PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY FACEBOOK / INDIE MEMPHIS
Indie Memphis Film Festival
Various locations
Through Monday, October 25th
No need to scroll through Netflix this weekend — Indie Memphis Film Festival has you covered with documentaries, narrative shorts, and features, some of them even home-grown. From Killer, the locally made slasher with whodunnit undertones, to Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart as Lady Diana, the festival has something for everyone’s taste.
Showings will be at various locations: Crosstown Theater, Circuit Playhouse, Playhouse on the Square, and Malco’s Summer Drive-In. For a full schedule, visit Indie Memphis’ website. Plus, if you don’t want to leave the comfort of your couch, showings will also be available online, where, depending on your ticket package, you can select a number of films to view. (For these films, you will be able to start them up to four days after their premiere. Once you start, you will have 24 hours to finish.)
In-person and virtual single screening tickets are $10 (except for Malco’s Summer Drive-In, where tickets are $20). Passes range from $25 to $250.
photograph courtesy riverartsfestival
RiverArtsFestival
Renasant Convention Center, 255 N. Main
Saturday-Sunday, October 23rd-24th, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
The Mid-South’s longest-running fine arts festival is back this year at a new location. Artists and talent from all over the country will be present to sell their paintings, sculptures, jewelry, ceramics, and more. You might even knock out a little shopping for the holidays before Halloween comes around — talk about being productive while having a good time. (The full roster of artists can be found here.)
In addition to shopping, art demonstrations and live music are on the schedule, and kids can check out the free interactive art station and create their own masterpieces. To keep you energized throughout the day, StickEm, Trap Fusion, and Smurfey’s Smokehouse food trucks will be on-site.
Adult single-day passes are $10 and two-day passes are $15. Tickets for children, ages 6-12, are $5, and children 5 and under get in free. All proceeds, donations, and sponsorships go to community art projects, area college art scholarships, Art in the Making residency programs, RiverArtsFest’s Special Resources fund, and other arts-related organizations and events throughout the year.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ANGEL ORTEZ
Dia de los Muertos Reverse Parade
Overton Park, 1930 Poplar
Saturday, October 23rd, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, in partnership with Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group, is giving its guests the chance to be in a parade for Dia de los Muertos … well, kinda. Instead of floats and performers moving along the parade route, this year, you’re the ones in motion, as you drive along and watch the performers and floats stationed at the side. Brooks is calling it a Reverse Parade.
Those in cars can listen to and watch performances by Opera Memphis, Cazateatro Catrinas, children’s folklore groups, mariachi bands, and so much more. Stationary floats, decorated in bright colors, will also be interspersed throughout the route in Overton Park. Along the way, drivers and car-riders can listen to the audio tour on SoundCloud to learn more about the Mexican holiday — and why it’s not Mexico’s Halloween.
Guests will be provided with take-home craft kits and are welcome to ride through the route as many times as they like, as long as they don’t stop and hold up traffic.
Admission is free. The parade route can be found here.
photograph courtesy arkwings foundation
Frayser Local Arts Festival
Arkwings Foundation, 2034 James Road
Saturday, October 23rd, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Arkwings Foundation, whose mission is to promote mind, body, and spirit wellness, is hosting its third annual Frayser Local Arts Festival, where festival-goers can get a taste of all forms of art — visual, performing, written, and more.
Locally made art and goods will be available to view and purchase, and poetry, spoken word, song, dance, yoga, and pilates will fill up the performance schedule. Plus, culinary artist Cardi Fuqua, owner of Naked, will be on-site to demonstrate creative healthy recipes made from the fresh produce and herbs from the art garden.
And while you’re there, check out the creative activity stations scattered throughout the grounds, where you can paint, build, and create.
Admission is free.
[Photo credit: Arkwings Foundation]
photograph courtesy loaded for bear
In This Moment
Ballet Memphis Fly Studio, 2144 Madison
Saturday, October 23rd, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 24th, 2 p.m.
Grand jeté into Ballet Memphis’ fall season. Back on stage and in-person, Ballet Memphis opens the season with a medley of three contemporary works: Gabrielle Lamb’s Elapse, Steven McMahon’s Thoughtforms, and Mariana Oliveira's creative take on Pagliacci. Elapse will open the evening with an exploration of the awareness of time, and Thoughtforms, created by Ballet Memphis’ artistic director, will follow with themes of depth and vitality. Lastly, Oliveira’s reimagined Pagliacci will blend the 1892 opera’s tragic love triangle among a commedia troupe with choreography derived from Charlie Chaplin’s physical comedy, set to music from his 1928 film, The Circus. (And, if you become obsessed with Pagliacci, you can also catch Opera Memphis’ performance of the opera this weekend or next.)
Tickets are $35, and seating is festival-style. The show will last around an hour and 15 minutes, with two brief intermissions between performances. Ballet Memphis will also have performances next weekend, October 29th-31st.
[Photo: Loaded for Bear]
