Three films about Myanmar by director Midi Z are coming to Cornell Cinema including “Poor Folk,” screening April 16.

Things to Do, April 13-20, 2018

Student film festival

Films by Cornell students and other regional student filmmakers will screen at the fifth annual Centrally Isolated Film Festival, April 13-14 at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.

Films will be shown April 13 at 4:30 p.m. and April 14 at 2 p.m. in the Film Forum. Awards will be presented for best narrative, documentary and experimental films, along with an audience-choice award and an award for collaborative films.

Coming up: The Association of Graduates in Theatre (AGIT) Lab and the Cherry Arts present “The Loneliness Project,” a documentary play told in the words of Chicago LGBTQ artists and community members, April 19 and 21 at 7:30 p.m. and April 20 at 5 p.m. in the Schwartz Center’s Black Box Theatre (tickets $5), and April 21 at 2 p m. at The History Center in Tompkins County, 401 E. State St., Ithaca (pay what you can).

Empowerment through music

Caroline Shaw is this year’s featured speaker in the Cornell University Chorus Empowerment Through Music speaker series, April 13 at 7 p.m. in Call Auditorium, Kennedy Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Shaw is a violinist, vocalist, composer and producer, and in 2013 became the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music for “Partita for 8 Voices.” She recorded her a cappella composition as a member of the Grammy-winning ensemble Roomful of Teeth.

Her eclectic resume includes recent commissions for the Dover Quartet, Anne Sofie von Otter, Philharmonia Baroque, the Baltimore Symphony and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect. During the 2017-18 season, she has new works being premiered by Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw with Sō Percussion and Gil Kalish, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s with John Lithgow, among others.

The speaker series began in 2015 as part of the chorus’s efforts to support women’s leadership projects. Speakers have included actress-singer Maggie Wheeler and Jeannette Perez-Rossello ’91.

Queer, Myanmar film series

Cornell Cinema presents an LGBTQ Celebration in Willard Straight Theatre with four films: “Call Me By Your Name” April 13, “Thelma” April 14-15, “Contralto” April 15 and “A Fantastic Woman” April 25-26. Films are cosponsored by the LGBT Studies program and the Society for the Humanities.

Homecoming Myanmar: A Midi Z Retrospective” brings three features by realist Burmese filmmaker Midi Z to campus, with screenings on Tuesdays, April 16, April 23 and April 30. Admission is free. East Asian Progam graduate students and the Southeast Asia Program are among cosponsors of the series.

Locally grown

Learn about local agriculture from farmers coming to the Ithaca Commons for AgStravaganza, April 14, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., sponsored by the Tompkins County Farm Bureau and Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Ag Day, April 20 on the Ag Quad with related events on the Arts Quad, highlights the role of agriculture in local communities.

A variety of farms are represented at the free family event, from CSAs to livestock farms and maple, honey and cheese producers with products to sample and purchase. Also featured: demonstrations of sheep shearing and fiber spinning, farm equipment, and the Dairy Princess Court handing out free ice cream. For more information, contact Debbie Teeter at 607-272-2292 or dlt22@cornell.edu.

Coming up: April 20 is Ag Day at Cornell, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Ag Quad, highlighting the important role agriculture plays in local communities, along with Art of Agriculture Day, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Arts Quad. Come out for free dairy products and other food samples, live animals, displays, original art and craftwork, and student organizations hosting activities and competitive events.

Teeth tips for pets

Drs. Kevin Ng and Lindsey Schneider, DVM residents in dentistry and oral surgery at the College of Veterinary Medicine, will share dental care tips for your pet April 14 from 10-11 a.m. at the Baker Institute for Animal Health, 235 Hungerford Hill Road, Ithaca. Admission and parking are free.

Ng and Schneider will discuss home care strategies to maintain your pet’s dental health and how to identify signs of oral pain in cats and dogs. And they will demonstrate advanced dental procedures using life-sized skeletal models.

The talk, also viewable online, is part of the series Baker Pet Talks: Tips from Cornell Experts. For information, email BakerInstitute@cornell.edu or call 607-256-5652.

Fashion forward

The ECOuture 2018 environmental fashion show, showcasing the design talents of Cornell students across several majors, is April 14, 8-11:30 p.m., in Duffield Hall Atrium. Register for free tickets online.

The event includes a Clothing Swap with Cornell Thrift (bring used clothes and swap for other thrifted items), live entertainment by Cornell Bhangra and Base Productions, and hors d’oeuvres.

Featured speakers are fashion designers/LIVARI cofounders Tabitha St. Bernard-Jacobs and Claudine DeSola. Organized by the Cornell Environmental Collaborative (formerly the Sustainability Hub), the fashion show aims to shed light on issues surrounding the clothing and fashion industries and promote informed consumer action and social and environmental justice, including an open space for poetry and other artistic performances throughout the night.

Coming up: Earth Day is around the corner. Springfest, April 20 on Ho Plaza, celebrates environmental programs, clubs and collaborations across campus – with music, local food and art, screen printing and other activities.

Science and the government

Gretchen Goldman ’06 of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) will give a lecture on “Scientists, Advocates and Politicians: The State of Scientific Integrity in the Federal Government,” April 18 at 4:45 p.m. in 101 Phillips Hall.

The 2018 Bovay Lecture in Engineering Ethics is hosted by the Bovay Program in History and Ethics of Engineering. It is free and open to the Cornell community, with refreshments provided.

Goldman is the research director of the UCS Center for Science and Democracy, where she leads research efforts on the role of science in public policy. She is a frequent contributor to journals and media outlets including Science, Nature, National Public Radio, CNN and Bloomberg.

Media Contact

Lindsey Knewstub