A special shout out to the international films festivals happening in and around San Diego. The 29th Annual Latino Film Festival got underway yesterday, and the festival will be screening over 160 films in the next 9 days. The festival will also feature many special events like Q&As with filmmakers, live music, celebrity appearances, parties, and the Sabor Latino Food, Beer & Wine Fest. It is an exceptional festival for movie lovers. The 11th Annual San Diego Arab Film Festival at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park kicks off today and will continue each Friday and Saturday for the next 3 weeks. The festival will showcase 9 feature films and 12 short films from
across the Arab World. In-person screenings will also offer buffet-style
Arabic dinner. The festival's short films will be screened virtually.
This weekend marks the return of the Japanese Friendship Garden's Cherry Blossom Festival (Hanami) in Balboa Park. It will feature numerous vendors, tea tastings, food booths, cultural performances, a beer and sake garden, and—we presume—cherry blossoms galore.
Tonight (Friday) and tomorrow night, Cinema Under the Starts will screen Being The Ricardos. Also tonight, the ecstatic Colombian singer-songwriter Lido Pimienta will perform at the Casbah.
Saturday, it's time to get your Irish on and celebrate at the 40th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade and Festival. There will be 120 floats in the parade, marching bands, Irish dance troupes, and assorted dignitaries. The festival will feature live music and a beer garden. Tomorrow night will be the undoubtedly more rowdy annual ShamROCK Music Festival with lots of contemporary Irish music bands and dancers. Also on Saturday, the wonderfully talented multi-lingual vocalist Allison Adams Tucker will present the 14th Annual Brasil Jazz Festa featuring Peter and Trip Sprague, Danny Green, Justin Grinnel, Julien Cantelm, and, of course, Allison herself.
On Sunday, the House of Ireland will celebrate St. Patrick's Day with Irish music, dance, and food at the International Cottages. There will be a Native American Flute Circle at Mission Trails Park in San Carlos. Mingle at the Mingei will feature their artists-in-residence, Camarada, who will perform works from several international composers.
Monday at the Central Library, there will be a discussion of The Decameron written by Giovanni Boccaccio.
Next Friday at the Coronado Playhouse, performances of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express will commence. The Center for World Music and Mingei will host the Afro-Cuban group Omo Aché, but, alas, the show is already sold-out.
Next Saturday, the Coronado Library will host the 12th Annual San Diego Storytelling Festival with stories hailing from near to far. At the San Diego Central Library, the Culinary Historians of San Diego will present They Came Bearing Bread -- The Hard Lives of the Porteuses de Pain featuring Jim Chevallier. The Persian Cultural Center will hold its annual Nowruz Celebration celebrating the Persian New Year which begins with the first day of Spring.
Next Sunday, UCSD will host an online talk on Visualizing the Past-John Less’ Depictions of His Holocaust Refuge in Shanghai. In the afternoon the House of Palestine will celebrate its annual lawn program with Palestinian food, music and dancing.
Local theatrical offerings include Trouble in Mind at the Old Globe (ends Sunday), El Borracho at the Old Globe's White Theatre, Abigail's Party at the Tenth Avenue Arts Center, The Great Khan at the Lyceum Theatre, Bhangin' It at the La Jolla Playhouse, and opening on the 18th, Murder on the Orient Express at the Coronado Playhouse.
Everyone here at the San Diego Participant Observer and the Worldview Project wish you a fulfilling, illuminating and culturally rich weekend. See you next week!
