News From The Queens Tourism Council
Documentaries, mockumentaries, romantic comedies, painful emotional studies, joke fests and foreign flicks are on tap this week, as Queens hosts numerous movie fests around the borough.
But there are also opportunities to stargaze, enjoy origami, soak in art, discuss MLK and even audition for a choral group.
Here’s the rundown.
– Friday, Jan. 17, Barbaric Genius, 7:30 p.m. This event includes the screening of a documentary on John Healy and a Q&A with the movie’s director, Paul Duane. In the early 1990s, Healy was a star author, constantly being interviewed about his first book, “The Grass Arena.” This son of Irish immigrants had lived on London streets for 15 years, fighting and stealing to survive, until he discovered chess, gave up alcohol, and became a rated chess player and famous writer. Then he disappeared. In 2006, Duane found Healy. $11/$6 students, seniors unemployed. New York Irish Center, 10-40 Jackson Ave., LIC, www.nyirish.org.
– Friday, Jan. 17, Wavemakers, 7 p.m. The Museum of the Moving Image’s (MMI) First Look series showcases inventive new cinema. The documentary Wavemakers delves into the history and legacy of the Ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument with a haunting, ethereal sound. Director Caroline Martel will attend and Jean Laurendeau will play the instrument after the screening. MMI, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria, www.movingimage.us.
– Saturday, Jan. 18, Jamaica Bay Origami, 2 p.m. (again on Sunday, Jan. 19). Learn about the art of Origami and create paper versions of Jamaica Bay animals. Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Broad Channel, www.nyharborparks.org.
– Saturday, Jan. 18, Star Safari: Astronomy Adventure, 7 p.m. Join professor/astronomer Mark Freilich for an exciting evening of star gazing. See the moon up close, view the Orion Nebular, the Pleiades Star Cluster and Deep Space Phenomenon. Participants may bring their own telescopes and binoculars. $16. Alley Pond Environmental Center, 228-06 Northern Blvd., Douglaston, www.alleypond.org.
– Saturday, Jan. 18, Rags and Tatters, 1:30 p.m.; Ape, 4 p.m. The Museum of the Moving Image presents First Look, an annual showcase for inventive new international cinema. Escaping after years in jail, a man tries to find his way home on the outskirts of a Cairo that has been turned upside down by protests of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution in Rags and Tatters. In Ape, the phrase “struggling comedian” has never been more fitting than to describe the fictional Grand Rapids standup comic and part-time arsonist Trevor Newandyke. Director Joel Potrykus will attend. MMI, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria, www.movingimage.us.
– Saturday, Jan. 18, MLK Day Discussion, 2 p.m. The New York Council for the Humanities’ Conversations with Kids program will discuss Doreen Rappaport’s book, Martin’s Big Words, about one of the world’s most influential leaders ever, Martin Luther King Jr. Free. Queens Historical Society, 143-35 37th Ave., Kingsland Homestead, Flushing, www.queenshistoricalsociety.org.
– Sunday, Jan. 19, Short Film Fest, 8 p.m. Once a month, the Laughing Devil Comedy Club screens five-to-15 short films interspersed with Q&As with their creators, followed by a cocktail party so the audience and filmmakers can chat. The three best films will go on to compete in the finals in December. $10. Laughing Devil Comedy Club, 47-38 Vernon Blvd., LIC, www.laughingdevil.com.
– Sunday, Jan. 19, Queens International, 1 and 3 p.m. At 1 p.m., the Queens World Film Festival presents films from around the world: Old Angel by Dony Chiang (Taiwan, 5 min.); 15 Summers Later by Pedro Collantes (Spain); Green Pencil by Fayaz Bahram, animation (Iran); Of Guilt and Grief by Tom van Den Broek (Wales, 15 min.); Swing by Yen-ting Kuo (Taiwan, 5 min.); Curvas by David Galan Galindo (Spain, 5 min.); Drat by Farzin Farzaneh (Canada); At the Formal by Andrew Kavanagh (Australia); Le Tette di una Diciottenne by Luca Gennari (Italy, 8 min); and Pollicino by Cristiano Anania (Italy). At 3 p.m, the festival presents films from around the corner: Wyldflower by Justin Staley (16 min); Baby I Love You by Faiyaz Jafri (3 min); Charred by Michael Chmiel (20 min); My Emily by Brandon Sanford (6 min); The Love Permit by Christopher Ludgate (13 min.); Can’t Dance by Richard Ulig (16 min.); Emma by Anne Hue (5 min); and My Day by Paul Kelly (23 min). Panel discussions after screenings. Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, www.queensworldfilmfestival.com.
– Sunday, Jan. 19, Thaw, 2 p.m. Opening for an 11-artist exhibit featuring drawings, paintings, photographs, collage, sculpture and video that address the earth’s naturalbut forced transformation, hinting at the potential scientific and geopolitical effects of natural disasters. Exhibit runs through April 6. Dorsky Gallery, 11-03 45th Ave., LIC, www.dorsky.org.
– Sunday, Jan. 19, To the Wolf, 2 p.m; Natan, 4 p.m; and The Rendez- Vous of Déjà Vu, 6:30 p.m. Closing night of the Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look showcase of inventive new international cinema. In To the Wolf, poverty and rain mark the grim lives of two goatherding families struggling to survive in the Greek mountains. The 4 p.m movie is a documentary on Bernard Natan, a pioneer of French cinema and early director of silent, soft-core porn who died in Auschwitz. Fast-paced and silly, The Rendez-Vous of Déjà Vu is a romantic burlesque about a museum guard who tries to win a woman’s heart during a beach vacation. Director Antonin Peretjatko will attend. MMI, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria, www.movingimage.us.
– Monday, Jan. 20, Oratorio Society of Queens Auditions, 6:50 p.m. Experience the joy of choral singing. Reservations are required, call (718) 279-3006. Temple Beth Sholom, 172nd Street and Northern Boulevard, Flushing, www.queensoratorio.org.
“It’s In Queens” column is produced by the Queens Tourism Council with the hope that readers will enjoy the borough’s attractions.
