We’ve got your weekend: Film, exhibits, dance, literature and food

Zermissend 17, mixed media, canvas by Udo Nöger. (Photo provided by: Callan Contemporary)

Thursday, March 7/Southern Rep Theater (2541 Bayou Road): Shotgun Cinema’s Full Aperture 2019 begins with a program of 16mm films by Fern Silva, with the filmmaker in person. With frequently startling images and a blend of documentary and narrative, Silva’s films possess a wide-ranging sense of curiosity, openness, and spontaneity. The Southern Rep Theater (and its bar) will be open from 7:00 PM, with the show at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $8, which you can purchase at the door. For more details, you can check out their event page here. 

Friday, March 8/Art Klub (1941 Arts Street): The Third Annual Female Filmmaker Festival is back in celebration of local female-identifying filmmakers. Happening on International Women’s day, this film festival includes short narratives, documentaries, and experimental films, as well as music videos, an episode of a new web series and even some excerpts of feature films all created and directed by fabulous women in our community. Doors Open at 7:00 PM,  screening begins promptly at 7:30 PM, there’s a  Q and A following with all the filmmakers. Entrance will cost you $15 and no one is turned away for lack of funds. For more details, you can check out their event page here. 

Friday, March 8/Community Book Center (2523 Bayou Road): The Community Book Center will be holding a reading on March 8th to celebrate the publication of Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction. The evening will include a panel discussion with author Lara Bazelon, community activist Kelly Orians and exonerees Jerome Morgan and Doug Dilosa. Snacks and drinks will be provided.  All proceeds from the sale of Rectify will be donated to the Real Gentlemen Barbershop, Free-Dem Foundations, and Innocence Project New Orleans. The reading begins at 6:30 PM, and you can find out full details here. 

Saturday, March 9/Twelve Mile Limit (500 S. Telemachus): Do you feel an itching in your legs to get back on the dance floor like it’s Mardi Gras all over again? Luckily, this lovely and wonderful city of ours is no short supply of dance parties. Heatwave! return this Saturday. Heatwave! is an all-vinyl dance party hosted by DJ Ann Glaviano spinning soul / funk / r&b / garage / psych / pop dance jams from 1957-1974. Yes, Motown too. Yes, you can sing along. Yes, you can bring your mom. Your mom might go harder than you on the dance floor. You never know what you’ll get at Heatwave, except for…well, a heatwave of music. The dancing starts at 10:00 PM, and you can find out full details here. 

Saturday, March 9/Callan Contemporary (518 Julia Street): Callan Contemporary will be holding the opening of In Translucent, Udo Nöger’s second solo exhibition with Callan Contemporary.  Nöger advances his ongoing exploration of light and form. The technique he pioneered in the early 1990s—creating paintings in which light itself is the medium—continues to captivate viewers around the world. Superimposing scrim-like layers of tautly stretched canvas (dipped in mineral oils to heighten translucency), he embeds an array of gestures and cut-out forms within the picture plane. This allows light to penetrate and travel through the painting in three dimensions, an effect unique to his work. His opening will be on Saturday from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM. 

Work by SUNO professor Sara “Saharah” Hollis, whose pieces will be on display at Second Story Gallery. (Photo provided by: Second Story Gallery)

Saturday, March 9/Second Story Gallery (2372 St. Claude Ave): The Magical Line: A Drawing Retrospective by Saharah will open at the Second Story Gallery, Saturday, March 9, with a reception, open to the public, from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM.  Saharah is Dr. Sara Hollis, a Second Story Gallery co-op member and professor in the Master of
Arts in Museum Studies Program at Southern University at New Orleans, where she joined the faculty in 1973. This retrospective covers a lifetime of drawing, her favorite medium. Besides her own work, Hollis is introducing four guest artists: Dr. Haitham Eid, director of the M.A. Museum Studies Program at SUNO, and Beryl Johns, Floyd Williams, and Julie Romain, all Museum Studies Program graduates.  The show will be open through April 6 and admission is free.

Sunday, March 10/All over the city: This week is the week for tacos (although, seriously, what week isn’t)? New Orleans’ third annual Top Taco festival and multi-day celebration of tequila and mezcal, Agave Week, will return Sunday, March 10 – Friday, March 15, 2019 with an array of festive events throughout the Crescent City.  Imbibers can expect various spirit-focused parties beginning Sunday, March 10^th including the World’s Largest Bloody Maria Brunch; Don Julio Scavenger Hunt; El Tesoro’s Welcome Party, Mezcalicious Soiree; Top Tequila competition; as well as restaurant pop-ups, cooking classes and more. The celebration will culminate at Woldenberg Park for Top Taco on Thursday where Chefs and Mixologists from over 50 restaurants will compete for the coveted awards in four categories: Top Creative Taco, Top Traditional Taco, Top Creative Tequila Cocktail and Top Traditional Margarita. Limited advance tickets for Top Taco on March 14, 2019 are on sale now at Top Taco NOLA. For a full schedule of events, check out their webpage here. 

Tuesday, March 12/Lafitte Greenway (2101 St. Louis Street): There’s a new exercise series hitting the greenway starting on Tuesday. They will now offer free outdoor Zumba latin dance fitness every Tuesday from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM from March 12th – April 30th. There will also be free heart-healthy cooking demonstrations and tastings after each class provided by the American Heart Association. Beginners are welcome, classes are free, and you can find out more details here.