BIFF continues to celebrate independent film and this year we share stories of hope, of our future, of our past, of heroism, of inspiration and of laughter, loss and love.  So, we invite you to check out the program and watch all the films you want, whenever you want, wherever you want. Specific instructions will follow on the BIFF website for passholders and all others interested in the virtual event.  

Lynn Gall started working as a collagist more than 15 years ago.  First, while living in Bristol, in the United Kingdom, in a flat with very little space to call her studio; in fact, she had not much more than a desk and some storage space for her material. in 2019 she published in New York City a 269 page handbook with 120 full color images. She also makes a myriad of suggestions: 'how to create successful collages.'

After a nearly 15 year hiatus from art making and exhibiting, Lorie Hamermesh is back in a daring and spectacular fashion at Gallery NAGA for a solo exhibition accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog and essays by fellow Boston artists Carol Daynard and Cameron Barker.

After a mild winter, a dry mid-spring and a July that seemed more like a November, our wine-growers have really been through the mill.

Drawing from the Guggenheim’s exceptional collection of works by Kandinsky, the exhibition features approximately eighty paintings, watercolors, and woodcuts, as well as a selection of his illustrated books, spanning the artist’s earlier years in Russia and Germany and through his exile in France at the end of his life.

La Damnation of Faust is a glorious dramatic legend.  It bombed in Paris, much to composer Hector Berlioz’ dismay and confusion. Yet even members of the orchestra he conducted at the premiere asked the composer about notes he wrote.  “That note does not exist,” complained a horn player. “It sounds like a sneeze.”  “That’s just what I wanted,” replied Berlioz. No one contests the musicality of the "Romane" aria, "D'amour l'ardente flame," so beautiful that it was selected to conclude the memorial service for Maria Callas.

What is it about “Tosca” that endows it with near universal appeal?  There have been naysayers who find the action and music of verismo to be too violent and vulgar, but they are now few.  To begin with, this is a mature and confident Puccini in the follow up to his equally renowned “La Boheme.”  The opera’s dissonant, ominous opening salvo of the Scarpia theme announces the tragedy to come, while the ensuing score resounds with rich melody, haunting leitmotifs, and several memorable “greatest hits” arias.

Tracing the impacts of militarism on the American landscape, through the lens of art, environmental studies, and politics.

This fall, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), will bring together the only two extant quilts made by Harriet Powers (1837–1910), displaying the iconic works together for the very first time since they were made by the artist in the 19th century. The famous Pictorial quilt (1895–98) from the MFA’s collection and the Bible quilt (1885–86), on loan from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, will be featured in Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories, opening October 10.

Starting with the latter 20th century, divorce, remarriage, and nonmarriage have become so prominent that the would-be-bride may have several significant women to share these charged moments with.  Or maybe none.  Yet those same consternations go on, right down to the decision whether to go through with the wedding. Playwright Meghan Maugeri has plumbed this territory with a well-written play. 

For the realist painter, Pennie Brantley, every picture tells a story. Encountering the work in her current exhibition, The Presence of the Past, there is a lot more to the notion that what you see is what you get.

Robot, replicant, android, or body snatcher – one of science-fiction’s leading obsessions has long been the fear of alien or man-made “beings” replacing humans.  In playwright David Templeton’s “Galatea,” the near future envisions an outer-space centered universe populated by organics, like you (I think) and me, as well as synthetics, the latter being created by the former to appear and behave exactly like humans.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), is offering free general admission on Saturday, October 9 in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, inviting visitors to recognize and honor the heritage of all Indigenous peoples and the histories of their nations and communities.

Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) opens its new season October 1 with the company’s first production of “Cavalleria Rusticana,” composer Pietro Mascagni’s one-act verismo tale of love, betrayal and death in a small Sicilian village. 

On Friday, September 17, at 7 pm, Iris will present the very first Iris Apfel Award to Tommy Hilfiger in a virtual event, which will also be screened at PEM as part of its Friday late-night programming. Iris selected Tommy as someone who is a creative force in the industry, and as someone who demonstrates excellence in design in balance with good business sense.

Shakespeare’s infrequently produced “The Winter’s Tale” is often characterized as a “problem play,” meaning that its tone is inconsistent – sometimes dramatic with psychological overtones, sometimes comic with mystic qualities. 

Linda Leslie Brown’s recent sculptural work draws upon the transformative exchanges between nature, objects, and viewers' creative perceptions. Her practice involves the assemblage of objects and fragments of plastic, metal, wood, fiber, glass, rubber, and foam, which have been scavenged from the streets of Boston and other castoff sources like dumps and thrift shops.

Ungathered is a remembrance of Thanksgiving 2020, a day that people in the United States were denied life-long traditions of togetherness with family and friends due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

Mellencamp is British writer Paul Rees’ story of a midwestern teenager growing into a musician who came to represent heartland rock, a term he disliked. The book, written with the cooperation and support of Mellencamp and his management, is highly readable, a blend of nonfiction and oral history, with many long quotes from interviews with Mellencamp, fellow musicians, friends and relatives who shared their perspectives with Rees.

Experience differing views of nature during Two Perspectives, which opens on September 18 as part of ArtWeek Berkshires. The show will be hosted at Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lenox in the sanctuary's historic 18th century barn.

Unlike most revues, this one also demands acting out the songs, and on this count, the artists excel, making the drama work.  Dance and blocking choreographed by Nicole Helfer provide visual dynamics. Lovers of musical revues who like the cerebral and the discovery of unfamiliar music and lyrics will appreciate this production.

Blue Heron Gallery Online, a virtual art gallery, will be presenting the work of schiffernolandstudio, a Peggy Schiffer and Sam Noland collaborative. In both the abstract works and the real-life works, digital images are created and joined in series.  In the case of the abstract work, paintings are created on glass and photographed; the paintings are then washed off and the glass is reused.  The digital image becomes the art.  In the case of the other photographs, they are presented in a way that tells a story. 

A quirky romantic comedy about a professor of nihilism who experiences joy for the first time in her life.

The Boston Pops announces the return of the ever-popular Holiday Pops season at Symphony Hall, December 2 through 24. Under the direction of Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart, the 2021 Holiday Pops season celebrates the reunion of the Pops with its devoted patrons, while the orchestra also welcomes new audience members to experience the sights and sounds of these special concerts with the one-and-only Boston Pops Orchestra.

 Written and performed by Suzi Takahashi and directed by Kristin Marting, The Story Box explores the importance of safeguarding our civil rights through the lens of Japanese American identity. Using kamishibai (a traditional Japanese storytelling method), coupled with Takahashi’s own family history and original music, this show takes audience members on a 230-year journey through our country’s problematic treatment of Asian immigrants.