Highway of Lost Hearts by Mary Anne Butler is a play with music, billed as “half gritty road journey, half magic realism and all heart.” This production by Bathurst company Lingua Franca, has left audiences pondering the question: when your heart goes missing, what lengths will you go to in order to find it again? The Q, Queanbeyan,  June 6-7 .

The NFSA has a Friday night screening of noughties music journalism drama, Almost Famous, followed by a karaoke session on the Arc Cinema stage, June 7. This month’s Vinyl Lounge is dedicated to all things Beatles, to mark the 60th anniversary of their Australian tour, June 7.

The Japanese Film Festival Online returns for its third edition. This year’s program features 23 films and two TV dramas, as well as four new Japanese horror shorts. Streamed free with subtitles in up to 16 languages at watch.jff.jpf.go.jp from June 5 to July 3.

The 2024 Spanish Film Festival screens its largest line-up of new and classic films from Spain and Latin America. Palace Electric Cinemas. June 11-July 10.

Galleries

• Canberra Potters’ annual student-teacher exhibition celebrates the creativity of the many adults and children who have attended classes there in the previous 12 months. 1 Aspinall St Watson, June 6 – July 7.
• Relinquishing control by Jacklyn Peters and Tamsin McLure explores the relinquishing of control in the creative process through paintings and drawings, building on the Process Art movement of the 1960s and 70s. ANCA Gallery, 1 Rosevear Place Dickson, until June 23.

The National Gallery is staging the first Australian exhibition dedicated to Anni and Josef Albers, leaders in the Bauhaus art movement. Known as a European art world power couple, the Alberses were at the forefront of artistic innovation through weaving, painting and printmaking. June 8 – September 22.

Stage

• Bell Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is at The Playhouse, June 7-15.
• Rent The Musical, Rent the Musical is La Boheme shifted to NYC in the AIDS era and one of the biggest-ever Broadway hits ever. Canberra Theatre, June 7 – 15.

Concerts

• Apeiron Baroque will juxtapose philosophical musings on the concepts of travel and change. Joined by presenter Drew Ninnis, they’ll play music by Veracini, Blainville, Handel, JS Bach and Herschel. Primary and secondary school students are admitted free. Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest, June 9.
• Brindabella Orchestra will perform an afternoon of classical music by Bizet, Dvorak, Beethoven and others. Weston Community Hub, June 9.
• Cellist Zachary Connor will join pianist Edward Neeman to perform Shostakovich’s demanding first Cello Concerto in a concert titled Hope in Terror, along with works of Bach, Piatti and Kats Chernin. Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Barton, June 12.