Newton Cultural Alliance

West Newton Cinema presents Director's Spotlight: Drink and Be Merry
2025-12-18 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | 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!
