Best Things To Do In New York City This Weekend
In like a lion, out like a lamb, or so goes the cliché. At any rate, March is here, which means winter is almost over. Celebrate, or lament, by heading out to a film festival, a theater festival, a music festival, or a super-hip night market. See our picks for the best in eating, drinking, and merrymaking in NYC this weekend. By Jessica Allen.
This festival only sounds cold. During the city's chilliest months, FRIGID New York features more than 150 performances by 30 independent theater companies over the course of 19 days. It's definitely worth bundling up for. Now's your chance to watch Emily Dickinson investigate paranormal activity, to discover a punk grandpa, and to see Little Women reimagined as a rap musical. Tuesday, February 16, through Sunday, March 6, see schedule for details, tickets required.
The Avant Music Festival gives contemporary American composers the chance to "experiment with long-form concerts and the full programmatic experience of their work." This year—the festival's seventh—includes a new opera by John King, collaborative percussive performances by Adrian Knight and TIGUE, and the world premiere of a "drone/video Epic" by Randy Gibson. Be sure to check out the installations too. Saturday, February 20, through Saturday, March 5, see schedule for details, tickets required.
If you've got a young person in your life, you'll want to go ahead and rearrange your schedule for the hugely popular International Children's Film Festival, the largest kid-focused film festival in North America. Since 1997, this festival has shown "thoughtful, provocative, and intelligent film for children and teens ages 3–18." This year, that means you can see 100 movies from 35 countries in 15+ languages over the festival's four weekends. Go, go, go! Friday, February 26, through Sunday, March 20, subscribe for updates, tickets required.
As you can see from this list, when the weather gets frightful, New Yorkers like to hold, and attend, film festivals. Presented with UniFrance, the annual Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center features Francophone movies by both up-and-coming and established directors, writers, and performers, including Julie Delphy, Isabelle Huppert, Diane Kruger, Philippe Faucon, and Gérard Depardieu. Thursday, March 3, through Sunday, March 13, see schedule for details, tickets required.
Perpetually in the running for the city's coolest neighborhood, Ridgewood sits on the border of Brooklyn and Queens. Go see what all the fuss is about at this weekend's Ridgewood Cosmic Night Bazaar. More than 40 vendors will be on hand, selling one-of-a-kind stuffed animals, sweatshirts, bath salts, custom-blended teas, jewelry, knit caps, and paintings, among other objects. As you wander around Gottscheer Hall, you can dance to TeeTunez, a local DJ, spinning music from the 1920s through the 1990s. Saturday, March 5, 5 to 11 pm, free.
