COURTESY BAM
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12
Screening: Willie at BAM
In 1985, Danny Lyon, a photographer known for his black-and-white images of bikers, extended his practice to film for Willie. This bleak documentary follows Willie Jaramillo, a New Mexican drifter who moves in and out of jail for various offenses. Lyon’s rarely-screened documentary is being shown at BAM as part of its extensive “Indie ’80s” film series.
Peter Jay Sharp Building, BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Avenue, 7 p.m., $14/$10/$7
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13
Talk: James Welling on “Sarah Charlesworth: Doubleworld” at the New Museum
For its “Outside the Box” gallery talks, the New Museum invites contemporary artists to discuss a current show at the museum. This week’s “Outside the Box” talk will be done by James Welling, the New York–based conceptual photographer known for his work that deals with nature. He’ll be discussing “Doubleworld,” the New Museum’s Sarah Charlesworth survey, in a 40- to 60-minute presentation. RSVP here.
New Museum, 235 Bowery, 3:30 p.m., free
Screening: Ping’an Yueqing at Anthology Film Archives
As part of a series of Chinese independent films released between 2012 and 2014, Anthology Film Archives is showing Ai Weiwei’s Ping’an Yueqing. Ai, ever doubtful of Chinese authority, made this documentary after he and many others suspected that Qian Yunhui, a village leader, didn’t actually die in a road accident. Qian had stood up to the government after it took land away from fellow villagers without any compensation, and he suspiciously died shortly thereafter. Anthology writes that the film “unfolds like a thriller, but an ultra-realist one.”
Anthology Film Archives, 32 2nd Avenue, 6:30 p.m., $10/$8/$6
COURTESY THE STRAND
Q&A: Ann Beattie at The Strand
One of the great short story writers of the last century, Ann Beattie will be participating in a Q&A session in honor of the release of her first story collection in more than a decade, titled The State We’re In: Maine Stories.
The Strand, 828 Broadway, 3rd floor – Rare Book Room, 7—8 p.m. In order to attend this event, you must buy a copy of The State We’re In or a $15 Strand gift card.
Performance: 65° at Luxembourg & Dayan
Concluding the gallery’s Summer Performances series, Madeline Hollander will perform 65°. With choreography influenced by actions as mundane as iPhone swipes, yoga poses, TSA pat-downs, and unconscious tics, four performers (including Hollander herself) will become “the objects of display; their heat and energy [will set] in motion a process of entropy whose rules gradually reveal themselves.” The room will be set at precisely 65°.
Luxembourg & Dayan, 64 East 77th St, 6:30—8:30 p.m.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14
Concert: “An Evening with Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band” at the Museum of Modern Art
After collaborating on several experimental albums, Yoko Ono and John Lennon decided that whatever else they did would be conceptual. One of those projects was Plastic Ono Band, which, around 1968, Ono explained was a band that “that would never exist . . . that didn’t have a set number of members . . . that could accommodate anyone who wanted to play with it.” As part of its current show of Ono’s work from the ’60s, the museum is having Ono perform with Plastic Ono Band, named for small plastic objects by Lennon, for two nights this weekend.
Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, doors open at 7 p.m., concert begins at 7:30 p.m., $65
Screening: Nostalghia at Museum of Arts and Design
Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) will be screening Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1983 Nostalghia, the director’s first film completed outside of the USSR. In the movie, Russian poet Andrei Gorchakov is traveling to Italy when he encounters an insane man who had once locked his family in their house for seven years in an attempt to rescue them from a sinful world, and the story touches on the idea of “mother Russian,” religion, and how to live in the world. Notably, this film won both the Grand Prix and the International Federation of Film Critics Prize at Cannes.
Museum of Arts and Design, 36-01 35th Avenue, 7 p.m., $10 general/free for MAD members
COURTESY RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART
Screening: Black Sunday at Rubin Museum of Art
One of the leading examples of Italian Gothic horror, 1960’s Black Sunday, also known as The Mask of Satan, directed by Mario Bava, centers on a newly resurrected witch with vengeance in mind. Bats, scorpions, fog, vampires, crypts, and torch bearing mobs, filmed in murky black and white, launched the career of both Bava and leading actress Barbara Steele.
Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street, 9:30—11:30 p.m. Tickets are $10. The film is in Italian with English subtitles.