Here’s HELEN MUSA with another burst of “Arts in the City”, a what’s on where look at Canberra’s upcoming arts treats.

THE German Film Festival (May 25-June 19) opens with, of all things, “A Stasi Comedy” (Stasi Komödie) before screening a selection of 26 new German-language films, complete with a retro sidebar to celebrate the Goethe Institut’s 50th anniversary. German director Franziska Stünkel will be in Canberra for the opening night and for her film, “The Last Execution”. Book at palacecinemas.com.au

THE Llewellyn Choir makes a welcome return with “Light Eternal”, music by Vaughan Williams, Samuel S Wesley, Penelope Thwaites and others, led by guest concertmaster Matthew Stuckings. At Wesley Uniting Church, May 28. Book at llewellynchoir.org.au

RICHARD Johnson from the SoundOut Festival for experimental music, funded at last, needs volunteers for the event, running at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery June 18-19. Tasks include working the ticket and merchandise counter, assisting with set changes and collecting artists from the airport, but you’ll get to see the concerts. Contact vortexrec@aapt.net.au 

LEADING Canberra-Asia scholars Helen and Tony Reid have established the new Reid Prize to recognise work that has made an exemplary contribution to understanding of Asia. Shortlistees are J Melvin’s “The Army and the Indonesian Genocide: Mechanics of Mass Murder”; Assa Doron and Robin Jeffrey, “Waste of a Nation: Garbage and Growth in India”; Hans Pols, “Nurturing Indonesia: Medicine and Decolonisation in the Dutch East Indies” and Christine Helliwell’s “Semut: The Untold Story of a Secret Australian Operation in World War II Borneo”.

ADAM Salter stars as Professor Higgins and Meaghan Stewart as Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw’s classic play “Pygmalion”, on which “My Fair Lady” was based. The surprise is that it’s being staged by Tempo Theatre, which normally does Agatha Christie mysteries, and with a new director in Rachel Hogan. At Belconnen Community Theatre, May 27-June 4. Book at canberraticketing.com.au 

ARTSOUND FM, Canberra’s arts and music community radio station, will hold its annual on-air “Radiothon” fundraiser from May 27 to June 5, which will feature a concert, sausage sizzle and a grand prize drawing, 10am-2pm. ArtSound FM: 92.7FM (90.3 in the Tuggeranong Valley), details at artsound.fm