28 Dec Philadelphia Monthly Arts Round-Up: January 2024
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A new calendar year is a great time to reset and refocus. If your resolutions include exploring more of what the Philadelphia film scene has to offer, you’re in luck! As always, there are many great film events happening in the city this month. While the pace may be slower as we come out of the hectic holiday season, these meaningful events can help us ease back into watching great movies with our communities.
Highlights this month include a Palestinian Film Showcase presented by Batikh Batikh, several music-related screenings at Studio 34 and Lightbox Film Center, and a film and talkback presented by The Micheaux Mission podcast.
Monday, January 8, 2024 at 8 PM
Film screening: Dhrupad
This screening of Dhrupad is part of the People’s Music Supply Institute film screenings at Studio 34, a yoga and movement studio located in West Philly. This 1982 documentary showcases the musical style of Dhrupad, a meditative style of singing that is thought to be a connecting link between ancient Vedic chanting and the modern forms of what we now know as Indian classical music.
Cost: $5-$10 suggested donation
Studio 34 — 4522 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19143
Friday, January 12, 2024 at 7 PM
Storyville: With Hope
“Storyville” at Scribe Video Center showcases contemporary films and media works produced by Philadelphia-based independent media artists. With Hope is a documentary film centering the experiences of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people who reconnect to the natural world through the act of birding, and by doing so discover a profound sense of belonging, joy and hope. Featured in the film are members of a growing community of birders in the Philadelphia area, including: In Color Birding Club, Philly Queer Birders, and Feminist Bird Club Philly. The film was directed by previous Scribe Film Scholar Matte Hewitt.
Cost: $5 suggested donation
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Sunday, January 14, 2024 at 4 PM
Gathered in Love and Rage: Palestinian Film Showcase
Taken from Philadelphia-based human rights attorney Noura Erakat’s speech on November 3rd during the protest in solidarity with Palestine, the title encapsulates the project’s concept and curatorial theme. “Gathered” is a film program featuring short films by contemporary independent women and LGBTQ+ Palestinian artists with topics exploring orientalism in the media, love stories, experimental films, and queer narratives. The event is meant to create a cathartic grieving space for the SWANA and Palestinian community to remind us of not only the justification of our collective rage but to stand in awe of all that Palestinians are teaching us daily about love and community. Learn more in the Philadelphia Organization Spotlight: Batikh Batikh.
Cost: $0-$25 suggested donation
Making Worlds Bookstore and Social Center — 210 South 45th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Monday, January 22, 2024 at 7 PM
Producers’ Forum: Sharon Hayes
This Producers’ Forum features the work of Sharon Hayes, an artist who uses video, performance, sound and public sculpture to expose specific intersections between history, politics and speech, to unspool reductive historical narratives, and to reignite dormant pathways through which counter-understandings of the contemporary political condition can be formed. The work being screened is entitled Ricerche. The project is a 5 part video series that steps off Pier Paolo Pasolini’s brilliant 1963 film, Comizi d’Amore, to stage a contemporary inquiry into the “sexual problem” in the United States. There will be a discussion with Sharon Hayes following the screening.
Cost: $7.50 General Admission, $5 Students/Seniors, $4 Scribe Members
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Tuesday, January 23, 2024 at 5:30 PM
Pardon Me
Pardon Me is a documentary short film that presents the case for how pardons can give individuals the opportunity to live as full citizens and uplift the lower income communities in which they live. The screening of this 30 minute film will be followed by a conversation with the director and experts in the pardon space about Philadelphia-area challenges and opportunities. This session is part of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia’s GPLEX360 series.
Cost: $25
West Philadelphia Skills Initiative — 22 South 40th Street 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Friday, January 26, 2024 at 7 PM
Spacked Out
Director Lawrence Lau updates his 1988 debut Gangs–a shocking account of underage Triads–with an all-girls cast surviving on the lowest rungs of gang-life after the bosses have long gone legit. Swimming in turn-of-century malaise, this Category III youth drama offers a slice of urban grime as our quartet, who can only rely on themselves, navigate drug abuse, bad boyfriends, and library books way past their due dates.
Cost: $10 General Admission, $8 Students/Seniors, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Saturday, January 27, 2024 at 8 PM
The Micheaux Mission: Film Screening + Talkback: Love Jones (1997)
Two Men. One Podcast. Every Black Film Ever Made. Len Webb and Vince Williams host The Micheaux Mission podcast discussing Black cinema history in a live recording and screening of Love Jones. Love Jones is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Theodore Witcher, in his feature film directing debut. Darius Lovehall is a young black poet in Chicago who starts dating Nina Mosley, a beautiful and talented photographer. While trying to figure out if they’ve got a “love thing” or are just “kicking it,” they hang out with their friend, talking about love and sex. Then Nina tests the strength of Darius’ feelings and sets a chain of romantic complications into motion. Learn more about The Micheaux Mission team in our artist spotlight.
Cost: $15
The Lounge at World Cafe Live — 3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Wednesday, January 31, 2024 at 7 PM
Three Classic Silents with Live Music by Relâche
In collaboration with Relâche, Philly’s internationally known new music ensemble, Lightbox will screen three silent films: Max Linder’s Max fait de la photo, a short comedy from 1913; At Land, the 1944 short film by celebrated experimental film-maker Maya Deren; and Léonce Perret’s Freud-inspired mystery from 1912, Le Mystère des roches de Kador. Relâche will perform music by two composers, Philadelphia’s Chuck Holdeman who wrote music for At Land and Max fait de la photo, and the French composer and jazz violinist Regis Huby whom Relâche commissioned in 2011 to compose music for Le Mystère.
Cost: $12 General Admission, $10 Students/Seniors, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Other Events:
Tuesday, January 9, 2024 at 10 AM
Storytime: La Noche Before Three Kings Day
Cost: Free
Taller Puertorriqueño — 2600 N 5th, Philadelphia, PA 19133
Saturday, January 13, 2024 at 6 PM
Ink & Sound Unleashed: Lavonne Nichols EP and Book Release
Cost: $20
The Lounge at World Cafe Live — 3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Saturday, January 27, 2024 at 7:30 PM
Cost: Free for students & seniors, $15 for adults
Teatro Esperanza — 4261 North 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19140
*Featured Image: Still from Eitr, a short film screening at Gathered in Love and Rage: Palestinian Film Showcase. Courtesy of We Are Moving Stories.
Would you like your event to be featured in a future round-up? Please fill out the Philadelphia Monthly Arts Round-Up form at least one month prior to the event. Note: events shared less than a month ahead of time may not be able to make our publishing schedule. The cinéSPEAK Journal maintains sole discretion over the publishing of any information provided via the form. Questions: journal@cinespeak.org
Sophia Abraham-Raveson is the Managing Editor for the cinéSPEAK Journal. She has previously worked for several Philadelphia-based film festivals, including BlackStar and Tri-Co Film Festival.
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