MONDAY 4/6 Cléo from 5 to 7 (FILM) Agnès Varda’s landmark 1962 French New Wave classic Cléo from 5 to 7 follows the French pop singer Florence, who goes by the stage name “Cléo,” on a day where she is anxiously awaiting the results of a biopsy for possible stomach cancer. Th e black-and-white film chronicles Cléo’s evening in real time from 5 to 6:30 pm on June 21, so the viewer feels her existential dread like a ticking clock as she shops for hats and wanders through Paris. This movie has comforted me through melancholy moods and health scares, and Cléo’s dreamy apartment, which features a swing, a canopy bed, and an assortment of wriggling kittens, lives in my mind rent-free. Join SIFF Cinema Club for a screening, then head to the nearby bar and lounge the Traveling Goat to discuss the film’s themes of death, loneliness, and femininity. (SIFF Uptown, 6:30 pm) JULIANNE BELL TUESDAY 4/7 George Saunders ZACH KRAHMER (BOOKS) IMHO, George Saunders is one of the greatest short story writers alive today. His work is often a blend of a disconcerting fabulism and satire that is as sharp as it is subtle. Stories move through shifting perspectives and fractured points of view; common themes include consumerism, morality, and the struggles of ordinary people within absurd or dystopian settings. You can’t go wrong with any of his collections—start with Tenth of December, Pastoralia, and CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, in that order. His more recent novels, Lincoln in the Bardo and this year’s Vigil, don’t stick in my mind in quite the same way as his shorter works do, but Saunders is still one of the most distinct and empathetic voices of his generation. Plus, he seems like one of those large-aura types who’d make you feel better just by being in the same room. (Town Hall Seattle, 7:30 pm, all ages) EMILY NOKES WEDNESDAY 4/8 Fcukers (MUSIC) Fcukers’ debut full-length record Ö is full of unapologetic bangers. Formed by musicians from indie rock bands who wanted to experiment with electronic and house music, Fcukers—pronounced “fuckers” or, if you’re a radio DJ, “effers”—skyrocketed onto the scene with a single in 2023 and an EP in 2024, earning them bookings at big-ticket festivals like Coachella and Glastonbury and opening slots on tours for big-name bands like LCD Soundsystem and Tame Impala. The new album from the NYC-based band goes hard with club-inspired beats and ethereal vocals, and I’ve heard their concerts go even harder. In a move that I’m sure was about more than their thematically related name, Brooklyn duo Sex Week kicks off the night with their dark, and dare I say, sexy pop-rock. Grab your dancing shoes and head to this show that is sure to make your Wednesday feel like the weekend. (Neumos, 7 pm, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH THURSDAY 4/9 Walden (PERFORMANCE) Written by Amy Berryman, Walden is a cosmic drama that wrestles with looming ideas surrounding family and climate change. Set in the near-future, the play follows estranged twin sisters—one fresh off a moon mission, the other who left NASA behind—as they reunite in a cabin to confront old wounds and an even bigger question: what do we owe each other, and what do we owe the planet we call home? As past, present, and future collide, Walden explores the gravitational pull between duty and desire, where even the most personal decisions begin to feel as impossibly large as existence itself. (ArtsWest, 7:30 pm) LANGSTON THOMAS FRIDAY 4/10 Moisture Festival JOHN CORNICELLO (PERFORMANCE) A true testament to the popularity of underground cabaret entertainment in Seattle, the longstanding Moisture Festival has fostered circus performers, comics, burlesque dancers, and musicians for years, and now claims to be “the world’s largest comedy/variety show festival.” The 24-day fest offers eye-popping events from the (relatively) mild-mannered to the racy and scantily clad end of the spectrum. (Broadway Performance Hall, times vary) LINDSAY COSTELLO SATURDAY 4/11 Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra Presents: The Music of Sun Ra ANDREW PUTLER (MUSIC) Acclaimed pianist and SRJO guest director Orrin Evans will lead the orchestra in a cosmic medley of compositions by Sun Ra, a jazz pioneer remembered for melding big band, avant-garde, free jazz, and Afrofuturism. The program will feature selections from Sun Ra’s expansive catalog, from high-energy pieces composed for his 1974 film Space Is the Place to the delightfully relaxed “Hour of Parting,” along with other favorites that reflect Evans’s history in New York City and Philadelphia. (Benaroya Hall, times vary, all ages) AUDREY VANN SUNDAY 4/12 Seattle Deaf Film Festival (FILM) Film is inherently visual, but most of us rarely give a second thought to the audio that accompanies it. Yet, for an entire community, film without sound isn’t a choice, but a given. But how different is the medium for hearing vs non-hearing audiences? The Seattle Deaf Film Festival invites viewers to consider exactly that, showcasing stories told through sign language, visual storytelling, and global perspectives often underrepresented on screen. Now in its eighth year, the festival returns to the Northwest Film Forum with a lineup of a whopping 38, including feature films Siren: The Voices of Shelley Beattie, Okthanksbye, Loud Love, and Passengers. Organized into curated blocks, each program highlights a range of styles and voices united by Deaf culture and creativity. (Northwest Film Forum, times vary) LANGSTON THOMAS The post Stranger Suggests: An Eye-Popping Cabaret Festival, One of the Greatest Living Short Story Writers, and a Cosmic Drama About Climate Change appeared first on The Stranger. ...read more read less