Movies, Comedians, Theatre, and More Arts Options for the Week

Sasquatch Sunset With Nathan Zellner Q&A

Thursday 11 - Saturday 13, Alamo South Lamar

The newest film from Austin’s Zellner brothers, about the tragic and touching lives of a family of Bigfoots, is getting a coast-to-coast opening weekend. While writer/director David Zellner hosts Q&As in Los Angeles and star Jesse Eisenberg in NYC, the Third Coast gets the leader of the clan – actor/director Nathan Zellner – to give an insight into life in the woods. Read our review and our interview with David and Nathan online.   – Richard Whittaker

“Jen Garrido: Shapes That Listen”

Through April 28, Wally Workman Gallery

As a glasses-wearer, my vision unobstructed by assistive frames reveals a world of shapes – formless, edgeless, but colorful wonders nonetheless. Take a glance at Jen Garrido’s work, and you’ll feel as though your glasses have fallen away, too. The artist’s process, as she puts it, is “a delicate balance of choice and process.” She gravitates toward shapes that “tangle, overlap, sit, lean and lay” as a vessel for personal narratives and internal dialogues. While first looks may reveal only color and texture, Garrido’s paintings invite projection – so project your meanings any Tuesday-Sunday before the show’s April 28 end date.   – James Scott

Koyaanisqatsi

Friday 12, Cloud Tree Studios and Gallery

If proof be needed that the Academy knows nothing, just remember that Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 landmark abstract documentary wasn’t even nominated for Best Documentary. But his groundbreaking exploration of the totality of modern existence (the title being a Hopi word meaning “life out of balance”) reshaped non-narrative cinema. In collaboration with Rocket Cinema, Cloud Tree is bringing in a 5.1 surround stereo to present Philip Glass’ astonishing soundtrack at its absolute best.   – Richard Whittaker

“Creating Encuentros: Changarrito 2012–2024”

Friday 12, Mexic-Arte Museum

Traveling in Mexico, you frequently encounter changarritos – portable food carts or tienditas run by hardworking entrepreneurs. The carts usually operate outside of any formal regulation and, in that way, mirror the resilience and creativity of Mexican culture. In 2005, artist Máximo González appropriated the concept of the changarrito as a way for artists to take their work directly to the people. The idea came to Austin’s venerable Mexic-Arte Museum in 2012, with dozens of artists displaying art and interacting with the public outside the Downtown gallery. The concept is back and will run through August.   – Brant Bingamon

Handmade Films Series

Friday 12 - Monday 15, AFS Cinema

George Harrison wasn’t just a musician: He was also an enormous film fan, so much so that he established one of the most exciting, innovative, devious, and artistically diverse British film studios of the 1980s. Join Austin writer Kristen O’Brien, daughter of co-founder Denis O’Brien, for a weekend of four of the studio’s best: crime classics Mona Lisa and The Long Good Friday, twisted kids’ delight Time Bandits, and wicked sex comedy The Missionary.   – Richard Whittaker

“KB Brookins: Freedom House”

Saturday 13, Prizer Arts & Letters

Before it was an exhibition, Freedom House was a workshop KB Brookins ran based around the question “What would it look like if art was an integral part of our social justice, our movement work?” as they say in a December 2022 Chronicle interview. They’ve since developed the idea into a poetry book of the same name, and now bring an even more physicalized concept to the Prizer gallery space. This multimedia installation is “equipped with poems, film, furniture, and collages that simulate what freedom – embodied in everyone’s most delicate and personal place – looks, feels, and sounds like.” This house has many rooms to explore, so it’s a good thing you’ll have until May 11 to walk through them all.   – James Scott

The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body

Saturday 13, Vortex Theatre

Black cultural studies scholar Lisa B. Thompson’s “theatrical love letter to Black women and girls” premieres to a sold-out crowd this Friday at the Vortex. The choreopoem – which incorporates music, movement, and design, and culminates in an audience dance party – is “about embracing the 'soft life’ for Black women, whose labor and dedication has sustained people, communities, and institutions,” says Thompson, who conceived of the idea during her 2021 MacDowell artist residency. The show was subsequently developed during a 2023-24 Texas Performing Arts and Fusebox residency, and includes songs co-written with composers Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. and Vince Anthony, as well as collaborations with choreographer Sadé M. Jones. The show runs Thu.-Sun. through May 4, and tickets are selling fast!   – Lina Fisher

Overheard on a Train

Saturdays through May 25, Red Line Downtown Station

All aboard for a theatrical adventure with the latest innovative journey from the experimental geniuses of Cheerful Secrets. This time, the audience is the cast: As you board the train, you’ll be handed your script, and you and three friends will be playing the parts of either the band or the bachelorette party. Intermission is at Black Star Co-op at Crestview before you board the train and return Downtown for the second act. Read more online.   – Richard Whittaker

Local Queer April Book Club: H.E. Edgmon

Monday 15, Reverie Books

South Austin’s best little queer bookstore hosts the first-ever “night with the author” event for this LGBTQ literary society. Local Queer ATX welcomes H.E. Edgmon to discuss his newest work – Godly Heathens, a young adult fantasy novel featuring nonbinary and trans teens discovering not only their true identities but also, you know, magical forces beyond comprehension. The novel features Indigenous characters, an essential element for Edgmon in his work. “In his writing and his daily life,” the author bio states, “H.E. will always prioritize the pursuit of an Indigenous future, the safety of our most vulnerable, and making a terrible joke whenever possible.” To enjoy these terrible jokes, please bring a blanket or chair as this meeting’s out of doors.   – James Scott

Loose of Earth Book Launch

Tuesday 16, First Light Books

In her grief-stricken, gorgeously composed memoir, Lubbock native Kathleen Dorothy Blackburn writes about her father’s demise to a cancer likely caused by exposure to legacy chemicals while he was an Air Force pilot. There are two types of toxicity forming the bedrock of Loose of Earth: religious fanaticism and environmental contamination. With a scope that accommodates her personal traumas and wider environmental justice issues alike, Blackburn details her born-again family’s embrace of faith healers away from science alongside a larger investigation into PFAs, and in particular how they have impacted West Texas’ drinking water. She’ll be in conversation with ocean scientist and science writer Juli Berwald at Tuesday’s book launch; tickets include a copy of the book and a reserved seat.   – Kimberley Jones

Kathy Griffin

Tuesday 16, Paramount Theatre

Congress Avenue’s brightest theatre will struggle to contain the bombastic personality set to take the stage this night: Kathy Griffin, patron saint of D-list celebrities, Anderson Cooper NYE co-host, and onetime traumatizer of Barron Trump. Honestly though, isn’t having Barron as his first name trauma enough? In any case, the record-holder for most televised stand-up specials brings her new show, My Life on the PTSD-List, to Moontower Comedy Festival. You’ll laugh; you’ll gasp; and you’ll enjoy yourself a whole heck of a lot – just like me and my mom did watching Griffin on Bravo in the 2000s. Memories, sweet memories.   – James Scott

Indie Meme Film Festival

Wednesday 17 - Sunday 21, AFS Cinema

Austin film buffs are fortunate to be situated in a town that hosts more than its fair share of film festivals, Indie Meme being one of them. The ninth annual iteration of this diverse fest brings over 30 of the best South Asian films from over a dozen countries to the U.S. Among the selections are international premieres, award-winning features, and even a local shorts showcase featuring Austin-based filmmakers Neha Aziz and Sarthwik Bollu. Badges run from $70 to $200, and individual tix can be snagged for only $15 a pop. A virtual badge grants access to all the films May 3-5.   – Kat McNevins

Into

Wednesday 17, Galaxy Theatre

Ahead of Austin Kink Weekend, aGLIFF (aka the longest running – and gayest – film festival in ATX) screens a documentary that dares to ask what exactly y’all are into. You know, into – like what turns a person on and why. Explore the horny and thorny through in-depth interviews and footage from real kink players from all parts of the BDSM world. Find out what makes a successful “scene,” dig into the realities of more taboo kinks, and learn why consent, respect, and communication are essential items in a kinkster’s toolbelt – alongside whips, handcuffs, and lots of water. You’ll thank me later for that tip.   – James Scott

Enter the Clones of Bruce With Live Q&A

Thursday 18, Alamo South Lamar

Bruce Lee may be a singular legend, but that doesn’t mean many, many others didn’t try. Dive into the roots of “Bruce-ploitation” cinema with the documentary Enter the Clones of Bruce. It tackles the sudden rush to fill the charismatic kickass movie vacuum left in the wake of Bruce Lee’s death. Follow in his kung fu footsteps with scrambling filmmakers, aspiring stars, and the scholars dedicated to the merest whiff of Lee’s dragon-y presence. Don’t miss the live Q&A with one of the would-be-Bruces, Bruce Le. Don those yellow jumpsuits, freshen up that stylish bowl cut, and enjoy the second-best fists of fury.   – Cat McCarrey

Georgetown Spring Art Stroll

Thursday 18, Downtown Georgetown

Everyone knows one of life’s greatest pleasures is to simply Walk Around and Look at Stuff, especially on those rare Texas days where the weather actually permits hanging out outside. Enter Georgetown’s Spring Art Stroll, where participating venues in our northern neighbors’ cultural district host artists and musicians for an evening of creative appreciation. Featuring traditional artist booths, public murals and sculptures, and exhibits at the African American Shotgun House Museum, Williamson Museum, and more, the walk runs from 4 to 8pm. Art Stroll badge holders can enjoy complimentary food and drinks, or discounted cocktails and cold brew.   – Carys Anderson

Into the Woods

Through April 21, Mary Moody Northen Theatre

Who’s ready for a bedtime story? Because there’s nothing like Stephen Sondheim’s grand unification theory of the Brothers Grimm’s collection of German fairy tales. All your childhood folklore favorites become tangled up in the search for the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold. Underneath the toe-tappers and cunning one-liners, there’s a fable about the perils of getting what you wished for and not paying attention to what you have, a moral reiterated by a witch who’s not good, not nice; just right.   – Richard Whittaker

Romeo Y Juliet

Through April 14, Oscar G. Brockett Theatre

Wherefore art thou, bilingual adaptation of Shakespeare’s iconic play about rivalry, young love, and sword fights? The romance is closer than you think: Writers KJ Sanchez and Karen Zacaría along with director Anna Skidis Vargas bring this timeless work into a new context, right on UT-Austin’s campus. The tale that pits Montague against Capulet settles in fair Alta, California, circa 1840. “Set in the limbo between Mexican rule and new statehood,” the event description reads, “this retelling shifts between English and Spanish, bringing new life to a well-loved tale of love, bloodshed, family and fate.” Now there’s an idea you won’t bite your thumb at.   – James Scott

Molly Sydnor’s “After the Rain Part I”

Through May 12, Big Medium

A piece of Dallas artist Molly Sydnor lives in Austin this spring thanks to “After the Rain Part I,” a Big Medium pop-up exhibition of bright textiles. Like a touchable rainbow, the multicolor weavings run ceiling-to-floor in a tiny room of the arts organization’s South Congress Avenue gallery space. The claustrophobic container may “evoke anxiety,” the artist notes, but for Sydnor, the act of weaving is a meditative process. Catch the display from 7 to 9pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or weekends from 11am to 4pm.   – Carys Anderson