D.C. Shorts, the annual film festival devoted to short-form programming, announced earlier today what its founder hopes will be the first of several fundraising efforts to finance the 10th edition of the series in fall 2012. more ›

This week is a little quiet in the art world, but that doesn't mean there's nothing interesting going on. Just consider it a bit of a breather before the pace picks up again in November. more ›

Sad news to pass along from the world of radio: Joe Barber, the entertainment editor at WTOP who spent 20 years as a film and theater critic for various broadcast and print outlets, was found dead at his Washington home today. According to WTOP, Barber died of natural causes; he was 53. more ›

Tomorrow, Mayor Vince Gray will be stopping by the set of NBC's The Firm, a new series based on the John Grisham bestseller of the same name. more ›

The District is hungry for revenue. Film and television producers have money. Logically, it only makes sense for the city's brass to try and court them to film here -- which would explain why Mayor Vince Gray is taking some time out of his busy desk work schedule this afternoon to visit the set of Covert Affairs. more ›

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

Last week, Washington Life magazine released its delicately messaged list of "100 Best Washington Movies Ever." The reaction was lukewarm. This week, City Paper, which had one of the more unforgiving reactions to WL's rundown, has now introduced its list of nominees for the "Worst Washington Movies Ever." more ›

Virginia has won out over a few other Southern states to be the home of Steven Spielberg's production of his film about Abraham Lincoln. Starring Daniel Day Lewis, the movie will be filmed in Richmond and Petersburg. more ›

It's shaping up to be a rather busy weekend around the District. In addition to the first weekend of the National Cherry Blossom Festival and the National Marathon (we'll have more on that later), there'll be a big-time movie shoot going on. According to the D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development, the Clint Eastwood-directed, Leonardo DiCaprio-starring J. Edgar Hoover biopic J. Edgar will be filming on Saturday and Sunday in "downtown D.C." more ›

As you might have noted in Thursday's Popcorn & Candy post, Eric Hilton, one half of uber-DC group Thievery Corporation and prodigious opener of trendy bars and restaurants, has now branched out to filmmaking. With...interesting results. His film, Babylon Central, will be screened at the Our City Film Festival this Sunday. more ›

Still haven't taken the time to watch Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer's The Nine Lives Of Marion Barry? Now you have no excuse -- we noticed today that the film is available via Hulu. more ›

Walking to my neighborhood grocery store yesterday, it was hard to miss all of the film equipment and crew near the Harris Teeter on Kalorama Road. I made some inquiries and did some Internet searching, but no one knew what was filming. Well, leave it to Prince of Petworth to find out the scoop: seems like Capitals player Alex Ovechkin is filming in in the area. He speculates it could be for a Capital One commercial, as he's done commercials for them before. Any Ovechkin spottings in Adams Morgan? more ›

Nearly everything that's bad about big-budget Hollywood science fiction films is remedied by Gareth Edwards' debut feature, Monsters. While they're visually hectic to a fault, Edwards keeps a more measured pace. While they are mostly concerned with getting to the next action set piece, Edwards is actually interested in telling a story. While they're often so proud of their multi-million dollar special effects, this movie, made for less than half a million dollars on inexpensive, readily available equipment, often looks just as stunning as those films, without feeling the need to show off about it. And Edwards has reason to show off: his effects are seamless, and in the abundant moments that have no monsters at all, this is an absolutely gorgeous film, with the director showing a real eye for composition and lighting, acting as his own cinematographer. more ›

In a week where two of the biggest hip-hop-related stories involved one rapper getting out of jail and another barely avoiding charges, even the culture's heartiest fans have to take a second to curse under their breath. Seriously, has hip-hop become everything its detractors claim it is -- a violent, misogynistic farce with no redeeming values? more ›

Think terrorism shouldn't be the subject of comedy? Chris Morris says you don't know what you're talking about. more ›

Brighton-based artists Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt, known together as Semiconductor, have collaborated on what they call "digital noise and computer anarchy" since 1979. Their video Magnetic Movie was screened in the Hirshhorn's Black Box video gallery in 2008 and is now part of the permanent collection. This year, they return to the Hirshhorn as recipients of the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (SARF) and will screen three of their short films as part of Hirshhorn After Hours on Friday, October 29. DCist spoke with Semiconductor about their work. more ›

Director Susan Koch allows fascinating individuals to tell their stories in her documentaries. Her subjects rise up to speak their truths, while she films them fighting the daunting battles each has in their lives. more ›

The latest spin-off from Peter Jackson's in 2009. Finally, the Filene Center hosted the U.S. premiere of this version of the final film last night; an evening of pleasantly cool air, no rain and plenty of amped-up Tolkien nuts. more ›

Every once in a long while, if you're lucky, you have an experience watching a film that challenges and re-shapes everything you think you already know about what movies can be. Faces was a movie like that for me. It wasn't the first film I'd seen by John Cassavetes; that was The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, the only film by the director I could find in the small town I was living in that summer during college, inspired to find something he'd done after listening over and over again to the Fugazi song about him. I didn't quite know what to make of Chinese Bookie, but I was determined to see more. Later that year, I managed to find Faces. more ›

>> A release party for the "U Know Nando" mixtape will be held tonight at Bohemian Caverns, featuring Lyriciss, The Five One and a host of other local emcees. $10, 8 p.m. more ›

>> Local DJ crew the Soul Controllers are celebrating 18 years of existence at Tabaq. Joining them will be Philly's Illvibe Collective and L.A. vocalist Joy Jones. $5, 8 p.m. more ›

, a film about Wilco recorded over a stretch of tour last year that saw the band across the American south, is not a documentary. The film follows the band through five different cities, but the shows are depicted in reverse of the actual tour dates. Some show footage is spliced together to move the narrative along. It's a concert film, but it's more than a movie of a concert; a studio-produced live recording might be the way to think about it. And as such, the movie conveys not only some incredible artistry by Wilco, but real talent on behalf of collaborators Cristoph Green and Brendan Canty. more ›

>>The past few years have produced several British soul sirens. Brighton native Alice Russell should be counted among them. She'll be at Bohemian Caverns for an intimate show. $15 in advance, 7 p.m. more ›

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

The pretty people are descending upon our city. A couple big movie shoots are in town, so if you're into that sort of thing, now's your chance for an Affleck or LaBeouf sighting. more ›

This photograph by akkleis seems like the perfect reflection of the weekend -- a lonely puddle and a windblown, broken streetlamp. The texture of the film gives it a more gritty street feel. EXIF. more ›

The majority of Overheards in D.C. fall into only a few categories: funny sex stuff, dumb tourists and weird kids. There's the occasional amusing political thing, or some quip that somebody sent in because they think they or their friends are funny. But there are always those that make absolutely no sense unless you are knowledgeable about some extremely narrow area of trivia, such as say, documentaries about lost and possibly mythical Brazilian cities. more ›

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

Mid-December has arrived, and with that comes the inevitable flood of best-of lists. The Washington Area Film Critics' Association has, for the previous five years of its existence, been in the habit of trying to get their own list out ahead of most of the other critics' societies. We can't really blame them. Considering the fact that none of the critics from the city's biggest newspaper are members, not to mention the fact that the... more ›

Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping are of the opinion that the masses have an opiate other than religion. And if it's the merchandise that keeps us in line, then there is no time of year when we binge on our fix of choice like the holiday season. Bank accounts and credit card statements across the nation can do the testifying for us on this point. And so it is at the most... more ›