Colder days are here, but don’t worry: All of this week’s best bets will keep you indoors. This week, we’ve got dance premieres, films old and new, and an art show dedicated to the best-selling video game of all time. Keep reading for these and more.
The Moody Center for the Arts will lead off their spring season on Friday, January 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. with a dance performance and installation by choreographer Hope Mohr and visual artist Ranu Mukherjee titled score for transitional times. The one-night-only performance, commissioned by the Moody and featuring an ensemble of dancers and video projections, will usher in a season focused on responses to the climate crisis, all organized in conjunction with the upcoming exhibition “Breath(e): Toward Climate and Social Justice.” The program, like all the Moody’s programs, is free and open to all. RSVPs, however, are appreciated here. You also won’t want to miss “Breath(e): Toward Climate and Social Justice,” which will be on view from January 24 to May 10, 2025.
On Friday, January 10, at 7 p.m., ISHIDA Dance Company will bring its winter program, as long as there is in me, to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts with premiere works from Mauro Astolfi, Drew Jacoby, and Brett Ishida. Ishida, the founder and artistic director of ISHIDA, recently told the Houston Press, “What we’re doing on stage is a reflection of our audiences, and it’s meant to be personal. I want people to be able to see themselves in the work or have it trigger a memory or a strong feeling within them.” The program will be presented a second time on Saturday, January 11, at 7 p.m. Tickets are available here for $30 to $75, with VIP tickets also available for $120.
Fresh off its win for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes, Emilia Pérez comes to a big screen near you courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, on Friday, January 10, at 7 p.m. The Jacques Audiard-directed musical film stars Karla Sofía Gascón as a cartel leader who seeks out a lawyer, played by Zoe Saldaña, to help him fake his death and live a new life as a woman. The “hyper-curated, phantasmagorical melodrama” offers a stunning performance from “Gascón, a trans actress who gives Emilia grande-dame hauteur” and is the film’s “heart and soul.” The film will screen a second time on Sunday, January 12, at 5 p.m. Tickets to either screening can be purchased here for $7 to $9 here.
Pokémon started on Game Boy in 1996 and has since spawned a franchise that includes more video games, trading cards, films, and more. It’s become “the best-selling video game franchise of all time,” generating billions of dollars and being shortlisted for the National Toy Hall of Fame. On Friday, January 10, from 7 to 11 p.m., Insomnia Gallery will present their second edition of Sketch ‘Em All – A Pokémon Art Show at Hardy & Nance Studios. Dozens of local artists will pay homage to this soon-to-be 30-year-old franchise. Drinks will be provided by Eureka Heights Brew Co., Bad Astronaut Brewing Co., Equal Parts Brewing, and City Orchard, and, of course, eats will be available from food trucks. The show is free to attend and all-ages-welcome.
The critics over at Rotten Tomatoes have spoken: Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is at the top of the list of essential science fiction films. The folks over at River Oaks Theatre must agree, because on Friday, January 10, at 7 p.m. they will screen the 1968 film, which is considered “Kubrick’s magnum opus,” as an essential. Unlike other sci-fi films, Roger Ebert said the film “is not concerned with thrilling us, but with inspiring our awe,” adding that Kubrick made “a philosophical statement about man’s place in the universe, using images as those before him had used words, music or prayer.” 2001: A Space Odyssey will be screened a second time at 1 p.m. on Saturday, January 11. Tickets to either screening can be purchased here for $11.11 to $13.89.
A cemetery, a pharmacy’s waiting area, and the coat check room of a fancy restaurant are a few of the places you will visit when the Fade to Black Reading Series, presented by Shabach Enterprise, returns for its eighth year on Friday, January 10, at 7:30 p.m. The festival, the city’s first and only short play festival dedicated to showcasing new work from Black playwrights, will feature eight 10-minute plays from eight different playwrights across two acts. The plays will also be performed on Saturday, January 11, at 7:30 p.m. (followed by an artist Q&A) and Sunday, January 12 at 3 p.m. General admission tickets to any of the performances can be purchased here for $30. Tickets will also be available at the door for $40.
If the turn toward colder weather’s got you down, head over to Asia Society Texas Center on Saturday, January 11, at 1 p.m. for a screening of Koji Masunari’s 2010 film Welcome to the Space Show. The film, described by the director as a “summer adventure,” begins like a normal summer until some children find an injured dog that’s not exactly what he appears to be. He’s an alien, and he’s so grateful for the care the children have given him, he invites them to do a little space traveling with him. The film is screening as part of Anime Cinema Series, which is present alongside the museum’s exhibition “Space City: Art in the Age of Artemis.” Tickets to the screening are available here for $10 to $12.
