THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19
DISCUSSION The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is hosting a panel discussion, “Why North Africa? An American Invasion,” to delve into the 1942 storming of Algeria and Morocco. This World War II event helped shape the US’s approach to liberating Europe. The panel, featuring several historians and Dr. Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, will delve into the insights from the military as well as newly-discovered documents about Jewish resistance and the fate of Jewish communities. Free with registration, 7 PM.
FILM The Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival will show a handful of investigative films at the National Portrait Gallery (October 19) and Naval Heritage Center (October 20-22). Opening night will feature a DC premiere of One of Us, an original Netflix documentary about three Hasidic Jews who leave their Orthodox community for the secular world. Films later in the weekend include Cocaine Prison (a film about the Bolivian drug trade), Voyeur (a documentary about a Colorado motel owner who spied on his guests), and the world premiere of End of Truth (an investigation of kidnappings during ISIS’s rise to power in Syria). Through October 22. Tickets $12.50-$99, showtimes vary.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20
MUSEUMS Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death opens at the Renwick and highlights the miniature crime scenes crafted by Frances Glessner Lee (1878-1962). These scenes were designed to train homicide investigators, revolutionizing the field of forensic science, and are still used in forensic training today. Also new at the Renwick is the exhibit Rick Araluce: The Final Stop, a large-scale installation that transforms one of the Renwick’s galleries into an abandoned underground subway platform. Both exhibits open through January 28.
FILM The 48-Hour Film Horror Project kicks off on Friday night; individuals not already part of a larger team can join an existing team to spend two days (Friday, 7 PM to Sunday, 7 PM) writing, shooting, editing, and adding a musical soundtrack to their creations. To ensure spontaneity, teams are given a character, a prop, and a line of dialogue that must appear in their film. Films will be screened the week of October 30 at Landmark E Street Cinema. $175 per team.
SHOPPING The Made In DC store and cafe opens this weekend at 1330 19th Street Northwest. The shop will feature a rotating selection of products made in DC, from art to apparel and furniture. Opening weekend festivities will include guest appearances from local favorites, including DC Brau, Urban Stems, and Ice Cream Jubilee. Open 7 AM to 8 PM Monday through Friday; 10 AM to 6 PM Saturday and Sunday.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21
KIDS The Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is hosting its annual “Air & Scare” Halloween event, featuring creepy crafts, spooky science experiments, and other Halloween-themed activities. Free, but $15 per car for parking. 12 PM to 5:30 PM.
PUMPKINS Those who have overdone the pumpkin spice lattes can seek out new pumpkin activities at The Wharf’s Pumpkin Palooza, a family-friendly event that will include pumpkin bowling, a pumpkin pie-eating contest, a Halloween costume contest for pets, live music, and fall beers in the Waterfront Beer & Wine Garden. Free to attend, 1-5 PM.
FILM The National Gallery of Art is showing a series of Czech modernist films, starting with On the Sunny Side (1933) and Such Is Life (1929) on Saturday afternoon. Most notable of these films is the October 28 screening of a new digital restoration of Black Peter, the 1963 New Wave film directed by Miloš Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus). Free. Through October 29.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22
MUSEUMS The National Gallery of Art’s new exhibit, Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry, highlights the artistic exchanges among Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer and his contemporaries in the mid-to-late 1600s. The exhibit will bring together nearly 70 paintings by Vermeer and his fellow painters, juxtaposing paintings related by theme, motif, and composition and showing how these artists inspired each other during this Golden Age of Dutch painting. Through January 21.
DRINK Bluejacket is celebrating its fourth anniversary on Sunday with a special release of its Bourbon Barrel-Aged Double Mexican Radio spiced stout. In addition, the brewery will have other rare beers on draft, and executive chef Marcelle Afram will cook a number of food specials on the outdoor grill. Free. 12 to 4 PM.
