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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spotlight: Short films, documentaries launch GLBT festival

The Spokane GLBT Film Festival will kick off Friday with an evening of short films and documentaries.

The festival continues through Sunday. All screenings will be at the Phase I Classroom Building, 668 N. Riverpoint Blvd.

Friday will feature the hourlong documentary “Taking a Chance on God,” a documentary about John McNeill, a Jesuit priest who was defrocked for being gay.

Saturday’s evening film will be “Cloudburst,” starring Oscar-nominated actress Olympia Dukakis. Screening begins at 7:30 p.m.

Two short films by two local filmmakers will be shown on Sunday, “Debbie & Bob,” by JerreMarie Freshley, and “OUTspoken,” by Hannah Bowen, Jennifer Campbell and Tara Schmidt. Sunday’s program of short films begins at 1 p.m.

For a full schedule, visit www.spokanefilmfest.org. Admission to evening shows is $8, matinees $5.

Shorts in Sandpoint

Short films are also on deck in Sandpoint next weekend, as the Panida Little Theater hosts the Sandpoint Film Festival.

Twenty-five shorts will compete in the festival on Saturday, including five local efforts – and 35 films will be screened during the daylong event. The day is divided into three blocks. Block one, from 1 to 3 p.m., is free. Admission to blocks two (4-6 p.m.) and three (7-9 p.m.) is $5, payable at the door. The Panida is located at 300 N. First Ave. For details and a full schedule, visit www.sandpointfilmfestival.com.

Spokane Pops

There’s little doubt that Arthur Fiedler helped popularize classical music in America. As the longtime conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, he was the face of light classical for decades, through recordings, radio broadcasts and television appearances, notably on the long-running PBS series “Evening at Pops.”

The Spokane Symphony and resident conductor Morihiko Nakahara on Saturday at 8 p.m. will celebrate Fiedler, who died in 1979, and the Boston Pops with an evening of light classics and popular numbers.

This SuperPops performance will include: Johann Strauss’ “Tales from the Vienna Woods,” and Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to “Candide,” Richard Rodgers’ arrangement of “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” from “On Your Toes,” John Williams’ “Adventures on Earth” from “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” Meredith Willson’s “76 Trombones” from “The Music Man,” and Louis Prima’s “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing).”

Tickets start at $25. They are available at the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox box office, 1001 W. Sprague Ave., or by phone at (509) 624-1200, or via TicketsWest.

Stings at the Fox

At the Fiedler concert at the Fox on Saturday, symphony concertmaster Mateusz Wolski will perform the violin solos for “Souvenir d’Amerique (Variations on ‘Yankee Doodle’)” by Henri Vieuxtemps. The following day, he and fellow members of the Spokane String Quartet will turn their attention to works by Mozart, Dvorak and Szymanowski during a concert at the Fox.

On the bill are Karol Szymanowski’s String Quartet No. 1, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Quartet No. 11 in E flat major and Antonin Dvorak’s String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 51.

The Nov. 4 concert begins at 3 p.m. Tickets are $18 for adults and $10 for students, and are available at the door or through TicketsWest outlets, (800) 325-SEAT or www.ticketswest.com.>

In addition to Wolski, the quartet includes Amanda Howard-Phillips, violin, Jeannette Wee-Yang, viola, and Helen Byrne, cello.