I DON’T know about you, but I’m really looking forward to this year’s winter solstice, as I know the days will start getting longer.

That’s the way some of our leading arts institutions are thinking too.

The National Film and Sound Archive, for instance, is boasting “the Hottest winter solstice” on Friday, reflecting the traditional polar explorers’ Longest Night festivities, with the screening of a selection of filmic experiments beyond the circles of the Antarctic and the Arctic, including works made by Stan Brakhage, Peter Hutton and Ralph Steiner.

Then from 7pm, the NFSA courtyard will feature the Australian premiere of “Monolith”, a major new work by Austrian artist Werner Dafeldecker and his Australian collaborators Lawrence English and Scott Morrison featuring dual video projection and live sounds capes captured in Antarctica.

After that, from 8.30pm in Arc Cinema, a screening program of the Howard Hawks/Christian Nib classic Arctic paranoid horror thriller, “The Thing from Another World”, hosted in collaboration with the Austrian Embassy Canberra.

There’s FREE entry to the venue, but the Arc screening will $5/$3 charge for those wearing tuxedos or any other penguin suit!

Mysterious, but I’ll bet you can get for those prices even without the penguin suit.

“The NFSA will become the ultimate inCanberrachill-out zones,” they’re saying.

Then on Saturday night over the other side of Black Mountain, Belconnen Arts Centre will celebrate “a warming Winter Solstice” with an array of local products and produce from local artisans, homemade soups, spicy gluhwein and music by Shades of Monday Choir, Mixolydian and Jodie Herbert.

Artists and producers include: Galina Amelina and Elena Bozhko from Alena Art Studio; Barton Estate Wines; BeAN artists Kalpana Choudhary, Diana Davidson, Robyn Diener and Margaret Kalms; Carolyn Brennan; Brenda Clough; August Cole and Dorothy Kraft; Shirley Capon from Escapes and Fiona Kwok from Kwokkos Holiday; Linda Davy; Kathy Geurts from Studio Amara; Cary James; Tae Kim; Barbara McGann; Carole Osmotherly and Kylie Fogarty; Paperworks; Caroline Reid from Raintree Ceramics and Angharad Dean; and Anne Willsford from FibreStudio Design.

“The Longest Night” from 5.30pm on at the NFSA and Arc cinema, June 22, Inquiries to 6248 2000, restricted entry to 15+

Winter Solstice Twilight Celebrations, 3-7pm at Belconnen Arts Centre, Saturday June 23, free entry.