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Butch Cassidy and the [Sundance] Kid
Queer country dancing, a documentary film festival, musings on the Louvre, and an outdoor film screening starring a familiar villain
My all-girls education had its moments of co-ed mingling: football spirit nights, the fencing team, and a fourth grade square dance held jointly with our brother school. The origins of school square dancing are certainly less than palatable, but our prepubescent minds were largely occupied with fears of boy germs. The dance ended with a mad rush to the bathroom to clean off the cooties and a stern warning that our behavior was less than becoming. Beauty and grace at its elementary school finest.
Give queer square dancing a chance with the San Francisco Dance Film Festival, tour the Louvre from East Bay, and cuddle up for a horror film cult classic in the Presidio.
Film Screening & Talk | Last Dance at the Sundance Stompede
Category: Film & Dance
Date: Saturday, April 26th @ 7pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Brava Theater Center (SF)
Price Range: $30
Why I Care: Dance can simultaneously foster community and a love of cowboy boots. Last Dance at the Sundance Stompede documents the eponymous LGBTQ+ country-western dance festival and its mission of inclusivity through movement. The screening will include a live line dance demonstration, a Q&A with film director Graham Clayton-Chance and Stompede leadership, and an open dance floor. The party continues into Sunday, with this ticket also granting free admission to the Sundance Saloon, a country western dance hall for “the LGBTQ+ community and friends.”
No need to be shy: the Saloon offers beginners lessons at 5:30pm before opening up the dance floor, so you’ll be ready to boot scootin’ boogie.
Book Talk | Adventures in the Louvre
Category: Literary
Date: Friday, May 2nd @ 7pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Mrs. Dalloway’s (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Because Paris deserves better than Emily. Adventures in the Louvre is a love letter to a storied institution and the people that breathe life into its frames and walls. Author Elaine Sciolino speaks from intimate experience: during her forty year tenure at the New York Times, she served as Paris Bureau Chief. Sciolino will be joined by Marion Abbott, co-founder of Mrs. Dalloway’s, as she paints a picture of the Louvre and its infectious magic right here in the Bay.
Opening Reception | Mákkin Mak Wárep
Category: Art
Date: Saturday, April 26th @ 1pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Djerassi Resident Artists Program (South Bay)
Price Range: $10
Why I Care: The Djerassi Resident Artists Program was founded in 1979 to honor the memory of poet and painter Pamela Djerassi. Her father, Carl Djerassi, also known as “the father of the [contraceptive] pill,” was a Stanford chemistry professor who modeled the Medici family’s artistic patronage as a way to hold space for his daughter after her suicide. Current Djessari artist resident Kalie Granier has produced works inspired by Chochenyo texts. Mákkin Mak Wárep is her multidisciplinary exhibition that uses tapestry, dance, and the written word to reconnect the Muwekma Ohlone with the land of their ancestors, upon which the foundation is built.
Filmmaker Talk | DocLands Film Festival
Category: Film
Date: Sunday, May 4th @ 10:30am (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Smith Rafael Film Center (North Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: DocLands champions truth, a battled and bruised concept in the present day. The film festival has been running in Marin for almost a decade to showcase nonfiction storytellers and bring a world of perspectives to our community. Directors Jenny Ash, Ryan Andrej Lough, Lucas Sabean, Peter Hutchinson, and Kristin Tieche will take the stage as part of the program’s DocTalk to discuss what it means to engage an audience in 35mm.
Stay after to watch The Secret of Me on the hidden experimentation on intersex children or perhaps the slightly more uplifting Champions of the Golden Valley on empowerment through skiing in Afghanistan. Or just check out the full schedule.
Bay Bazaar | A Night Market
Category: Music & Fashion
Date: Sunday, April 27th @ 4pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: safariiiCAMP (East Bay)
Price Range: $5 entry
Why I Care: Artist collective safariiiCAMP has organized Bay Bazaar to honor spring with musical guests, vintage vendors, and a smattering of other creators ready to hawk their wares into the early eve. If you’re feeling saucy after a few glasses of vino disco boxed wine, turn your body into a canvas with henna, face paint, and a tattoo or two to round it all out.
Artist Talk & Opening Reception | Western Wave
Category: Art
Date: Thursday, May 1st @ 4:30pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Berggruen Gallery (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Berggruen Gallery is celebrating photography with their opening of Western Wave, spotlighting the work of artists Joni Sternbach and Vanessa Marsh. Sternbach’s work seemingly captures three time periods in one: the 19th century in its technique, the 1960s in its subjects, and present day in its actual production. Marsh is a cameraless photographer who produces lumen photograms of Western landscape. Both artist will discuss their work at 4:30pm before the formal reception at 5pm.
Pop around the corner after to Create and Connect at SFMoMA, in partnership with Ruth’s Table, as part of their Ruth Asawa programming for Free First Thursdays.
Sundown Cinema Outdoor Screening: The Fog
Category: Film
Date: Friday, April 25th @ 8pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: The Presidio Civil War Parade Ground (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Poor Karl the Fog can’t catch a break. SFFILM is partnering with the San Francisco Parks Alliance for a horror film homecoming of The Fog. The Bay Area cult classic takes places in a mysterious northern California town where even the most logo-ed of Patagucci won’t save you from the nebulous terror. Bring a blanket (or three) and get cozy under the chilled cover of San Francisco Spring for this Presidio outdoor screening.
Next Drop: Monday, May 5th