Crossroads, Crafts, and Close Encounters in Our Recommended Events

Photo by Linh Le via Unsplash

The Crafty Adult: Wild Plant Ikebana

Monday 19, Hampton Branch Library at Oak Hill

Craft your way to a prettier home through this lesson from mindful art teacher Sari Fujimaru, who’ll instruct interested adults in “the philosophy and basic structure of Japanese flower arrangement art.” Ikebana traces its roots back to sixth-century Buddhist cultural exchanges between China and Japan, with the modern art form focused on empty space as much as asymmetry. Monday’s class utilizes in-season wild plants for a small ikebana piece that crafters can take home afterward. Only 30 spots are available, so arrive early!   – James Scott

Crossroads

Monday 19 - Wednesday 21, All Austin Alamo Drafthouses

Back in 2002, Britney Spears was on fire, having already sold over 37 million albums including ...Baby One More Time and Oops!... I Did It Again. She was definitely overworked and overextended, but was trying her hand at everything and mostly succeeding, and her first and only starring film role was praised, although the film as a whole was critically panned. It’s a lovely little story about three high school grads (Spears, Taryn Manning, and Zoe Saldaña) who cross the country – on roads – as they rekindle their faded friendship and look toward the future. Travel along with them at the Tuesday movie party with props like a road trip map and globe keychain (Village and South Lamar locations only), or if you’re feeling less adventurous, non-MP screenings happen at all the Alamos Monday through Wednesday.   – Kat McNevins

The Artivist, Nikkolas Smith

Tuesday 20, Black Pearl Books

As Black Pearl points out, if you don’t yet know Nikkolas Smith, you should! A White House Innovators of Color fellow (2016), Smith holds a master’s of architecture and designed theme parks at Walt Disney Imagineering for 11 years. You may be more familiar with his illustration work for films (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, They Cloned Tyrone) and books (I Am Ruby Bridges, The 1619 Project: Born on the Water). Latest release The History of We, a NYT bestseller, magnificently illustrates humankind’s origins in Africa and imagines what man’s firsts might have looked like. Registration is required for this very special discussion with the Artivist, so sign up now!   – Kat McNevins

Living in Oblivion

Tuesday 20, Hyperreal Film Club

Often called an ode to indie film, the Tom DiCillo black comedy might be best remembered lately for secondary character Tito (a young Peter Dinklage), who rails against his inclusion within the in-film film’s dream sequence as an actor with dwarfism. “Do you know anyone who’s had a dream with a dwarf in it?” Tito asks Steve Buscemi’s overwhelmed director Nick Reve. “No! I don’t even have dreams with dwarves in them. The only place I’ve seen dwarves in dreams is in stupid movies like this.” Beyond the explosive scene, this exploration of low-budget, high-ambition filmmaking utilizes the real director’s experiences for bittersweet satire.   – James Scott

Photo by Olivia Terseck via Unsplash

Bird Walk on Lady Bird Lake

Tuesday 20, Central Library

There’s a lot of things I think I know about birds that probably aren’t true. For example, they’re the animal most closely related to dinosaurs. Thankfully there’s the Travis County Audubon Society to help with all those things I don’t know about feathered flyers. At this event the experts will offer an early morning tour of Downtown birds. Find out what avian friends are sharing our urban spaces unbeknownst to us (or knownst if it’s a grackle), and bring some binoculars to get a little closer and more personal.   – James Renovitch

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Wednesday 21, Monday 26 & Saturday 31, AFS Cinema

The greatest question ever asked in an interview was during an episode of Inside the Actors Studio, when host James Lipton asked of Steven Spielberg about CE3K, “Your father was a computer scientist. Your mother was a musician. When the spaceship lands, how do they communicate?” It was at that moment that the director himself realized how much of his family life he had poured into this jaw-dropping science-fiction epic. If you’ve seen The Fabelmans (and, if you haven’t, correct your life now), you’ll know how long it took him to process those emotions of parental obsession, of bridging impossible distances through music. But if you’ve never seen arguably the greatest alien movie ever made, see how he handled it metaphorically, visually, and with a sense of awe. We are truly not alone.   – Richard Whittaker

A New Leaf

Wednesday 21, Hyperreal Film Club

The first of her four-film directorial career, Elaine May’s dark comedy about wealth, romance, and good taste was a critical if not commercial success. Audiences weren’t ready for Walter Matthau in a sports car, I guess, or maybe they rebuffed a tale of wealth in decline, as Matthau’s playboy Henry Graham has squandered his whole inheritance by the film’s start. In order to keep himself living in the mode he’s become accustomed to, Henry must wed back into wealth, and who might he stumble upon but Henrietta Lowell – a monied botanist (played by May) whose plant knowledge far exceeds her social intelligence. The odds are against them, but that doesn’t stop an unlikely romance from unveiling itself over the 102-minute runtime.   – James Scott

Me Without You

Thursday 22, Hyperreal Film Club

Writer/director Sandra Goldbacher’s criminally underrated 2001 film is equal parts love letter and poison pen note to the intense, sometimes toxic bond forged between girls. Anna Friel plays the dazzling Marina, while Michelle Williams (brandishing a totally plausible British accent) is the more reserved Holly, wilting in her best friend’s shadow. The fashion is a hoot – they’re New Wave babies, all crimped hair and fingerless gloves – and the soundtrack’s a treat, with the Clash, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen, and Nick Drake sharing space with Verdi and Mozart and Bach. Presented by A Woman of Taste, who programs femme-forward narratives.   – Kimberley Jones

Want to see all of our listings broken down by day? Go to austinchronicle.com/calendar and see what's happening now or in the coming week.