Tuesday to Thursday
Miami Turkish Film Festival at Colony Theater, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach; various show times; free but tickets required; 305/674-1040 orwww.miamiturkishfilmfestival.com
The amount of foreign-language movies that arrive on South Florida’s shores compared to the number that wind up in New York City cinemas is miniscule, and it seems to dwindle more every year. So whenever a mini festival of obscure art-house movies like this arrives, we should cherish it. Turkey has long been a thriving hot spot for audacious, astute cinematic storytellers, and this three-day event spotlights five of them. The lineup features the black comedy “Last Stop Kurtulus,” the slapstick comedy sequel “Eyyvah Eyvah 2,” the animated biopic “God’s Faithful Servant: Barla,” and “Lost Songs of Anatolia,” which has been viewed as the world’s first musical-documentary hybrid. The festival closes with its brightest jewel: “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,” a gripping police procedural from the internationally recognized auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Visit the festival’s website for specific show times.
Wednesday
Opening day of 61stAnnual All Florida Juried Competition and Exhibition at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real, Boca Raton; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; $4 to $8 or free for members; 561/392-2500 or www.bocamuseum.org
Our state has been the punch line of more than one derisive joke in the popular culture – Homer Simpson famously called it “America’s wang.” But our state’s artists could easily take on the artists of any other state and emerge somewhere near the top. For more than 60 years, the All Florida Juried Competition and Exhibition has been showcasing the best artists our state has to offer, and it’s become a summer staple at the Boca Raton Museum of Art. This year, juror Valerie Cassel Oliver, a former programming specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts, among other eminent positions, selected the 100 works from a staggering pool of more than 1,500 entries. Look for more on this exhibition, including interviews with selected artists, here on bocamag.com throughout the next month.
Friday
Opening night of “Small Membership” at Alliance Theatre Lab, 6766 Main Street, Miami Lakes; 8 p.m.; $10 to $30; 305/259-0418 orwww.thealliancetheatrelab.com
David Sirois and Mark Della Ventura are two very talented peas in a pod, having collaborated most recently in the unique production “Love Burns” at Fort Lauderdale’s Empire Stage. Now they return to their regular stomping ground of Miami Lakes’ Alliance Theatre Lab in the much-anticipated “Small Membership.” Sirois directs Della Ventura, who wrote and stars in the one-man show about “a big boy with a small problem.” Perhaps the success of 2011’s “The Irish Curse” at Mosaic Theatre – a play that similarly explored the comic foibles of underendowed men – caused this piece, which premiered as a reading, to graduate into a full production. But Della Ventura seems to have a lot more on his mind, with the play touching on issues such as puberty, sexual orientation, anxiety, true love and heartbreak. It runs through June 24.
Date Night with Chloe Dolandis at Arts Garage, 180 N.E. First St., Delray Beach; 7:30 p.m.; $15 to $30; 561/450-6357 or www.artsgarage.org
Not everybody can claim to have an entire day dedicated to them – that’s an honor usually bestowed on folks like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Christopher Columbus. But locally, at least, musical theater sensation Chloe Dolandis received that distinction as a teenager in 2004, when the mayor of Boca Raton proclaimed Jan. 13 to be “Chloe Dolandis Day.” The honor came after Dolandis won Boca’s first-ever Rising Star competition, and since then, her star has shone ever brighter. The 27-year-old has hosted two programs on Nickelodeon, opened for entertainers as varied as Pitbull, Jeff Dunham and Billy Stritch and recorded a debut album, “Bring Back the Fever,” which reached the Top 20 of iTunes’ Jazz Album Downloads within a week of its release. The local girl done good will perform her jazzy soul songs in this intimate Arts Garage appearance.
Opening night of “Summer Shorts” at Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 7:30 p.m.; $35; 305/949-6722 or www.arshtcenter.org
Over the past few years, the annual “Summer Shorts” production – a juried collection of short, one-act plays culled from countless admissions across the nation – has come to resemble, in my mind, Woody Allen’s post-2000s output. Which is to say that I look forward to each Summer Shorts presentation with fevered anticipation, only to walk away a little bit disappointed – by the selection process more so than the acting, which is always top-notch. Could this year be the “Summer Shorts” equivalent of “Midnight in Paris?” The eight plays certainly suggest an increasingly comic approach to this venture, with Artistic Director John Manzelli citing sketch-comedy shows like “SNL” as an influence. I can tell you with certainty, at least, that Christopher Demos-Brown’s ingenious “The Man From Mars,” which had its world premiere in Boca last year, will be a showstopper. It runs through June 17.
Larry Marion at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 8 p.m.; free; 305/442-4408 or www.booksandbooks.com
From nude Marilyn Monroe photographs to early Bob Dylan recordings, the word “lost” is applied to so many pop-culture revelations that it’s beginning to lose its exotic appeal. The cynic in me is starting to think that the keepers of such entertaining gems intentionally “lose” them so that their value will be jacked up by the generation that “finds” them. That said, there’s no question that Larry Marion’s book “The Lost Beatles Photographs” is a thrilling coffee table book, compiling hundreds of images of the Fab Four at work and play, which were “lost” for some 45 years ago. Also chock full of interviews and promotional material (like early Beatles ID tags, press badges and bank notes), the book is an essential addition to any rock snob’s library. Marion, a rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia expert, will discuss this book as well as his hit from 2010, “The Lost Rolling Stones Photographs.”
Friday to Sunday
Italian Film Festival at Sunrise Civic Theatre, 10610 W. Oakland Park Blvd., Sunrise; various show times; $5 to $7 per film; 954/747-4646 or www.fliff.com
Last weekend, the Sunrise Civic Theatre – Broward County’s newest art-house venue – hosted an Israeli Film Festival. And earlier in this week, the Colony Theater in Miami took viewers to Turkey. Now, the cinematic journey around the world continues with a three-day stop in Italy, again at the Sunrise Civic Theatre in the Sunrise Civic Center (with a couple of screenings taking place at Cinema Paradiso). The festivities begin at 6 p.m. Friday with the marriage comedy “Casomai” and end at 7 p.m. June 3 with “Love and Slaps,” a humanistic ensemble comedy. Other notable screenings include the interlocking-stories thriller “Notturno Bus” (6 p.m. Saturday) and the crime thriller “At a Glance” (3 p.m. Sunday), both at Cinema Paradiso, 503 S.E. Sixth St.
Saturday
Kathy Griffin at Hard Rock Live, 5747 Seminole Way, Hollywood; 8 p.m.; $51 to $81; 800/745-3000 or www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com
Nobody is better at making Anderson Cooper squirm than Kathy Griffin, the ginger-haired comedian whose co-hosting job during CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage has made it the must-see network that night for the past three years. While Cooper, with his regular giggle-fests, isn’t exactly a tough sell, Griffin could probably crack up a room full of trauma patients in a moment’s notice. Known for her uncensored, controversial riffs on celebrities, Griffin is a two-time Emmy winner, four-time Grammy nominee and the first comedian to have four TV specials in one year. Fair enough, but still … 81 bucks a ticket? C’mon, Kathy.
“Hoztage: God Will Set the Captives Free” at Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, 3385 N.E. 188thSt., Aventura; 7:30 p.m.; 305/466-8002 orwww.aventuracenter.org
When a devout Christian and his three friends are held captive by a gun-wielding drug lord named Diablo, faith looks to be the only hope of escape in this play, produced by the Miami-based company Godz Sun Productions. The company specializes in “inspirational entertainment,” creating a “ministry on stage.” Look for austere production design and a quickening plot that integrates humor, suspense and religious allegory (Diablo’s three disciples are named Judas, Carey and Karma). This play already enjoyed an evening at the Kravis Center last month, and tonight’s showing will be your last change to see it. But I have to say – doesn’t the play’s subtitle kind of spoil the ending?
