We know things are weird right now, and you might not even be working with everything going on, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have a chance to enjoy the weekend! Life goes on, and having a little fun and/or some relaxation is still necessary for your mental health. So check out these (safely social distanced) events you can participate in this weekend!
Click on any of the event titles for a link to the event.
Friday, October 16th
San Francisco
All Weekend, All Ages
Free
Litquake seeks to foster interest in literature for people of all ages, perpetuate a sense of literary community, and provide a vibrant forum for writing from the Bay Area and beyond as a complement to the city's music, film, and cultural festivals. Litquake is a project of the Litquake Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit registered in the state of California.
Litquake 2020 - October 8 - 24 - 60 events o 150 authors
Schedule: https://litquake2020festival.sched.com
Litquake History - From Litstock to Litquake
Originally hatched over beers at the Edinburgh Castle pub in 1999, Litstock debuted as a free one-day reading series in a fog-bound Golden Gate Park. Local writers Jane Ganahl and Jack Boulware realized quickly that booklovers craved something grander. Against the backdrop of a technology-crazed San Francisco, writers were still drawn to the city, and readers still appreciated the written word.
In 2002, the festival was rechristened Litquake, and began expanding its programming to include all elements of the Bay Area literary scene. Taking a cue from a USA Today report that San Franciscans spend twice the nation's average on books and booze, in 2004, the festival inaugurated an immediately successful closing night Lit Crawl bacchanal throughout the city's Mission District.
Popular demand drove Litquake to expand even further, adding more national and international authors, youth programs, classroom visits and book giveaways, monthly literary Epicenters, and special localized editions of the Lit Crawl now held each year in Austin, Seattle, New York City, Iowa City, Los Angeles, Portland, London, and Helsinki.
Whether it's poets reciting in a cathedral, authors discussing science versus religion in a library, or novelists reading in a beekeeping supply store, the goal remains the same: whet a broad range of literary appetites, present the literary fare in a variety of traditional and unlikely venues, and make it vivid, real, and entertaining. Now grown to the largest independent literary festival on the West Coast, Litquake continues its mission as a nine-day literary spectacle for booklovers, complete with cutting-edge panel discussions, unique cross-media events, and hundreds of readings.
SF Jazz Center, San Francisco
5 PM, All Ages
Free (Tips Appreciated)
SFJAZZ takes great pride in bringing joy to people's lives through live jazz performances and education events each week. Even though the SFJAZZ Center will be dark for the immediate future, our goal in bringing enjoyment to our Members and patrons through music will continue to be our focus.
Available free to current SFJAZZ Members or through a 1-month $5 Fridays at Five digital membership, this new weekly series will feature exclusive footage from some of the most memorable SFJAZZ concerts from the past few years. Each digital concert experience will get you closer than ever to the music, while providing an online platform that will help directly support artists. So grab your favorite beverage, maybe even some popcorn, and enjoy Fridays at Five!
Saturday, October 17th
Online
All Weekend, All Ages
$12 Individual Showings, $200 Festival Pass
We are in a strange year and UNAFF is trying its best to adapt by moving the festival online, while endeavoring to retain the dynamics and feel of its theatrical incarnation. As documentaries vary in running time, from a few minutes to full feature length, we have always bundled 2-4 films into screening sessions of 2-4 hours, each covered by one ticket. We are doing the same now online, so we will present 60 films grouped in 26 sessions spread over the 11 days of the festival. We are making the films available to watch on demand anytime during the day on which their session is scheduled, which is also the best way to stay in lockstep with the dense festival program. We also hope that our viewers will join us for the 6:00 PM daily Zoom sessions and learn more about the films from the filmmakers, subjects of the films and experts. We are convinced that the 60 films our jury has selected for you among our 600 submissions will offer you excitement, exhilaration, answers to many questions, and pose even more new ones, while shrinking the world and allowing you to embrace it through the POWER OF EMPATHY.
Our streaming platform Eventive requires that you set up an account in order to purchase tickets and passes or to access the films. Once logged in (the button in the upper right corner), it will enable you to watch the films on your computer, phone or TV. It will also keep track of your screenings and remind you by email when they are ready to be watched.
They offer technical support (see FAQ & HELP) and even live chat if you should encounter any viewing problems.
Please note that our festival films can be viewed only in California.
Finally, as documentaries are typically not rated, we urge you to explore carefully our Film Guide and make your viewing decisions accordingly.
Online
All Weekend, All Ages
$65
The short film — what a perfect genre. Like the perfect snack. Or the very best poem: intensity and imagination distilled down to the most crucial and poignant of words. Short films are the quintessential starting point, and for some filmmakers, the definitive end goal.
Welcome to the 2020 San Francisco Independent Short Film Festival playing wherever you watch movies Oct 9-18, 2020.
You are now just a moment away from checking out 150+ excellent short films from around the world and around The Bay!
Sunday, October 18th
Marrow Gallery, San Francisco
By Appointment, All Ages
Free
Marrow Gallery presents:
Syncretism by The Old Boys' Club
Image: The Old Boys' Club, Renarde, gouache on paper, A4, 2020
Marrow Gallery | 548 Irving Street, San Francisco | October 1 - 31, 2020; open by appointment only
September 21, 2020, SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. --Marrow Gallery presents Syncretism an exhibition of new works from French artist, The Old Boys' Club. This will be The Old Boys' Club (OBC) first solo exhibition in the U.S. in ten years. The artist's moniker connotes a fraternity of the wealthy, white male ruling class. It also represents who is excluded; people of color, women, gay, poor and disenfranchised people. In her work, the artist seeks to analyze what is happening in the 21st century world through the lens of entrenched power dynamics and systemic oppression. Syncretism is a collection of works from the artist's ongoing series titled Prophets. The show opens on October 1 and runs through October 31st. The gallery is open by appointment only.
The Prophets series started as a reaction to the 2015 terrorist attacks in France--Charlie Hebdo, The Bataclan and the Stade de France. Originally shown in a renovated church in 2017, the Chapelle St Jaques Contemporary Art Center, the artist wanted to approach belief and religion with a sense of curiosity and tenderness in an effort to make sense of tragedy.
The imagery in Prophets is based on 16 prophets, both real and imagined. Continuing in her signature mixed-media and maximalist approach, The OBC draws on a diverse repository of visual language from all over the world from traditional Japanese woodblock prints to African masks, underscoring the inherent postcolonial critique in her artist moniker. Conjuring elaborate iconography by borrowing from traditions from all over the world, Syncretism creates a visual world of language that proposes a unity and familiarity in the human experience and a reminder that only by coming together do we outnumber the real enemy--The Old Boys' Club.
About the Artist
The Old Boy's Club has shown extensively worldwide, including at the Chapelle St Jaques, Contemporary Art Center, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), The San Jose Museum of Art and at galleries in Ireland, USA, Germany, France, London and Brussels. She has won awards for her web design, including for Sketch London and Le Palais de Tokyo. She studied at The School of Beaux Arts and the Sorbonne. Currently based in the French Pyrenees, Marrow Gallery has represented the OBC since 2015.
About the Gallery
Marrow Gallery is a contemporary art space that shows local, national and international artists. Located at 548 Irving Street at 7th Avenue in San Francisco's Inner Sunset neighborhood, the exhibition program presents artists whose works offer commentary on contemporary culture and reference art movements of the past.
Online
9 AM, All Ages
Free
Come eat, drink, shop, play, connect and be local at the Outer Sunset Farmers Market & Mercantile, a festive open-air, year-round weekly market featuring local farmers, ranchers, food artisans, merchants, makers, artists, and organizations on a closed-to-traffic 37th Avenue between Ortega and Pacheco.
Outer Sunset Farmers Market & Mercantile Every Sunday at 9 am – 3 pm 37th Avenue at Ortega, SF
The Outer Sunset Farmers Market & Mercantile is a weekly market featuring farmers, ranchers, food artisans and vendors, makers, merchants, artists, and local organizations. OSFMM is proudly presented by Sunset Mercantile in collaboration with District 4 Supervisor Gordon Mar, Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and People of Parkside Sunset.
Our open-air market will launch with a thoughtful and comprehensive COVID-19 safety plan. The plan will include guidelines, protocols, and a modified program of activities that will evolve along with this situation but will reflect at all times the goal of helping to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of the community, vendors, and staff.