Newton Cultural Alliance

West Newton Cinema presents There Was, There Was Not
2025-11-07 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
In THERE WAS, THERE WAS NOT, myth and reality intertwine to reveal the lives of four
Armenian women facing the loss of their homeland. What began as a quiet observation
of their daily lives became, after the war in Artsakh, an urgent chronicle of survival — a
cinematic act of memory and resistance.
The film has been hailed by critics as:
“A bold act of narrative resistance”-The Moveable Fest
“A fiery, feminist wartime fable”- Hammer to Nail
“A powerful tribute to a former country” – RogerEbert.com
Filmmaker Atom Egoyan praised it as “a deeply felt and beautifully made film.”
The documentary has toured festivals worldwide following its world premiere at True/False
Film Festival, winning multiple awards, including the Audience Award and First Honorable Mention Jury Award at Argentina’s Mar del Plata International Film Festival and the FIPRESCI International Film Critics Award at the Golden Apricot Film Festival.
Q&A:
Following the screening, filmmaker Emily Mkrtichian will join a Q&A discussion moderated by Paul Boghosian, President of Harbor Side Films, producer of documentaries (PBS), public affairs programming as well as major television and cable
and streaming projects for networks and private clients.

West Newton Cinema presents Behind the Screen: Nouvelle Vague
2025-11-09 13:00 - 15:00 | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
NOUVELLE VAGUE is Richard Linklater’s love letter to the magic of French New Wave cinema, as he reimagines the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960), the film that established Godard’s signature place in the history of cinema. The film is about a young and impulsive criminal in Paris and his American girlfriend. In Nouvelle Vague we are transported back to the streets of 1959 Paris for a delightful and vibrant recreation of one of cinema’s most groundbreaking productions. It is an ode to the transformative power of cinema.
POST SCREENING PANEL DISCUSSION
Our distinguished panel will delve into how this film pays tribute to one of the world’s most beloved and influential example of French New Wave cinema. We will go deeper into why this film brought international attention to new ways of French film-making and the impact of French New Wave on how movies are made.
PANELISTS:
TY BURR
Ty Burr, nationally renowned film critic, who reviews films for The Washington Post and writes the film and popular culture newsletter, “Ty Burr’s Watchlist”. Burr worked as a film critic at The Boston Globe from 2002 until 2021.
JULIE LEVINSON, Ph.D.
William R. Dill Governance Professor, Film Studies, Babson College. Levinson’s scholarship has focused on a wide range of topics including genre and gender, documentary film, narrative theory, and metafiction.
MALCOLM TURVEY, Ph.D.
Sol Gittleman Professor, Film and Media Studies, Tufts University. Turvey’s research is in the areas of film theory, the philosophy and aesthetics of film, avant-garde film, and film and modernism.
MODERATOR:
ERICKA KNUDSON, Ph.D.
Visiting Professor, French Studies, Northeastern University.

Ty Burr's Movie Club: Children of Men
2025-11-13 18:30 - 20:30 | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
TY BURR’S MOVIE CLUB is hosted by the nationally recognized film critic Ty Burr.
Each month Ty presents and discusses one of his favorite films with the audience. His selections span the spectrum from classics that have stood the test of time to contemporary films that merit a second viewing.
ABOUT THE FILM
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have become somehow infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.

Sy Montgomery & E.B. Bartels: A Turtle Celebration
2025-11-15 11:00 - 13:30 | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
West Newton Cinema Reads and Newtonville Books present:
Famed naturalist Sy Montgomery, author of THE TRUE AND LUCKY LIFE OF A TURTLE, and E. B. Bartels, author of GOOD GRIEF, together for a talk and book signing to benefit the Turtle Survival Alliance!
Our day begins with a turtle meet and greet. Sy and E.B. will then share big-screen stories and more from their animal adventures, followed by a Q&A. Guests are invited to stay for a screening of THE SLOWEST STAMPEDE ON EARTH and join Sy and E.B. for a book signing in our lobby.
And don’t forget to bid on items—like turtle quilts—in the silent auction!
The day’s events:
11am-11:30:
Turtle meet & greet; mingle in the lobby to browse books & turtle merch & bid on the silent auction items
11:30-12:30:
Authors talk books & turtles, followed by a Q&A, in the theater
12:30-1:30:
Join us for a screening of THE SLOWEST STAMPEDE ON EARTH (20 mins, in the theater) & a book signing (in the lobby)
National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestseller SY MONTGOMERY is the author of thirty-nine books for both adults and children, including Soul of an Octopus and Of Time and Turtles, and has been honored with a Sibert Medal, three Sibert Honors, two Science Book and Film Prizes from the National Association for the Advancement of Science, four honorary degrees, and many other awards. She lives in Hancock, New Hampshire, with her husband, Howard Mansfield, and their border collie, Thurber.
E.B. BARTELS is a nonfiction writer, a teacher, an editor, and a former bookseller with an MFA from Columbia. She is the author of Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter (out in paperback from Mariner Books/HarperCollins on 11/11/25), a narrative nonfiction book about loving and losing animals, which has received positive press from many media outlets including The Associated Press, NPR, The Boston Globe, WBUR, Kinship, Psychology Today, and the American Kennel Club, and which has been translated into Korean. Her essays and interviews have appeared in Salon, Slate, WBUR, Literary Hub, Catapult, Electric Literature, The Believer, and The Rumpus, among others. E.B. lives in Arlington, Massachusetts, with her husband (Richie), her son (Luca), and a pair of red-footed tortoises (Terrence and Twyla).

Behind the Screen: It Was Just an Accident
2025-11-16 14:00 - 16:00 | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT marks another remarkable act of defiance by Jafar Panahi, one of the most courageous filmmakers of our time. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, the film is a tense, darkly humorous thriller about Vahid, a mechanic who believes he has reencountered Eghbal, the intelligence officer who once tortured him. As Vahid gathers others whose lives were also scarred by Eghbal, a dangerous plan for revenge takes shape. Panahi crafts a powerful meditation on justice, morality, and resistance under repression. A NEON release and a NYFF63 Main Slate selection.
POST SCREENING PANEL DISCUSSION
Our distinguished panel will discuss IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT in the context of Iranian cinema, political expression, and the role of art as resistance under authoritarian rule.
ALI BANUAZIZI, Ph.D.
Research Professor of Political Science at Boston College and Faculty Affiliate at the Center for International Studies at M.I.T.
Ali Banuazizi’s research focuses on the political cultures of the Middle East and the comparative study of religion, civil society, and politics. His work includes Iran’s social history and its contemporary domestic and foreign relations. A past president of both the Middle East Studies Association and the International Society for Iranian Studies, he has held visiting appointments at Princeton, Harvard, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, MIT, and Oxford University.
RASHIN FAHANDEJ
Multimedia Artist and Filmmaker; Research Fellow, MIT Open Documentary Lab
Rashin Fahandej’s multimedia projects center on marginalized voices and the use of media and technology for social change. Her multi-platform project A Father’s Lullaby explores the role of men in raising children and the impact of racial disparities in the criminal justice system. A 2019 James and Audrey Foster Prize recipient, she has been a Boston Artist-in-Residence and a visiting faculty member at MassArt. She is also a recipient of the Mass Cultural Council Artist Fellowship Grant.
KAMRAN RASTEGAR, Ph.D.
Professor of Comparative Literature, Tufts University
Kamran Rastegar’s scholarship focuses on modern Middle Eastern literature and film, with attention to representation, cultural memory, and transnational identity. He is a founding faculty member of the Department for Studies in Race, Colonialism and Diaspora and an affiliate of the Film and Media Studies Program. He served as Director of the Center for the Humanities at Tufts from 2018 to 2022. His work bridges cultural studies and the political dimensions of art in the Middle East.

West Newton Cinema presents Producers Circle: Nine
2025-12-04 18:30 - 20:30 | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
Join us for a special evening with filmmakers Jeremy S. Levine and Rachael DeCruz as they share a rough cut and discuss the making of their documentary, “Nine”.
In this contemplative, immersive documentary, we see two men’s parallel lives unfold, separated by generations and bound together by experience. In Act I, Nine interweaves the lives of Gerald and Henry. They are both stuck. Henry’s life in prison is on loop; he works as a janitor, calls his wife Juanita—who stayed with him during his decades of incarceration—and mentors the younger men while playing dominos before starting it all over again the next day. Gerald frantically juggles his day job, his activism, and at night, he digs into the archives of Henry’s case, looking for something—anything—that will help bring his Pops home. Act II centers on Gerald’s campaign to free Henry. Gerald and his team of formerly incarcerated activists strategize on ways to bring Henry home. They work to pass a bill Gerald wrote while still in prison that would radically transform the clemency board. Gerald records emotional video testimonies from men whose lives Henry transformed. He’s worried it’s not enough and that he’s failing Henry. Things come to a head in Act III, leading to Henry’s clemency hearing and his unexpected freedom after 45 years of incarceration.
With quiet attention to details, Nine feels like a cinematic poem. In moments small and large, the film builds a beautiful, lyrical world that explores the resilience and joy that can be found in our most cherished relationships.
Jeremy S. Levine, Director/Producer
Levine’s work explores race, class, and the power of parental bonds through cinematic, formally rigorous films.
Rachael DeCruz, Director/Producer
DeCruz’s work centers on how familial and community bonds fortify people to push back against racist systems.
Producer’s Circle is an opportunity to:
Experience excerpts of a filmmaker’s past work to understand their vision and craftsmanship.
-Engage directly with in-progress productions that need your support.
-Participate in shaping the final stages of a film’s journey, through discussion and financial contributions.
-Foster a Vibrant Film Community. Beyond supporting a single documentary, your participation helps strengthen Boston’s larger documentary scene. By investing in these works-in-progress, you become part of a community pushing the boundaries of independent storytelling, inspiring future filmmakers, and expanding the city’s creative horizons.

West Newton Cinema presents Behind the Screen: Hamnet
2025-12-07 14:00 - 17:00 | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
HAMNET is a historical drama directed by the Academy Award winning writer/director Chloé Zhao and based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell. The film follows the arc in the relationship between William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes in the wake of the death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet. It tells a powerful story of love and loss, and one that is believed to have inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Hamlet.
POST SCREENING DISCUSSION
Our distinguished panelists will explore the film’s cultural and historical context and discuss more broadly the influence of Shakespeare on the arts, having inspired countless works across different mediums and periods. Artists have continually drawn on Shakespeare’s work for inspiration, an enduring legacy that has shaped modern art and culture.
FEATURING:
STEPHEN GREENBLATT, Ph.D.
John Cogan University Professor of Humanities, Harvard University
Greenblatt is the author of fifteen books, including Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics; The Swerve: How the World Became Modern; Shakespeare’s Freedom; Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare; Hamlet in Purgatory; and most recently Dark Renaissance. He is General Editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and of The Norton Shakespeare. His honors include the 2016 Holberg Prize from the Norwegian Parliament, the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and the 2011 National Book Award for The Swerve, and two Guggenheim Fellowships. He has been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Philosophical Society, the Italian literary academy Accademia degli Arcadi, and is a fellow of the British Academy.
IN CONVERSATION WITH:
MICHELLE EPHRAIM, Ph.D.
Professor of English at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Ephraim, a Shakespeare scholar, is the author of Green World: A Tragicomic Memoir of Love & Shakespeare, which was awarded the 2023 Juniper Prize for Creative Nonfiction; Reading the Jewish Woman on the Elizabethan Stage; and the co-author of the literary humor book Shakespeare, Not Stirred: Cocktails for Your Everyday Dramas. Her latest venture is the award-winning podcast, Everyday Shakespeare, which explores ways that Shakespeare sheds light on our modern problems.

West Newton Cinema presents Director's Spotlight: Drink and Be Merry
2025-12-18 19:00 - 20:30 | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
ABOUT THE FILM
Set at a struggling New York dive bar in the days approaching Christmas, 2019, Chet (Jefferson White), a beleaguered bartender in a state of extended arrested development, must balance taking care of his difficult regulars, who have nowhere else to go, and rely on him for far more than pouring drinks, with his naive desire to muster some Christmas Spirit.
Q&A FOLLOWS THE SCREENING
ADAM VOLERICH
Filmmaker and Podcast Producer
The set is his natural habitat and the crew his family. His films have screened and been awarded at festivals worldwide. His latest short film, MISPRINT, premiered on Omeleto, and his feature directing debut, DRINK AND BE MERRY, is available to rent or buy.
Adam is also the co-creator of the hit film podcast EYE OF THE DUCK on the Morbid Podcast Network for SiriusXM. He also produced and developed the Signal Award Winning and Ambie and Webby Nominated narrative fiction podcasts AMERICAN HOSTAGE (Amazon Originals), starring Jon Hamm (soon to be a TV Show from Shawn Ryan and MGM+), and THE FOXES OF HYDESVILLE (QCODE), starring Carey Mulligan, for Criminal Content.
ETHAN WARREN
Author
Ethan Warren is the author of The Cinema of Paul Thomas Anderson: American Apocrypha, and the forthcoming When I Paint My Masterpiece: The Cinematic Dylan.

Newton Cemetery & Arboretum: Artist in Residence Program - Applications Now Open
2026-01-01 00:00 - 2026-02-14 23:59 | Newton Cemetery and Arboretum, 791 Walnut St, Newton, Massachusetts, 02459, United States
The Friends of Newton Cemetery & Arboretum is delighted to announce that the application period for the 2026-27 Artist in Residence (AiR) Program is now open.
This residency invites an artist to immerse themselves in the Cemetery’s historic landscape, its mission of remembrance, and its role as an accredited arboretum. The selected artist will have the unique opportunity to use the grounds as both inspiration and workspace, creating original work that reflects the beauty, memory, and community embodied in this garden cemetery.
The residency will conclude with a public program and exhibition, offering visitors a chance to experience Newton Cemetery & Arboretum through the artist’s creative lens.
Applications are being accepted through Feb. 14, 2026.
Artists interested in engaging with this meaningful environment are encouraged to apply.

West Newton Cinema presents Ty Burr's Movie Club: Her
2026-01-08 18:30 - 21:00 | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
TY BURR’S MOVIE CLUB is hosted by the nationally recognized film critic Ty Burr.
Each month Ty presents and discusses one of his favorite films with the audience. His selections span the spectrum from classics that have stood the test of time to contemporary films that merit a second viewing.
ABOUT THE FILM
In the near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.

Capella Clausura presents "'in tongues': Ruehr's "Cassandra"
2026-01-24 16:00 - 17:00 | Grace Episcopal Church, 76 Eldredge Street, Newton, MA, 02458, United States
Magic spells, prophecies, secrets, prayers; what happens when words mean more than what they say? Speech has the power to persuade, clarify, distort, and to move. It can even affect the way we remember things, the ways our minds encode memories. This program, centered around Elena Ruehr’s magnificent choral opera “Cassandra”, considers these questions. The figure of Cassandra, from Ancient Greek mythology, provides perspective for understanding these questions. In myth, Cassandra’s blessing is that she can see the future; her curse is that no one believes or understands her prophecies.
Featuring music by: Elena Ruehr, Julia Wolfe, Alissa Voth, and Isaac Roth Blumfield

West Newton presents Behind the Screen: Sinners
2026-02-08 13:00 - 15:30 | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
SINNERS is a genre-defying period horror drama written and directed by Ryan Coogler, set in 1932 Mississippi during the Jim Crow era. The story follows twin brothers Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore, portrayed by Michael B. Jordan in dual roles, who return to their hometown to open a juke joint for the local Black community, only to find that an ancient, supernatural evil threatens their celebration and their lives. The film blends Southern Gothic, blues music, historical memory, and supernatural horror, creating a richly layered narrative about community, survival, and cultural expression.
POST SCREENING PANEL DISCUSSION
Our panel will explore the film’s fusion of music, history, and horror, considering how SINNERS engages with African-American cultural traditions, the symbolic role of blues music in confronting evil, and the artistic choices that make the film a singular cinematic experience.
JAKE BLOUNT, A.M.
Musician, Scholar, and Music Consultant on SINNERS;
Specialist in Traditional African-American Music and Afrofuturism
Jake Blount is an award-winning musician and scholar whose work bridges performance, research, and advocacy. He specializes in African-American traditional music and Afrofuturist approaches, and his recordings have appeared on best-of lists from NPR, The New Yorker, and Rolling Stone. Blount served as a music consultant on SINNERS and his work often interrogates the cultural and historical roots of American music.
JOEL LARUE SMITH, Ph.D.
Associate Teaching Professor, Tufts, Pianist, Composer, Arranger
Joel LaRue Smith has been the Director of the Tufts Jazz Orchestra (formerly the Big Band) and Jazz Activities at Tufts University since 1996. He is also a pianist and composer known for moving seamlessly between jazz, classical, gospel, and Afro-Cuban repertoire. He has performed globally at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Royal Albert Hall, and has received numerous awards including ASCAP’s distinguished George and Ira Gershwin Award.
BILL LOWE, Ph.D.
Composer, Performer, Educator; Leader of Signifyin’ Natives
Bill Lowe is a distinguished bassist trombonist, tuba player, composer, and educator with decades of experience in creative music. His ensemble Signifyin’ Natives explores African-American musical traditions through improvisation and collaboration, and Lowe has performed and taught extensively throughout the United States and internationally.

West Newton Cinema presents Mary Pickford's Sparrows: Live Music Accompaniment
2026-02-15 14:00 - 16:30 | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
Join us for a screening of Mary Pickford’s, SPARROWS (1926) with live musical accompaniment.
ABOUT THE FILM:
Molly, the eldest child at a baby farm hidden deep in a swamp, must rescue the others when their cruel master decides that one of them will be disposed of.
LIVE MUSIC
BRUCE VOGT
Bruce Vogt is a Canadian pianist who has devoted a distinguished career to performing and teaching. He has toured cities and towns of all sizes throughout North America, Europe, and Asia as a soloist and chamber musician. He has mentored generations of young artists in his role as professor of piano at the University of Victoria, and has lectured widely, leading master classes, workshops, and adjudicating for festivals.
Bruce has sustained an interest in exploring the many conversations to be found between music and film, literature and painting. This has evolved into an unusual side hustle: improvising accompaniments for the great films of the silent era. He has developed a robust career in this multimedia sphere bringing sound to many masterpieces — by Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Griffith, Sjöström, Von Sternberg and many others. In movie theaters across Europe, Asia, and North America, he has provided for audiences a greater intimacy with these films, transforming the silence of the medium into another sphere.

West Newton Cinema presents Behind the Screen: All God's Children
2026-02-22 13:00 - 15:30 | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
In an unprecedented attempt to heal centuries of racism and antisemitism, and combat the rising racial and ethnic tension in their Brooklyn communities, the largest reform synagogue and the oldest black Baptist Church attempt to unite their congregations and bring about peace, by becoming family. Shot over five years by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ondi Timoner, ALL GOD’S CHILDREN follows her sister, activist Rabbi Rachel Timoner, and her Congregation Beth Elohim’s partnership with Reverend Dr. Robert Waterman of Antioch Baptist Church as their faith is put to the test, and both congregations struggle not to let their differences drive them apart. Though it’s a fraught partnership, they refuse to walk away, no matter how hard it gets, and ultimately emerge with an inspiring model for how other communities might build bridges across religious, economic and class divides to foster enduring, powerful partnerships.
PANEL DISCUSSION FOLLOWS
REVEREND ELIJAH GIPSON-DAVIS
The Rev. Elijah Gipson-Davis, a native of Riverdale, Georgia, was ordained into the Gospel ministry at the New Macedonia Baptist Church. An anointed preacher, talented scholar, and skilled administrator, he currently serves as the Minister of Administration and Assistant to the Pastor at the Myrtle Baptist Church of West Newton, Massachusetts. Rev. Elijah shares academic interests in religion, specifically African American and North American religious history, gender and sexuality, congregational studies, Christian education, and liturgics.
RABBI TIFERET BERENBAUM
Rabbi Tiferet Berenbaum received Rabbinic Ordination and a Master’s in Jewish Education from Hebrew College in 2013, after spending a year in Israel as part of her studies. Rav Tiferet served congregations in Milwaukee, WI and Mt. Holly, New Jersey, then returned home to Boston and TBZ in 2019. Always desiring to continue to learn, she is currently pursuing a doctorate in Educational Leadership at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.
MODERATED BY: JAYMIE SAKS
Jaymie is the Director of Development at 2LifeCommunities and served for more than a decade as executive director of Boston Jewish Film (BJF) and was chief operating officer of the Jewish Women’s Archive.

Suzuki Preschool of Newton Open House
2026-02-26 16:00 - 17:30 | Suzuki School of Newton, 1615 Beacon St, Waban, MA, 02468, United States
Our classrooms will be open and set up with arts and crafts projects you and your children to engage with. There will also be a violin demo by one of our violin group classes from the Music School, so please be sure to stop by and hear our students play!
