The Sunshine Coast Film Society will pick up its season with two screenings of the 2023 science fiction film Jules.
Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley plays an aging widower named Milton, who is experiencing the early stages of dementia while living a routine, unremarkable life in a small western Pennsylvania town.
Largely a victim of the invisibility so often suffered by the elderly, no one takes Milton very seriously when one night a flying saucer crashes into his backyard. He discovers a small, helpless alien who needs help. Life suddenly becomes very, very different.
This allegory about finding one’s voice includes Jane Curtin (late of Saturday Night Live) and Zoe Winters (Succession).
The movie (rated 18+) plays on Monday, Jan. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons, and on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. at the Raven’s Cry Theatre in Sechelt.
Society membership is required. Memberships and tickets can be purchased online or with cash at the door. Browse to www.scfs.ca for details.
Artesia Coffee House froths with variety
The Coast Cultural Alliance is gearing up for its first Artesia Coffee House of 2024. The event on Jan. 12 will be an eclectic evening that starts with Jess Hart, a multitalented musician and composer.
Hart’s compositions are a blend of folk, grunge and soul influences. She has performed across Canada and toured in Europe, with performances in Germany, Malta, and France.
Following Hart, father and son duo Chris and Solomon Hergesheimer will perform tunes from their politically driven, anti-capitalist, hard-hitting acoustic folk project.
Caravan Paradiso will perform following the customary caffeination break. The group is a Felliniesque marching band that also occasionally performs in stationary venues. It features Graham Ord on soprano sax, Heather Anderson on trombone, Anna Lumiere on accordion and piano, James Law on percussion — and sometimes fiddle.
This helter-skelter band plays a style they describe as “funky Romany jazz mashup” featuring film music as well as various world music selections from Brazilian and Slavic traditions.
Treats and drinks will be available for sale. Tickets ($20) are available by browsing local listings on Eventbrite or at the door.
Harbour becomes hotbed for chamber music
The indefatigable Pender Harbour Music Society is preparing for its Mid-Winter Chamber Music Weekend, on Jan. 13 and 14.
The Victoria Piano Quartet will perform unique concerts on each day. The group features Terence Tam on violin, Yariv Aloni on viola, Pamela Highbaugh Aloni on cello, and Lorraine Min on piano.
The program is designed to explore the development of compositions for the piano quartet.
The Jan. 13 concert begins with Mozart who was the first to write masterpieces for this combination of instruments. The program then continues to celebrate the influences of France and Spain with quartets by Joaquín Turina and Gabriel Fauré.
The Jan. 14 concert features two major romantic piano quartet masterpieces by Brahms and Dvorak. Both are timeless in their beauty and power, according to Pender Harbour musicologists.
Tickets are available online by browsing to penderharbourmusic.ca.
