Red Rock Tavern 369 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106

10:00 pm — Breakfast and a Movie- Dean and Me (USA, 2008, 88 min.)
There will really and truly be breakfast to go along with the CT Premiere of a documentary about Howard Dean.
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Life goes on. Life has been going on.

There are two events this weekend that, at times, weave together the political with the artistic.

The Hartford International Film Festival runs from 7pm on Thursday, November 6th through late Sunday evening when it concludes with a hip hop performance. The festival begins with the Hartford premiere screening of Trouble the Water, which won Best Documentary 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival. Trouble the Water documents Hurricane Katrina from the perspective of New Orleans residents before, during, and after the storm. After the film, there will be a discussion with a former FEMA employee.

During the Hartford International Film Festival, a few dozen feature length and short films will be shown at a number of venues including Wilde Auditorium at the University of Hartford, Bow Ties Cinemas (Crown Palace), La Paloma Sabanera, Wadsworth Atheneum, Art Cinema, Real Art Ways, Red Rock Tavern, Hartford Children’s Theatre, and Cinestudio. A pass for $40 will get you into all of the films.

For a full listing of films and HIFF-related events, see the schedule on the Hartford International Film Festival website.

Also this weekend, the 19th annual Open Studio Weekend will be taking place at scattered locations in Hartford. There is no admission fee to what can be the start of your holiday shopping for arts and crafts created by local artists. The main event is at Art Space (555 Asylum), but there will also be art for sale at the Institute for Community Research (146 Wyllys Street), 69 Myrtle ST C2, 84 Barker Street, 30 Arbor Street, and 56 Arbor Street.

The Open Studio runs from 11-5 on Saturday and Sunday, but check the website as certain venues may be open on only one of the days.

For something purely political, go down to the Charter Oak Cultural Center (21 Charter Oak Avenue) on Saturday for an event called Spotlight on Anarchism. They describe this as:

Co-Sponsored by the Area Radical Reading Group of Hartford and Hartford Food Not Bombs, this all-day event features panels on diverse topics such as feminism, anti-racism, anti-capitalism and radical queer politics. This event seeks to dispel myths about anarchism, as well as build bridges between activists throughout the region.

The event will feature tables by local activist groups and a free community dinner will be provided by Food Not Bombs. The event will finish off with music by local groups dedicated to social justice. Free.

This event runs from noon until 11pm.

Today, at 1pm, there will be a free screening of An Unreasonable Man, the Ralph Nader documentary. It is at 56 Arbor Street (to be shown at Real Art Ways, but is not sponsored by them). Before casting your vote, please research all of the candidates and look at their voting records and histories, not just at their commercials or their opponents’ mudslinging commercials. A democracy does not function the way it should when citizens are not informed.

I have had the chance to preview some of the films to be shown in November and will be going on Wednesday to support this. Barça is in the Design Center at 1429 Park Street.

How To: Register, pick up video equipment, learn to use camera (if necessary), shoot film, return equipment, wait (other stuff happens at this point, but you would be able to just sit back with a martini {of your own making} while others did the dirty work), and then watch the results. (more…)