30 Jan Philadelphia Monthly Arts Round-Up: February 2024
BY SOPHIA ABRAHAM-RAVESON
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Now that we’ve all had a chance to settle a little bit more into the new year, Philadelphia’s film programming is picking back up. Some special longer-term programming is starting up, including events in honor of James Baldwin’s 100th birth anniversary and the months-long citywide festival celebrating women artists entitled (re)FOCUS 2024. For February specifically, we’re seeing events in honor of Black History Month, programs for Valentine’s Day, and screenings in preparation of the 2024 Oscars.
Highlights this month include a media education workshop called “Liberation Through Afrofuturism,” a screening of a documentary about James Baldwin called I Heard it Through the Grapevine plus a conversation with the director, and opening receptions for two new media-related exhibitions at Asian Arts Initiative. Additional programming at Lightbox Film Center, Scribe Video Center, and Bryn Mawr Film Institute is also worth checking out. Keep reading for a list of film and media events happening in Philadelphia in February 2024.
Thursday, February 1, 2024 at 7 PM
Neo Japan: Shorts Program
Check out this special screening of short films, presented in partnership with Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia and Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2023. The program includes four short films made in Japan in 2022: NEW GENERATION, about a man who suspects his employee is an alien; Scapegoat, about the life-changing consequences of two struggling isolated people meeting; When She Dresses Up, about two college students living together; and How Far, about two old friends catching up. All films are in Japanese with English subtitles.
Cost: $12 General Admission, $10 Students/Seniors, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Friday, February 2, 2024 at 7 PM
Storyville: Queen Mother
Storyville, a Scribe Video Center program dedicated to showcasing contemporary films and media works produced by Philadelphia-based independent media artists, is screening Queen Mother, a work in progress. The documentary is about Queen Mother Falaka Fattah, who has been working on eradicating gang violence in Philadelphia since 1969. The film was made by Jos Duncan Asè, a multimedia producer and founder of Love Now Media, and Jason Pollard, a film editor and producer known for his work on acclaimed documentary films Slavery By Another Name and Get Me Roger Stone.
Cost: $5 suggested donation
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Wednesday, February 7, 2024 at 7 PM
Naked Acts
Naked Acts, a recently restored 1995 film, tells the story of Cicely, an actress who has landed her first role in a low-budget art film. She soon learns that the role requires a nude scene. Her dilemma: How to keep her clothes on and keep her part? Cicely launches on a personal journey that unveils a secret she once kept hidden beneath her girth. The screening will be followed by a conversation with director Bridgett Davis, Maya Cade from the Black Film Archive, and Maori Holmes from BlackStar. Learn more about the work of the Black Film Archive.
Cost: $12 General Admission, $10 Students/Seniors, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
February 7, 8 and 9, 2024 at 6 PM
Body of Work: Jean-Marie Téno
Body of Work, Scribe’s monthly retrospective glance at films and filmmakers who have shaped local culture, is featuring Cameroonian film director and filmmaker Jean-Marie Teno this month. On February 7, attend a screening of Afrique, Je Te Plumerai (1993) about the damage colonial forces have done to Cameroon. On February 8, watch Chosen Le Futur Dans Le Rétro (2018) about a Ghanaian American writer who travels to Ghana to be crowned Queen Mother of her tribe. And February 9 will feature a shorts program with films Hommage (1985), Mister Foot (1991), and Le Marriage de Alex (2002). Teno will join each screening by Zoom from Cameroon.
Cost: $5
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Friday, February 9, 2024 at 6 PM
Asian Arts Initiative Exhibition Opening Receptions: “A Utopian Stage” and “Victoria Shen”
Asian Arts Initiative has two new exhibitions with opening receptions on the same day! In their main gallery space, check out A Utopian Stage, a multifaceted project diving into the vibrant history of Festival of Arts, Shiraz-Persepolis, an international performance festival held annually in Iran from 1967 to 1977. Presented with Bowerbird and curated by Vali Mahlouji, A Utopian Stage draws attention to Iran’s proactive role in promoting intercultural dialogues in the 60s and the 70s. Then in AAI’s Pearl Street Gallery, you can see Victoria Shen’s mercurial instrumental inventions and performance video art. Eschewing conventions in harmony and rhythm in favor of extreme textures and gestural tones, discover what Shen calls “chaotic sound” that opposes signal and information, eluding traditionally embedded meaning.
Cost: Free
Asian Arts Initiative — 1219 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Friday, February 16, 2024 at 7 PM
Producer’s Forum with Vivek Bald: Searching for Bengali Harlem
Vivek Bald is a scholar, writer, and documentary filmmaker whose work focuses on histories of migration and diaspora, particularly from the South Asian subcontinent. Searching for Bengali Harlem is Bald’s 2022 documentary about Alaudin Ullah, who as a teenager in 1980s Harlem, was swept up in the revolutionary energy of hip-hop. He rejected his working-class Bangladeshi parents and turned his back on everything South Asian and Muslim. Now an actor and playwright facing the Islamophobia of post-9/11 Hollywood, Alaudin wants to tell his parents’ stories.
Cost: $7.50 General Admission, $5 Students/Seniors, $4 Scribe Members
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Sunday, February 25, 2024 at 3 PM
Liberation Through Afrofuturism
Liberation Through Afrofuturism, a special collaborative event for Black History Month, is being co-presented by Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) and SIFTMedia 215 Collective. The workshop will alternate between three educators from the Philadelphia Public School System explaining the ethos behind including AfroFuturism in education and four short films by members of SIFTMedia 215 Collective that feature visions of African Americans past, present, and future across the diaspora.
Cost: Free
Germantown Mennonite Church — 21 West Washington Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19144
Tuesday, February 27, 2024 at 7 PM
Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in it
This special screening of Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in it is presented by Viva Video, the last video rental store in the Philadelphia area. The 2015 film follows Tuareg guitar hero Mdou Moctar as he faces family strife, jealous competition, and love troubles while trying to make it big in the music-crazy city of Agadez, Niger. Packed with blazing performances, this unmissable rock drama pays tribute to Prince’s “Purple Rain” while granting a window into Agadez’s vibrant guitar scene. The screening will be followed by a discussion about the film.
Cost: $13.50 for adults, $11 for seniors (65+), $9 for children (under 18), and $11 for students with ID
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Wednesday, February 28, 2024 at 7 PM
I Heard it Through the Grapevine
This recent restoration of the 1982 documentary about American literary icon James Baldwin is screening at Lightbox Film Center followed by a conversation with one of the directors, Pat Harley. The film follows Baldwin as he retraces his time in the South during the Civil Rights Movement with his trademark brilliance and insight on the passage of more than two decades. 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of Baldwin’s birth, and Philadelphia will be celebrating him with events throughout the year. Kick it all off with this beautiful and insightful film.
Cost: $12 General Admission, $10 Students/Seniors, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Other Events:
Wednesday, February 7, 2024 at 6 PM
Book Launch Party: The Girl, the Ring, and the Baseball Bat
Cost: Free
Taller Puertorriqueño — 2600 N 5th St, Philadelphia, PA, 19133
Wednesday, February 7, 2024 at 6 PM
Imag(in)ing Revolutions: Traditions of Unrest for an Anticolonial Art Praxis
Cost: Free
Fisher-Bennett Hall 401 — 3401 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Friday, February 9, 2024 at 6 PM
ICA Spring 2024 Opening Celebration
Cost: Free
Institute of Contemporary Art — 118 South 36th Street Philadelphia, PA 19104
Wednesday, February 14, 2024 at 7 PM
The Films of Sarah Jacobson: Valentine’s Day Double Feature
Cost: $12 General Admission, $10 Students/Seniors, Free for Members/UArts Students/UArts Faculty & Staff
Lightbox Film Center — 401 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Thursdays, February 15, 22, and 29, 2024 at 7 PM
Oscar Season: Celebrating Below-the-Line Artists
Cost: $13.50 for adults, $11 for seniors (65+), $9 for children (under 18), and $11 for students with ID
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Friday, February 16, 2024 at 6:30 PM
LatinX Composers – Astral Artists
Cost: Free for students & seniors, $15 for adults
Teatro Esperanza — 4261 North 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19140
Saturday, February 17, 2024 at 3 PM
Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine
Cost: Free
Gross McCleaf Gallery — 127 South 16th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
February 23 and 24, 2024
28th Arturo A. Schomburg Symposium
Cost: $0 students/local residents/community members, $20 global majority, $25 general admission, $40 social work CEU credit add-on
Taller Puertorriqueño — 2600 N 5th St, Philadelphia, PA, 19133
Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 3 PM
Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint
Cost: Free
Gross McCleaf Gallery — 127 South 16th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
*Featured Image: Image of musician and performance video artist Victoria Shen. Courtesy of Asian Arts Initiative.
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Sophia Abraham-Raveson is the Managing Editor for the cinéSPEAK Journal. She has previously worked for several Philadelphia-based film festivals, including BlackStar and Tri-Co Film Festival.
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