WEDNESDAY 11/15
(FILM) Journalist Abby Martin began work on her award-winning documentary debut Gaza Fights for Freedom after the Israeli government denied her entry past the blockade because she was, in their words, a "propagandist." So, Martin contacted journalists in Gaza to help produce a film about the local protest movement. Filmed during the height of the Great March of Return protests, the exclusive footage shows the demonstrations where 200 civilians had been killed since March 2018. The documentary is also an acknowledgment of a history many American viewers may not know. All proceeds from the screening presented by SARI (South Asians Resisting Imperialism) and Means TV go to the Middle East Children's Alliance and benefit Palestinians in need. Between October 7 and November 13, 1 out of every 200 Palestinians in Gaza were killed. That's a total of 11,000 people, or 0.5% percent of the 2 million who live in an area that would roughly cover an area from Sea-Tac Airport to Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood, according to Newsweek. At least 4,609 of those killed were children. (The Beacon, 4405 Rainier Ave S, 4:30 pm, $12.50) VIVIAN MCCALL
THURSDAY 11/16
Swamp Wife, Ghost Fetish, Old Man of the Woods
(MUSIC) Old Man of the Woods, the misty electro-pop of Seattle-based artist Miranda Elliot, is named after a mushroom. Elliot released her debut full-length record, Voltives, in 2021, a sometimes dark, but still poppy and playful that draws from the homespun lo-fi of the mid-aughts and early 2010s, without sounding trite or overly twee. The ukulele strummed clave-beat breakup plea of "Let Me Miss You," is like a hornless Beirut with big guitars (a compliment, the band had hits), while the title track recalls the bouncing bass of Depeche Mode in a starker, less cathedral-like atmosphere. In these songs, Elliot sounds as if she's singing alone on a stage baring her feelings for just you, the listener. If you like Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, or Karl Blau, or any of the bands on Chicago-based Orindal Records, you'll like Old Man of the Woods. You'll also like the bands Elliot is playing with at Chop Suey, Swamp Wife (their new EP, released October 6, is great stuff) and Ghost Fetish. (Chop Suey, 1325 E Madison St, 8 pm, $15) VIVIAN MCCALL
FRIDAY 11/17
Dylan Carlson and Greg Anderson in Conversation
(MUSIC) Experimental metal wizards Dylan Carlson (of Earth) and Greg Anderson of (of Sunn O)))) will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the landmark drone metal album Earth 2 with an in-depth conversation about the album's formation and legacy. Released in 1993, the album was highly influential in the development of the drone music and drone metal genres (later coined by Carlson as "ambient metal"). In addition to two musical geniuses talking about their work, there will also be chances for fans to win vinyl copies of the album and tickets to the SunnO))) and Earthconcert on November 22. (Sonic Boom Records, 2209 NW Market St, 6 pm, free, all ages) AUDREY VANN
SATURDAY 11/18
(FILM) This has been a long time coming. Thin Skin, the locally produced film directed by The Stranger's own Charles Mudede, co-written by former Stranger writer and Shrill producer Lindy West, and co-written by and starring Seattle musician Ahamefule Oluo is finally being released in Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York theaters. The story is loosely based on Ahamefule's episode of This American Life as well as a piece he wrote for The Stranger in 2011 and it's portrayed with stunning cinematography—if you follow Mudede on Instagram, you already know he has a knack for bending light to show surprising beauty in Seattle's dark, damp industrial corners. Do not miss this opportunity to see it on the big screen.Thin Skin opens at Ark Lodge on Thursday, with multiple screenings through Sunday, but Saturday's 7 pm show is the one to catch, as it will be followed by a Q&A session with two of the film's stars, Ijeoma Oluo, Ahamefule's IRL sister who plays herself, and Annette Toutonghi, who plays his mother. Unable to make it to the theater this week? Thin Skin will be available for streaming via Amazon and iTunes on November 28. (Ark Lodge Cinemas, 4816 Rainier Ave S, various showtimes Nov 16-19, $12-$14) MEGAN SELING
SUNDAY 11/19
Seattle Turkish Film Festival: About Dry Grasses
(FILM) This year's Seattle Turkish Film Festival opens on Saturday with Özcan Alper's Black Night, a film that won the Antigone d'Or at the Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival. I have not seen that film. But I have seen Nuri Bilge Ceylan's About Dry Grasses. This is without a doubt the master's masterpiece. Some might disagree and point to his slow, 2011 crime drama Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. But here is the big difference: In that film, Ceylan had not mastered slowness. That film felt slow, despite it being a procedural. About Dry Grasses is long, for sure, but never slow-slow. Meaning, its slowness is so smooth it's hard to notice. Every moment or sequence is so packed with narrative information that you do not feel the passage of time, the long take, a lingering shot. Often slowness results in bullshit art. But not here. It is a force that concentrates and builds into an impressive monument of cinema. (SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N, 5:45 pm, $9-$14 for an individual ticket, $55-$80 for a festival pass) CHARLES MUDEDE
MONDAY 11/20
Alva Noë: Art Is All Around Us
(BOOKS) Alva Noë's 2011 book Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness concerned the liberation of the brain from the prison of what I call Cartesian internalism. He described the brain as not only a part of the body but also a part of the outside world, in a very real, rather than metaphorical, sense. The two, internal and external, cannot, according to this view, be separated. The mind is not a static container of impressions but a constant engagement with what is outside. The mind is you, your body, and the world around your body. Noë's new book, The Entanglement: How Art and Philosophy Make Us What We Are, makes a new argument: Art is what makes us human. Not labor, as trad Marxists would have it, but the creation of art in its key forms: writing, movement, visual representation. To understand who we are, we must, according to this important philosopher, first appreciate the strangeness and even mysteriousness of art. (Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 7:30 pm, $5-$25, all ages) CHARLES MUDEDE
TUESDAY 11/21
Roots of Wisdom: Native Knowledge. Shared Science.
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(VISUAL ART) Blending traditional knowledge and modern science, Roots of Wisdom: Native Knowledge. Shared Science. gathers stories from Indigenous communities to share perspectives on eco-restoration, traditional foods, and crafts. Visitors will come away with a better grasp on the issues Indigenous communities face and how they're working to solve them through sustainable—and sometimes ancient—practices. Designed with input from Tulalip, Cherokee, and Umatilla groups, the exhibition digs into the Cherokee use of native river cane for basket weaving, Tulalip gardening, Native Hawaiian aquaculture, and uses for the Columbia River's native lamprey. (Museum of History & Industry, 860 Terry Ave N, free-$22) LINDSAY COSTELLO
