DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: Lake of Fire Michael Moore may have grabbed all the press where high profile documentaries are concerned, but it's Tony Kaye's Lake of Fire that is being quietly talked about as the most powerful documentary of the year. Which is remarkable considering its subject is one of the most talked about and analyzed issues on... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Repertory: D.C. Labor FilmFest Strictly speaking, the D.C. Labor FilmFest isn't a repertory festival, but with over half of their programming falling into that category, plus a dedicated retrospective to the great Ken Loach, we'll go ahead and shoehorn it into the category this week. The festival is put on by the Washington Metro Council of... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Repertory: The Great Punch-Out: A Hard Hitting Week of Boxing at the Pickford Theater Those of you with an interest in the pugilistic arts may want to camp out at the Library of Congress next week. The library is doing a series of boxing features, shorts, and classic fights that lasts all week long. There's a... more ›

Classical music has come back from summer vacation, and that means you actually have a choice of concerts this week. Most importantly, many of the city's leading groups are opening the season with glittering events. Look for reviews next week. >> Washington National Opera is opening its fall season with one of the most popular operas in the repertoire, Puccini's La Bohème (September 15 to 30). For all its audience-pleasing qualities, this opera is a... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Repertory: Lawrence of Arabia David Lean's epic telling of the story of T.E. Lawrence's time in the Middle East, and leadership of the WWI Arab Revolt is regarded as one of the greatest achievements in cinema. The... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Repertory: Stranger Than Paradise "You go to some place new and everything just looks the same," says Eddie, one of the two hipster-slacker protagonists of Jim Jarmusch's wickedly funny second feature. Press materials made a big deal of the origin of the film, pointedly calling it "A New American Film by a New American Director." There's... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Foreign: Ballad of a Soldier The AFI's great Janus Films retrospective continues, and there is probably no title on the schedule this writer is more eager to see on the big screen. Grigori Chukhrai's 1959 classic takes a simple concept — the tale of a Russian soldier making his way home to see his mother during... more ›

>> If you didn't make it to any of the screenings of this year's 48 Hour Film Festival entries, tonight is your best, and last, bet to check out some of the highlights. At 7 and 9:30 p.m., the AFI Silver Theater will screen the "Best Of" the festival, a good way to take in the fun of the project (which asks filmmakers to create a short in only 48 hours) without too much... more ›

>> Kicking off unofficial "Actors with Books" day in D.C., Don Cheadle and John Prendergast, a senior advisor to the International Crisis Group and co-founder of the ENOUGH Campaign, visit Borders to discuss their collaboration Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond. [1801 K St, NW Free, 6 p.m.] more ›

FRIDAY: >> By far one of the most fun bar nights in town is always where ever the Guerrilla Queer Bar Takeover kids end up -- the mingling of gays and straights in D.C. ever a combination as terriffic as chili and cheese. So you can bet we'll be swinging by to celebrate the Third Anniversary of the Guerrilla Queer Bar Takeover at Black Cat tonight. The takeover starts in the Red Room at 9... more ›

Editor's Note: The Picks are a little lean this week, not because there isn't a ton of fun stuff to do but because we're operating on an "it's one of the last Fridays of the summer" frame of mind and can't muster the energy for more. Please tell us what you're up to this weekend in the comments, for the benefit of the group. FRIDAY: We'll be down at the ongoing opening festivities for Joe... more ›

FRIDAY: >> It's going to be a stormy, steamy night in the District, so we'd recommend heading over to catch one of the Capital Fringe Festival's most buzzed-about plays, Rorschach's The Arabian Night, at the Sanctuary Theatre at Casa Del Pueblo. The space doesn't have air conditioning, so take a cue from our theater critic: "All in all, the dreamy, smoldering Arabian Night is worth every sweltering moment. But follow the cue of the play's... more ›

Ah, Silver Spring. Even the name suggests silver lining optimism. Despite that it’s the ‘burbs, plenty of former city dwellers are making the commitment to buy real estate, open restaurants, and set up shop in what was previously considered a place to pass through as opposed to a destination. Perhaps Silver Spring is growing into what Clarendon wanted to become, before condos and retail chains began chipping away its character. In five years, will Silver Spring suffer the same fate? more ›

FRIDAY: >> While Argentinian actress and singer-songwriter Juana Molina put out her first album in 1996, most of us in the U.S. probably didn't get hooked on her until 2004, when her sophomore effort, Segundo, was finally released. Despite such a long lag time between her debut and follow-up, since then she's been recording like a woman on fire — this tour is support of a fourth outing, Son. She'll be bringing her unique Latin/French/Electronica/Folk... more ›

Acclaimed film director Martin Scorsese was recognized last night as the 2006 Guggenheim Honoree at the SILVERDOCS festival. The award, named after the late 4-time Academy Award winning (longtime D.C. resident) Charles Guggenheim, was presented in a ceremony highlighting Scorsese's contributions to documentary film. more ›

D.C.'s own ADD filmmakers Mark Ruppert and Liz Langston are back tonight to present the first evening of their 5th annual 48-Hour Film Festival at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. Screenings kick off at 7 p.m., and run every night this week through Friday. more ›

Think nonfiction is a dish best served on celluloid? Then you'll want to take note of a number of unique opportunities to catch these screenings of new documentary films in the area. more ›

FRIDAY: Dear organizers of tonight's Cryfest -- Cure vs. Smiths Dance Party on the Black Cat mainstage: Did we go to the same high school? Because, really, I thought I was the only one who spent several nights a week as an awkward teenager perfecting the disaffected side-to-side shuffle that is the only kind of actual "dancing" one can do to this music. Meet me there tonight, OK? I'll be the one in the raccoon... more ›

WEDNESDAY: >> Recently named Kennedy Center Artistic Advisor for Ballet, Suzanne Farrell knows George Balanchine's repertory better than anyone else -- she ought to, since Farrell herself is his most famous protégée. So you can expect nothing but exuberant and masterful performances, through Nov. 27, of The Suzanne Farrell Ballet's all-Balanchine extravaganza. Tickets are $29 to $84, at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. THURSDAY: >> It's Thanksgiving, and most of you will be gathering... more ›

FRIDAY: >> You just can't say the D.C. music scene doesn't care. Check out the 2-night Katrina's Piano Fund benefit concert at Black Cat, featuring a packed line-up of local acts. Friday's got Monopoli, the Routineers, the Washington Social Club, the Ambitions, Andy Zipf, and DJ Will Eastman. Saturday is Wooly Mammoth, The Whips, Owls and Crows, Edie Sedgwick, Rose, andDJ lil' e. $12 for one show, or maximize your band-to-dollar ratio and pay just... more ›

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FRIDAY: >> DCist is pleased to offer $5 off Forum Theatre & Dance's performances of UpShot by Ami Dayan (a scene from the play is at left). It's already received several positive notices, and director Shirley Serotsky has let us know that anyone who shows up at the box office with a print-out of this post can purchase a ticket for $13 (normally $18). This deal is good for the entire run of the play,... more ›

>> Throughout this weekend at the intimate space of Twins Jazz on U Street, enjoy some fabulous local jazz at the Alto Saxophone Summit. For $15, you can catch Charlie Young, a professor of music at Howard University, Marty Nau, a local jazz alto saxophonist, and Marshall Keys, who's played with Lionel Hampton and Branford Marsalis. Tickets can be purchased here. 9 p.m. more ›

Catherine Andrews contributed to these picks FRIDAY: >> It's your duty as a local music loving citizen: you must make it out to the Black Cat tonight to catch the line up of Washington Social Club (read our interview here), Monopoli, and Cartel. Their live shows range from frenetic to slowburning to melodious, and they're all a treat. DCist will be there with stacks of t-shirts to sell and info about the site. 9:30,... more ›

Since the death of Visions, the District has been sorely lacking in genuine art house cinema fare. But a brief sweep of the summer film landscape has turned up a much more eclectic and inviting set of mid-week options than we would have guessed, from well chosen special screenings at familiar venues to intriguing, less obvious options. Get it while the gettin's good: art houses everywhere seem to be going the way of the gray wolf. more ›

Ah, the halcyon days of summer in the District. more ›

Oscars, Oscars, Oscars! That's the main event going on this weekend (care to leave your picks in the comments?) but there's tons of other fun things out there. Check out this week's Arts Agenda and Music Agenda for some suggestions, like the opening of the Modigliani exhibit at the Phillips Collection on Saturday (a portrait of his is at right), or the continuation of the Teenbeat reunion tonight (check out shesbitter.com for some pictures of... more ›

So what are you up to this weekend? Consider these possibilities for your agenda. more ›

- The American U. Eagle has a longer piece on the closing of Visions Cinema Bistro, which characterizes the cinema's demise as "100% financial" and blames corporate competition:

Then, the opening of large chain theaters showing indie films resounded like death knells. Georgetown Loews in November 2002. AFI Silver Theatre in April 2003. Then E Street Cinema last January, bringing Landmark's clout into the downtown pond. Suddenly it was big fish versus small fish.