Cinema Arts Centre Launches ‘Forks & Films’ With Free Cooking Videos

Starting this week, the Cinema Arts Centre will be releasing a new digital series providing free cooking videos that will connect to a highlighted film each week.

The series is called Fork & Films and plans to engage families, the community and academics during the outbreak of COVID-19 with hopes to spread a little positivity while everyone is safe at home.

Every Thursday at 6 p.m., the Centre’s trustees, Jacqueline Strayer and Martin Butera, will introduce a new family-friendly film available on easily accessible streaming services that correlate with the cooking classes online.

The first episode of Fork & Films will stream on the Cinema Arts’ Facebook and YouTube channels. Butera, owner of the Butera’s restaurants across Long Island, will show you how to make his family-style meatballs and encourage viewers to tune into this weeks film, Lady and the Tramp, afterwards.

“We are not professional on-air television people, as you will see,” Strayer said. “But what we do have is a love of film, food, family and our community and we hope to convey that to each of you.”

Strayer, a consultant and professor, will share fun facts about the film and invite audiences to share photos/videos of their cooking and film-watching experience on social media.

While Butera will demonstrate how to make a food item that is showcased in the film, each dish will be easy to make and will not require fancy ingredients or culinary skills. Incorporating different cultural backgrounds, the food will range from a main dish, dessert or an appetizer.

Each movie is available on streaming services like Disney Plus, Netflix, YouTube and others.

“During the current social distancing, Cinema Arts Centre is delighted to bring free family programming to not only the Long Island community but also to people beyond our borders that can be shared and enjoyed cross-culturally,” Dylan Skolnick, Cinema Arts Centre co-director, said.

Seven graduate students from the Master of Science programs in Integrated Marketing and Public Relations and Corporate Communication programs are volunteering their time.

“I could not be prouder of my students and how they jumped in to participate in our community program,” she said. “The CAC and our community would like to recognize the commitment and achievement made by these fantastic students who include Isnigdha A Chaturvedi, Carolina Gonzalez, Yixuan (Shirley) Luo, Chuanhan Sun, Nimisha nitin Vichare, Yiyin Xu and Mei Zhu.”

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