. After the tragic death of her firstborn son, Parris, she started to work towards a nonprofit for young adults that engages them with the resources they need for success. She was a driving force behind the first major funding in the city for youth violence prevention. She is a storyteller, a mother of eight children, and the CEO/Founder of the Parris J. Lane Memorial Foundation. She was a Film Independent Documentary Lab Fellow in 2022, Visiting Fellow at MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute in 2020 and 2022, Cucalorus Works-in-Progress Lab Filmmaker in 2023, and co-author of United Hearts for Autism: Stories from Caregivers and Self-Advocates. She is a board member for Community Bike Works, and on the advisory council for Allentown’s Salvation Army and Youth Teen Renovations.

Drew Swedberg

Producer, Director, DP, Co-Editor

Drew Swedberg is a documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, and educator. Through a collaborative process and poetic approach, his filmmaking orbits around the everyday dreams, relationships, and forces that shape the places he calls home. As an artist-in-residence and teaching artist based in Eastern Pennsylvania, he produces youth films through his workshops across the region. He is currently an adjunct professor in Lafayette College’s Film and Media Studies Department and leads the independent film curation as the Film Manager for the Civic Theatre, Allentown’s local arthouse cinema. Drew teaches an array of film classes from elementary to college classrooms, most recently as a program facilitator for PBS39’s Production U and adjunct professor in the LVAIC Documentary Storymaking program. He was a Film Independent Documentary Lab Fellow in 2022, Visiting Fellow at Skidmore College’s MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute in 2020 and 2022, and an Artist-in-Residence for the Cultural Coalition of Allentown in 2019 and 2021.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Scribe Video Center, 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, United States