Arts, arts and more arts. It’s Artsweek with HELEN MUSA.

ANU graduate, filmmaker and former Canberran, Amin Palangi, has contacted us to tell of his newest feature film, Tennesine, written together with Osamah Sami, who also stars. Although already well known for his feature doco, Love Marriage in Kabul, it’s Palangi’s debut narrative feature, and was nominated for Best Direction at the Australian Directors’ Guild Awards. In it, an Iranian, Arash (Sami) arrives in Australia to reunite with the love of his life, Nazanin, played by Faezeh Alavi. But when Nazanin fails to fetch him at the airport, the plot thickens. The film is screening at Palace Electric and Palangi will be here on April 10 for a Q&A.

Rebus Theatre presents Re-Emergence: Every Storm Gives Way To A New Sunrise, an original film by disabled actors from across rural NSW, about their experiences of drought, bushfires and pandemic. Free for people with lived experience of disability or mental health challenges and their carers. Uniting Church, Queanbeyan, April 6.

The National Library of Australia is holding free Vintage Crochet Workshops on April 9 and 13. All are welcome to participate in a hands-on crafting session exploring vintage designs and techniques.

As the 35th Alliance Française French Film Festival draws to a close, this year’s festival favourites have been announced, with encore screenings taking place across multiple cinemas to  April 7.

Stage

• Free Rain Theatre is staging Billy Elliot The Musical at The Q, Queanbeyan, April 9-May 5.
• The Shoe Horn Sonata will be staged by Canberra director Lexi Sekuless in the lead up to Anzac Day. Mill Theatre, Fyshwick, April 10-27.
• Karen Vickery’s new translation of the first of Chekhov’s great plays, Seagull, will be seen at ACT Hub, Causeway Hall, Kingston, April 10-21.

Concerts

• Master vocalist and Tibetan instrumentalist Tenzin Choegyal will be in concert at The Street Theatre, April 5.
• Smith’s Alternative and Belco Arts are hosting Melbourne sister duo Charm of Finches, supported by Black Cypress, The Theatre, Belconnen Arts Centre, April 6.
• A Kind of Hush is a lavish celebration of Karen Carpenter’s songs, sadness and stories, Canberra Theatre, April 6.
• Llewellyn Choir’s next concert is For M is Musick. Soprano soloist is Elsa Huber, with Anthony Smith on organ. Wesley Music Centre, April 5.
• Musica da Camera will join mezzo soprano Christina Wilson in a program conceived by Chris Latham, who says he is interweaving songlines of Bach, Kelly, Rachmaninov and others, with paintings by Monet, Mondrian, Klimt and more in a “polyphonic form of creative exchange”. Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, 15 Blackall St Barton, April 6.
• Edward “Teddy” Neeman will play heroic piano masterworks in Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s new initiative, Saturday Salon, on April 6.
• Tenor Andrew Goodwin returns to Canberra for Art Song Canberra. Accompanied by Roland Peelman, he will present Romantic Masters, poetic moments from the art song repertoire. Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, April 6.
• Virtuoso husband and wife duo, cellist Sharon and guitarist Slava Grigoryan, will perform a concert, Our Place, at The Street Theatre, April 6.
• The 25-person St Paul’s College Chapel Choir from the University of Sydney will be at the Anglican Church of St John the Baptist, Reid, for a choral eucharist at 11.15am on April 7 ahead of a tour to the UK, where they will sing at Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral and York Minster.
• Another coup for Snow Concert Hall’s 2024 international series, with news that Grammy-nominated Korean pianist Joyce Yang will perform a program of works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky and Mussorgsky on May 14.

Galleries

• An exhibition by Dickson College art students, Beginnings, runs  at ANCA Gallery, 1 Rosevear Place Dickson, April 3-24. 
• The Megalo Open Day at at 21 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston . will be on April 6.
• Tuggeranong Arts Centre has three new exhibitions running April 5-June 8: Sitting Standing Turning, work by Robbie Karmel; Abode, a group exhibition and I Know My Age and I Act Like It.