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.
Two Good Bets Tonight: The National Geographic Live! film series, in association with the DC Environmental Film Festival, is hosting a special screening of A Life Among Whales, winner of the 2006 Earthwatch Institute Film Award. The film, directed by Bill Haney, chronicles the work of whale biologist Roger Payne, a staunch environmental activist and the man who finally explained how whales communicate with each other in the 1970s. 7:30 p.m., $12 ($10 for members). Over at Busboys and Poets, a benefit to raise awareness on human rights issues in North Korea will include a showing of Jim Butterworth’s Seoul Train, a look inside the underground network trying to smuggle North Koreans out of their country. The event starts at 7 p.m., and will include special guest speakers Soon Ok Lee, who was a political prisoner in North Korea for 7 years, and Suzanne Scholte, an expert from the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. Recommended donation of $20.
Festival Wrapping Up: The last day of the DC Environmental Film Festival is this Sunday, Mar. 26, so take a moment to peruse the list of remaining screenings. Remaining festival highlights include: 13 Lakes, avant-garde filmmaker James Benning’s real time meditation on North America’s most beautiful lakes (Thurs. at 8 p.m. at the Hirshhorn, free); the late great Charles Guggenheim’s A Life: The Story of Lady Bird Johnson at the National Archive (Friday, 7 p.m., free, reservations required); and The Giant Buddhas, the story of the destruction of two of the world’s largest statues of Buddha by the Taliban in Afghanistan (Sunday, 4:30 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art).
Talk About the Gloves Coming Off: Thursday at 9:30 p.m. is your last chance to catch the Academy Award® nominated Street Fight, Marshall Curry’s tense look at race and class as it plays out in the race for Mayor of Newark, NJ between Cory Booker, a 32-year-old Rhodes Scholar and Yale Law School grad, and Sharpe James, a four-term incumbent and entrenched New Jersey politico. At the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, presented by SILVERDOCS.
