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Film, literature, and writing get the spotlight this week as the Rochester arts community slates opportunities to connect and moments to reflect through stories. Stories can transport us during a crisis, flex the imagination beyond our confines, or simply offer respite and delight. Here are some highlights.
We're going to miss the big-screen experience for a while, so the Virtual Little Theatre is bringing home the current run with films such as "The Roads Not Taken," with Javier Bardem, the sci-fi comedy "Extra Ordinary," and yes, "Best of CatVideoFest: Creature Comforts Edition." Meanwhile, Baobab Cultural Center celebrates Jazz Appreciation Month with curated recommendations for their ongoing Friday Film Series. Find the scoop in their newsletter. And this week, Rochester Jewish Film Festival commemorates Holocaust Remembrance Day with a free streaming of "Saul & Ruby's Holocaust Survivor Band" through April 21.
Is it possible to turn quarantine and cold weather into cozy time? Maybe with a good book. Social, surfing bookworms can add books to their stacks and new friends to their chats with local book clubs on varying topics, all online. Stage and screen legend Julie Andrews is the subject of the next Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library's longstanding Books Sandwiched In, which will discuss "Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years" on Tuesday, April 21 during their usual (yet still unusual) lunchtime, 12:12-12:52pm. The series continues through May 5. Also on Tuesday, Henrietta Public Library presents its curated Book Preview for Spring & Summer Reading (7 p.m., April 21). Check your library often as Monroe County Library System continues to update their online offerings.
Sulfur Books in Clifton Springs keeps readers active through the week. On Wednesday, the Online Book Club discusses "That We May Live," a collection of speculative Chinese fiction that may challenge and expand one's sense of reality (April 22, 3pm). Return the next day to hear Thursday Morning Coffee Readings at 10am. Also on Thursdays, Blackfriars Book Club adds a theatrical twist by reading and discussing plays instead of books. Titles are announced the previous Friday, and the series continues through May 22. This week, April 23 (at 7pm): Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People," adapted by Arthur Miller. Registration is required, and space is limited.
Looking ahead, you still have time to read Negar Djavadi's "Disoriental," for the Writers & Books discussion series, The Book Thieves, on Thursday, May 7, 7p.m. Writers & Books now offers their full roster of writing workshops and classes online, and this particular moment in history might find a few of us putting words to the page.
In fact, historians are calling for us to do just that. The Association of Public Historians of New York State invites the public to Be a Witness to History: Share Your COVID-19 Experiences. Submissions to the archive can include prose, poetry, video, art, and more. Geva Theatre also seeks similar input for their Festival of New Theatre scheduled for October, when results from the public submission prompt, Good Trouble, play out on stage. Or, for the more succinct, quips and observations can be recorded on voicemail for broadcast on WAYO's Way-Out Weigh-In that airs Wednesdays at 2pm on 104.3 FM.
If you have a lot to express but don't have the words, take a look at our local calls for artists, including filmmakers. This week is the last call for Rochester Contemporary Art Center's 6x6x2020, with submissions due Friday, April 25.
Keep up to date with full listings of local online events on the CITY Events Calendar. Do you have an event you wish to include? You can submit online, or email event information to [email protected].