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ImageOut brings back SWAN SONG for a FREE screening at the Rochester Fringe Festival's Pedestrian Drive-In.Enjoy movies outdoors at One Fringe Place! Grab a drink, a snack from a food truck, and experience a one-of-a-kind film event: Swan Song on the big screen with personalized audio via our Silent Disco headphones. Seating is first-come, first-served. The Theatre Bar will be open for your libations with movie pleasure.
Please note: headphone use with deposit of your license/ID (to be returned upon exit).
SWAN SONG was part of our 2021 FIRST CUT Spring Film Festival.
SWAN SONG
Directed by: Todd Stephens
2021 / USA / 105 min.
You have never seen Udo Kier like this.
The veteran German actor has starred in dozens of character roles and horror films, working with everyone from Lars von Trier to Gus Van Sant to Alexander Payne. For Todd Stephens’ Swan Song, Kier steps into the role of a queen desperate for closure from a world he never thought would accept him.
Kier stars as Pat Pitsenbarger, a former hairstylist trying to get through each day in a dreadful nursing home. He passes his time by folding paper napkins that he stole from the cafeteria and taking secret smoke breaks when no one is watching. Pat gets a jolt of purpose when a lawyer tells him that his favorite former client, Rita Parker Sloan (the most Republican name you ever did hear), has died. There is some bad blood between Pat and Rita, but her estate is offering an impressive payout for Pat’s services.
After he escapes the nursing home, Pat decides to walk back to Sandusky (declining an offer for a ride from a handsome stranger), and he learns how much of his hometown has changed. He cleverly steals the things he needs for his new gig, and he even runs into Dee Dee, a former protégé who stole Rita’s business from Pat. Dee Dee is played with surprising restraint by Jennifer Coolidge (Legally Blonde, Promising Young Woman). If you didn’t know that you needed Kier going toe-to-toe with Coolidge in a hair salon in your life, now is your chance to relish it.
Director Todd Stephens (Another Gay Movie) grew up in Sandusky, Ohio, and knew Pat Pitsenbarger in real life. He wanted to pay tribute to the forefathers of his gay community, and he lovingly writes Pat as a man who could pull off a mint green pantsuit but then cut you down with a glaring look and a drag of his More cigarette.
Swan Song is a sweet tale about one gay man’s journey to rekindle his love for himself. His physical journey is almost as long as his emotional one, but this not-so-straight story is full of respect and admiration from its filmmaker.
- Joey Moser
Fringe Festival COVID protocols: https://rochesterfringe.com/covid-protocols
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Rochester Fringe Festival, One Fringe Place, Corner of Main & Gibbs Streets, Rochester, NY 14604, United States