Starts today: Romanian Film Festival DC at E Street Cinema

More than 15 years have passed since 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days made a splash on the international film circuit. Cristian Mungiu’s 2007 film and 2005’s The Death of Mr. Lazarescu cemented Romania’s place in the international film scene. Unlike many other countries, the aesthetic of Romanian cinema doesn’t vary all that much. The films tend to be dour affairs, full of natural light and a common theme of corruption. That does not mean, however, that all the films are tedious bores. The Whistlers (2019) is a refreshing modern film noir, while the 2019 documentary Collective is a searing indictment of political indifference to everyday suffering. It’s in that vein that the Embassy of Romania and the Romanian Cultural Institute hold the fourth annual Romanian Film Festival. Over several days at E Street Cinema, the theme for this year’s festival is “Reinventing Realism,” a continuation of the project that began over a generation ago. This is a small festival, with only six films screening—the clear highlight is the 2022 crime thriller Men of Deeds, a take on provincial corruption that is sort of like Romania’s interpretation of the Edgar Wright film Hot Fuzz. Many of these films will feature Q&A with directors, and Romanian critic Mihai Fulger ensures that, once the film fest is over, you’ll have a better understanding of why the country commands so much attention on the stage of world cinema. The Romanian Film Festival runs Nov. 2 through 5 at Landmark’s E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. romanianfilmfestivaldc.com. Free. —Alan Zilberman

Saturday: Sub-Radio at Howard Theatre

D.C.-based indie-pop band Sub-Radio have been making music together for more than a decade since they first met as high school students in Virginia. Not many high school bands (or friend groups for that matter) last past graduation, but Sub-Radio have stood the test of time, releasing one album and four EPs in the following years. This Saturday, the quintet are bringing their homegrown pop jams to the Howard Theatre. Sub-Radio have built a cult following through cultivating an unmissable online presence. During the pandemic—while we were all stuck at home, seeking entertainment or escape—the band began streaming on Reddit to attract potential new fans. That effort proved quite effective for the band with Billboard reporting on their unique success during COVID. Since then, Sub-Radio have pivoted to Instagram and TikTok with their singing and skit videos often getting tens of thousands of likes. Their music, and their online presence, feels like a grown-up boy band in the best possible way. Five men having the time of their lives jamming in sync and amping up a packed room of people. Take your high school best friend to the gig because their Saturday show will make you feel like it’s “1990something.” Sub-Radio play at 8 p.m. on Nov. 4 at Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. thehowardtheatre.com. $20.  —Serena Zets 

Sunday: Black Hole Symphony at the National Academy of Sciences

From the upcoming Black Hole Symphony on Nov. 5, composer David Ibbett wants you to be as moved as he is by the complexity and beauty of our universe. A chance encounter between Ibbett, who is equally passionate about science as he is music, and Anna Barnacka, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), led to the birth of an epic multidisciplinary project to explore black holes through sound. “Black Holes are not just cosmic vacuum cleaners, sucking in everything in sight,” Ibbett tells City Paper. “Instead, they are engines of light and creation, living at the hearts of galaxies, including our own.” They decided to share this story through the universal language of music. In collaboration with the CfA and Black Hole Initiative, this symphony is an immersive new production from the Museum of Science, Boston, and the Multiverse Concert Series. It’s been so well received in Massachusetts—selling out all 13 performances so far, Ibbett says—that their team is excited to partner with the National Academy of Sciences to share the piece with national audiences in D.C. Do you need an existing understanding of the cosmos to attend the event? Ibbett says absolutely not. “This concert is the perfect entry point to learn more about these wonders of the universe through science, music, and immersive visuals,” he adds. “Music has a unique ability to reach beyond the barriers of society, making it the perfect medium to share the complex details of science in a way that resonates with everyone.” Couple the symphonic journey through space and time with mesmerizing visuals by animators from the Charles Hayden Planetarium, and collective wonder will result. “From wonder comes further curiosity, and a sense of gratitude to take care of our world, and society which enables these [scientific] discoveries,” Ibbett says. Expect to experience a hidden universe beyond the scope of your eyes. Black Hole Symphony starts at 3 p.m. on Nov. 5 at the National Academy for Sciences, 2101 Constitution Ave. NW. eventbrite.com. Free, but a photo ID and registration are required. —Irene Bantigue 

Tuesday: Lilly Maier at the Austrian Embassy

When Lilly Maier was an 11-year-old girl in Vienna, Austria, a 75-year-old American engineer named Arthur Kern came to visit her apartment. It was no ordinary visit: Kern, then known as Oswald Kernberg, had lived in the apartment decades earlier with his middle-class Jewish family before the other members of his family were murdered in the Holocaust. Kern survived because his parents found him a spot in the Kindertransport, a project to bring Jewish children to safer parts of Europe where they could be raised either with foster parents or in group homes. This enabled Kern to survive; he eventually settled in Los Angeles and became a rocket engineer. When he came to visit his old apartment, Maier’s mother didn’t know how her daughter, or Kern, would react. To prepare, Maier joined a student Holocaust history project, “A Letter To The Stars,“ and researched Kern’s family. When they met at the apartment, she found that Kern “was the nicest and most optimistic man I ever met.” It wasn’t clear at first that the families would stay in touch, but the meeting turned out to change Maier’s life. She is now completing a doctorate degree about Jewish women who rescued other Jews during the Holocaust, and she’s written two books: Goodbye, Children!, a biography of Kindertransport architect Ernst Papanek, and the memoir Arthur and Lilly: The Girl and the Holocaust Survivor, which was published in German in 2018 and is now coming out in English, something Kern—who died in 2015—had urged Maier to do so his relatives could read it. “Children like Arthur experienced the worst of humanity, with the Nazis killing their parents, but at the same time they also experienced some of the best of humanity, with complete strangers doing everything to not only save their lives but also their souls,” says Maier, who worked as a journalist in D.C. a decade ago. She’ll be returning to the city this week to speak on her book at an event sponsored by the Austrian Cultural Forum. Lilly Maier presents Arthur and Lilly at 7 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Austrian Embassy, 3524 International Ct. NW. acfdc.org. Free. —Louis Jacobson  

Tuesday: Sun June at DC9

It’s frustrating to discover a local band after you’ve left the town you both once called home. But maybe that caused me to immediately fall in love with Sun June, the Austin, Texas-based band that released their third album on Oct. 20. Bad Dream Jaguar drips with that Texas sound—Americana roots blending in a bit of synth with earthy indie rock. It’s also filled with longing for the Lone Star State that only those of us who’ve called Austin or Texas home can truly identify with. In the track “Texas” you can almost feel the lightning storm breaking over I-35; “Sage” brings to mind the big sky in Hill Country at the very start of sunset—or sunrise. If I close my eyes, I’m driving to Marfa at 5:30 a.m. again in my friend’s beat-up SUV.  The line, “Keep breaking my heart, Texas,” likely refers to guitarist Stephen Salisbury moving to North Carolina in 2020, forcing him and vocalist and bandleader Laura Colwell to collaborate on songwriting duties—and their relations—from afar. To me, however, it speaks volumes about why I left Texas in the first place: As a queer woman you can’t outrun the state’s politics, no matter how far you drive or how lost in Austin’s bubble you are. But at least there’s Sun June’s Bad Dream Jaguar to listen to when I’m craving that welcoming Texas chill and the slow burn of a night in my favorite dive bar. And lucky for me, the Austin band are bringing some of that right here to D.C. this week. Sun June play with Runner at 8 p.m. on Nov. 7 at DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. eventbrite.com.  —Sarah Marloff

Wednesday: 6LACK plays at the Anthem

Like any musician who plays a show on Halloween, rapper 6LACK has given considerable thought to what he’ll be wearing onstage that evening. “I just came back from Mexico City so I’m feeling the Day of the Dead,” 6LACK tells City Paper while chatting backstage in Minneapolis before his show on All Hallow’s Eve. “I might just do some makeup and face paint and just see where that takes me.” In the middle of a whirlwind tour promoting his latest album, Since I Have a Lover, which includes a stop at the Anthem on Nov. 8, 6LACK has been forthright about recent changes in his life including attending therapy sessions, something that was prompted by the rapper’s self-awareness. “I was noticing that I didn’t feel like my best self,” admits the Baltimore-born rapper. “I noticed that my mood was slipping and creatively, I felt stagnant. So it was like a combination of different feelings that all led me to this realization that this is not the best version of who I am.” The therapy also allowed the rapper “to be more honest” in his music. “I’ve always prided myself on mirroring whatever life experiences I have, whatever relationships I have, whatever flaws I have, in my music,” says 6LACK. “I think there was a great amount of truth in what I was doing but there was also a little hint of denial and stubbornness that was still lingering.” The organic instrumental arrangements of the album allow 6LACK to showcase the material in his live shows with a full band, and the happiness in his personal life is finding its way onstage. “It’s more of a high energy show than I’ve done in the past,” says 6LACK. “By the end of the show … everybody’s losing it and jumping up and down. When it’s over, it’s like, ‘OK, that was a great night. That was a great show.’” 6LACK plays at 8 p.m. on Nov. 8 at the Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. theanthemdc.com. $49.50–$79.50. —Christina Smart