Screen scene: Local film news

LOVE IS STRANGE: Jamie Parker’s short film How to Love Your Demon, starring Hayley Heninger, right, and Allen T. Law, is among the selections in the Fine Arts Theatre's Works in Progress screening on Thursday, April 21. Photo courtesy of the artist

The Fine Arts Theatre hosts a Works in Progress screening on Thursday, April 21, at 7 p.m. The event previews upcoming works by local filmmakers such as Katie Damien, Erin Derham, Paul Schattel and Hank Eder. The evening also features a special look at writer/director Jamie Parker’s new short film How to Love Your Demon, starring Hayley Heninger (“Transplanting”) and Allen T. Law. Tickets are $5. fineartstheatre.com

Organic Growers School, Green Opportunities, Bountiful Cities and Asheville GreenWorks present their third annual Earth Day film, Can You Dig This. The screening takes place on Friday, April 22, at 6 p.m. in the second floor boardroom at Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Center for Graduate Studies of Asheville. The 80-minute film explores the urban gardening revolution currently taking place in South Central Los Angeles, one of the largest food deserts in the United States. The screening will be followed by a community discussion. There are no advance ticket sales, but entry is by donation at the door and on a first come, first served basis. avl.mx/2gs

The Asheville Jewish Film Festival has announced the titles for its spring film series at the Fine Arts Theatre. Selections will be shown April 28-May 20, Thursdays at 7 p.m. and Fridays at 1 p.m. The exception to this schedule is the closing night film In Search of Israeli Cuisine, which screens at 6 p.m.  followed by a reception catered by Suzy Phillips of Gypsy Queen Cuisine.

The other films are Rosenwald (April 28 and 29), a documentary about Julius Rosenwald, the Chicago philanthropist who partnered with Booker T. Washington to build 5,400 schools in Southern African-American communities in the early 1900s; Apples from the Desert (May 5 and 6), a narrative film centering on the only daughter of an Orthodox Jewish family in Jerusalem who runs away with a young man to a kibbutz in the desert; and The People vs. Fritz Bauer (May 12 and 13), a narrative film about the man who brought high-ranking Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann to justice. All screenings are $9 per film. The closing night dual event is $25 (no film-only option), and advance tickets may be purchased onlineavl.mx/prs3

• “Transplanting,” the Asheville satirical web series created by Lea McLellan and Andrew Vasco, has its U.K. debut at the Pilot Light TV Festival in Manchester, England, on Thursday, May 5. The series’ complete first season will be screened as part of the new festival’s Indie TV Comedy Showcase. The event’s website calls the showcase “a small selection of episodes from two outstanding contemporary comedy Web series that represent and scream ‘the next big thing’ in indie TV comedy.” The program’s other invitee is the animated series “Concrete Jungle,” featuring the vocal talents of John Dimaggio (“Adventure Time”), Hannibal Buress (“30 Rock”) and Krystyna Hutchinson (“Saturday Night Live”).

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About Edwin Arnaudin
Edwin Arnaudin is a staff writer for Mountain Xpress. He also reviews films for ashevillemovies.com and is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) and North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA). Follow me @EdwinArnaudin

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