Homelessness Film Screening to Benefit Housing Assistance Corporation, NOAH Shelter

Photo by Nicola Dove, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Maggie Smith plays Miss. Shepherd and Alex Jennings plays Alan Bennett in the upcoming film “The Lady in the Van.” A benefit screening of the film, which will be the Cape Cod premiere, will take place on Thursday, February 4 at 7 pm at the Cape Cinema in Dennis Village.

DENNIS – Homelessness on Cape Cod and around the world will be in focus tonight at a screening of the movie “The Lady in the Van.”

The movie, which stars Dame Maggie Smith, is based on a true story of a homeless woman who lives in a van in an upscale London neighborhood. She befriends British playwright Alan Bennett and ends up living in her van in his driveway for 15 years, after originally planning to spend only three weeks there.

The movie is the adaptation of the a 1990’s London stage performance which Smith starred in.

The Cape Cinema will show the film as part of a benefit for the Housing Assistance Corporation and the NOAH Homeless Shelter. The screening starts at 7 pm.

The screening comes as parts of Cape Cod, particularly downtown Hyannis, face an increase in the homeless population. A panel discussion put on by HAC and the Noah Shelter will follow the screening.

“The message of the movie, the message that we’re often trying to get out is that each homeless person has their own story, their own reason of why they got there, how they got there,” said Laura Reckford, the Director of Community Relations and Fundraising at Housing Assistance Corporation.

Tickets for the showing are $15,50, with a portion of every ticket benefiting HAC.

The panel discussion and question and answer session will include local experts on the matter, including NOAH center Director Greg Bar, Billy Bishop, a formerly-homeless man who has since founded the agency Homeless Not Hopeless, and Larry Brown, a Falmouth Academy teacher who organized a project with his students to interview and create portraits of local homeless people.

By MATT MCCARTHY, CapeCod.com NewsCenter