Join cinéSPEAK, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival for an evening length live table read of When The River Split Open; the debut narrative feature of Jess X. Snow.

For one night only, When The River Split Open will be read live in Philadelphia by César-nominated actress, Lucie Zhang, Denice Frohman, Jean-Jacques Gabriel, Anissa Weinraub and other local artists and scholars. This table read will be followed by a community feedback discussion facilitated by writer/director Jess X. Snow and producer, Petrus van Staden.

Thanks to UPenn Cinema & Media Studies for their sponsorship support!

**EVENT FLOW:

6:30 PM: Doors

Welcome Remarks

7:00 PM: Program Starts

Live Reading - Pt. 1

Intermission

Live Reading - Pt. 2

Q&A / Feedback Session to follow

—

**COVID / FLU SEASON SAFETY**

Masking is required. If you feel unwell, we kindly ask that you stay home and rest.

—

**TICKETS: $5-$20

This event is intended to raise funds to support this important project. We are suggesting donations of $5-$20 (or more!). Please give as you are able. No one turned away for lack of funds—please join us. Advance tickets can be purchased HERE

—

ABOUT THE FILM:

On an overdue return to their homeland, Rain—a non-binary Chinese American escapes their overprotective maternal family to embark on a surreal journey through rural China to find their estranged father—whose life was entwined with the extinction of the Yangtze River dolphin.

Over five years in development, at the speed of the intimacy of Lost in Translation, drawing upon the sweeping family drama of YiYi, and elevated with the surrealism of Spirited Away, When The River Split Open is a queer road movie set in southern China. Grounded in themes of environmental justice and multispecies kinships, it’s a love story between two outsiders from opposite sides of the Pacific who help eachother heal in ways they couldn’t alone. Beneath it, lies a parallel love story between an elusive biologist and the extinct river dolphin. It is a ceremony of forgiveness: of the father and of the self.

Let Rain take you by the hand. Let Rain take you through the five stages of grief and show you the horizon that lies on the other side.

ABOUT THE CAST / ARTISTS:

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Jess X. Snow is a filmmaker, multi-disciplinary artist and author born in Canada, of JiangXi Chinese heritage based in Philadelphia. Bringing their background in visual art, community murals and poetry into their film work, they were recently named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Their genre-bending shorts viscerally immerse audiences into the lives of flawed diasporic Asians struggling to become free. Their short film and producing work has played in community gardens and university classrooms, and festivals in five continents including BFI London Film Festival, BlackStar, San Francisco International Film Festival, Durban International Film Festival, Sundance and TIFF.

RAIN (lead) is LUCIE ZHANG

Lucie Zhang is a French-Chinese actress. She received critical acclaim for her feature film debut as the lead role of Emilie in PARIS 13th DISTRICT (2021), directed by Jacques Audilard which premiered at Cannes (Main Competition) and earned her César and Lumières Award nominations for best breakthrough performance and an ICS award. Zhang was born in the 13th arrondissement of Paris to Chinese parents.

INGRID is DENICE FROHMAN

Denice Frohman is a poet and performer from New York City based in Philly. She has received support from The Pew Center for the Arts, Baldwin for the Arts, CantoMundo, Headlands Center for the Arts, the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Currently, she is developing her one-woman show, Esto No Tiene Nombre, which centers the oral histories of Latina lesbian elders.

MENG (lead) is JEAN-JACQUES GABRIEL

From his early childhood in Haiti, jean-jacques gabriel has been focused on seeing, shaping, and amplifying beauty, which he defines as “a mixture of what circumstance commands and infinity implores”. The son of painter Jacques Gabriel, jean-jacques painted before he could walk and later studied painting and drawing at The University of the Arts and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

jean-jacques started teaching yoga to children in West Philly and then to incarcerated people. From the start, Black freedom has been central to jean-jacques’s yoga teaching journey, and helped root his wellness work in community care.

YI-YUN (night club owner) is ANISSA WEINRAUB (she/femme) is a theater-maker, educator, and organizer, living and working in Lenapehoking / Philadelphia. Her cultural work sits at the intersection of creativity, community-building, and political transformation. Her days are spent helping people claim their expressive, whole selves; facilitating ensemble-based devised theater processes; and convening groups of people to strategize toward collective change.

Anissa has shown work/collaborated with Cannonball Festival, Philadelphia Fringe Arts, the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, Cornerstone Theater Company, Wilma Theater, Simpatico Theatre, Directors Gathering, First Person Arts, Theatre Exile, and much more.

HUANG AN (Dad) is ADAMU CHAN

Adamu Chan is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and community organizer whose artistry is deeply rooted in relationships and lived experience. Based in the Bay Area, Adamu discovered his passion for filmmaking during his incarceration at San Quentin State Prison, where he used his unique perspective to craft powerful visual stories that amplify voices often silenced. His films invite viewers into conversations about social justice, resilience, and the transformative power of community.

ZHOU HONG (Mom) is MAYA YU ZHANG

Maya Yu Zhang 张宇 (b.1991, Zhengzhou, China) is a non-binary community organizer, artist and filmmaker. They foster equity, inclusivity and intercultural empathy by creating systems, images, performances, stories and communities. Maya’s solo and collaborative projects have received the Director's Choice Award at Black Maria Film Festival, the Best Documentary Short Award at Indie Memphis Film Festival, and Vanguard Award for Experimental Film at The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival.

PRODUCER & STAGE DIRECTIONS: Petrus van Staden is a South African producer and editor based between NYC and South Africa. He produced and edited the short film, MTHUNZI (2019; Locarno, SXSW, Special Jury Mention at AFI Fest) which was released for streaming on Topic and HEAVEN REACHES DOWN TO EARTH (2020; New Directors New films, Clermont- Ferrand, Palm Springs), was released on Mubi in January 2022, and received a Vimeo Staff Pick. Recently he was a participant of the Film Independent Producing Lab, Red Sea Souk, DEENTAL-ACP Producers Network at Cannes Marché Du Film, and Marrakech’s Atlas Workshops.

ZHOU YUAN (Aunt) is LILY XIE

Lily Xie (she/they) is a Chinese-American artist and educator whose socially-engaged work explores desire, memory, and self-actualization for frontline communities. In collaboration with grassroots organizers and frontline communities, she uses her background as an artist and urban planner to facilitate creative projects with a focus on public space, housing, and racial justice. The magic they create together often takes shape in animation, print media, and video. Lily lives on Lenni Lenape land (Philadelphia, PA).

XIAO CHEN (real estate agent) & ZHOU JIAN (Uncle) is JONATHAN DICKSTEIN

Jonathan Dickstein is a MFA dropout from Philadelphia’s Tyler School of Art. Currently they are a professor of South Asian religions whose research focuses on the (in)visibility of animals in society and the problem of anthropocentrism. Jonathan works in Indian and non-Indian philosophy, critical animal studies, social justice studies, and food studies. Their writing has been published in Capitalism Nature Socialism, Food Ethics, Religions, and Philosophy East & West. Locally you can find them conspiring with Food Not Bombs comrades, making pottery, riding a bike, or lounging on a West Philly porch.

ABOUT THE COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS:

PHILADELPHIA ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL (PAAFF):

The Philadelphia Asian American Film Foundation serves as a platform that exhibits and celebrates the works of AANHPI (Asian, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander) storytellers, primarily through film and video art programs to a wide audience. As the main hub for AANHPI media, culture, and entertainment in the Greater Philadelphia area, we exist to empower and advocate for a diverse creative community that includes performing, culinary, fine arts, and more. By forming alliances with like-minded local and national organizations, we are building a more inclusive and informed community that fulfills our mission.

To provide access and create a pathway for future generations to honor, learn from, and share their own AANHPI experiences and personal histories through filmmaking and other forms of storytelling. We strive to push the creative community forward with year-round advocacy and networking opportunities, creative workshops, and exposure through showcasing and connecting to distribution platforms.

Learn More: paaff.org

Follow: @PhillyAAFF

CINÉSPEAK:

cinéSPEAK is a Philadelphia-based arthouse cinema and journal that cultivates experiences and opportunities for filmmakers and moviegoers, celebrating and strengthening local community and global movements for collective liberation.

Our multidisciplinary work directly supports emerging artists, filmmakers, and writers through screenings, salons, and cultural reporting—all of which center the stories from those historically excluded in the film and media industry. We bring independent films to new audiences, partnering with community organizations to create a more equitable and nourishing cinema ecosystem.

cinéSPEAK is an independent charitable 501(c)(3).

Learn More: cineSPEAK.org

Follow: @cineSPEAK // Stay in the loop: https://bit.ly/cinéSPEAKMail

The Rotunda presents a Free Admission In-Person concert with Chuck van Zyl on Sunday 9 March 2025 at 7:30pm (doors 7:00pm). Following the performance will be a brief Q & A and CD signing.

After decades on the Electronic Music scene Chuck van Zyl is credited with an impressive range of substantial live appearances, collaborations and album releases. Realized in the specific poetry of the Berlin-School of Kosmische Musik his creations draw on a unique understanding of texture, atmosphere and scale. With its deep-space gateways and brilliant sequencer breakdowns, from the heights of heedless improvisation on down to its quietly consuming fields, his work opens interior thought zones of inspiriting deliberation. Spontaneously composed in the moment, performances by Chuck van Zyl evoke the sense of discovery first heard in early pieces by Jean-Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream. Offering a Sci-Fi sense of wonder his recitals are uniquely designed for the informed listener and their journey within. To riders

of this rare aural plain his music is the perfect cerebral soundtrack. Somewhere between its mysterious sense of inwardness and celestial yearning audiences will find room to contemplate the cosmos. Gliding the spaceways, Chuck van Zyl presents pulsing passages of rhythmic flight. Slow chords hold forth, while cycling sequencer notes echo out under lithe keyboard leads. As synthesizer harmonies rise and fall, in passages dark and light, an unexpected beauty emerges. It is in this remarkable realm that we are asked to give in to the sensation of sound and connect with our inner stillness.

Perhaps best known for the past 40+ years as host of Star’s End - one of the world's most successful radio programs of Spacemusic - or as founder of The Gatherings - Philadelphia's premiere concert series of innovative music - Chuck van Zyl has also been producing his own electronic realizations, in collaboration and solo, since the mid-1980s. He has played live at a variety of venues, and issued numerous studio works and concert recordings - all in service to an enduring impulse for expression. The new album Transience represents the diverse sonic terrain he is capable of achieving in the studio - the release of which coincides with the Sunday 9 March 2025 event at The Rotunda.

This event will also include video artists Neil Cippon and Samara Talkin. Generating projections of original, ever-evolving graphics onto the features of The Rotunda staging space, their visual output will align with the improvised live musical expressions conjured by Chuck van Zyl.

The Rotunda presents a Free Admission In-Person concert with Chuck van Zyl on Sunday 9 March 2025 at 7:30pm (doors 7:00pm). Following the performance will be a brief Q & A and CD signing.

Spring into Grant Writing Part 1 ft. Trish Downy 7pm-9pm Eastern

Join us at virtually for an exciting in-person event that will help you take your artistic career to the next level! In this workshop, we will dive into the world of grant writing, providing you with the essential tools and knowledge to secure funding for your creative projects. Whether you're a painter, writer, musician, or any other type of artist, this event is for you! Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn from experienced professionals and connect with fellow artists. Mark your calendars and get ready to spring into action!

Organizer: Jasmine Jahwula Seapoe, thebiggerpix@jahwula.com

Registration is FREE and is required to receive the Zoom link for the workshop. Please register HERE

And join us for Part 2 on Monday March 24 at 7pm Eastern. More info HERE

Fire Museum Presents: Paolo Angeli:

Sardinian musician Paolo Angeli’s professional career was spent deep in the avant garde, exploring post-rock, experimental opera, and more. His style was influenced heavily by that of guitarist Giovanni Scanu, who was a major proponent of the classic Sardinian canto a chitarra style. The combination of inputs inspired Angeli to create his own instrument: an 18-stringed hybrid of guitar, baritone, violoncello, and drums, adorned with hammers, pedals, and even propellers operating at various speeds. Working closely with craftsman Francesco Concas, Angeli created an instrument that enables an altogether new type of performance combining, referencing, and transcending free jazz, folk noise, and minimal pop.

"Paulo Angeli is a musical conjurer, an artist whose imaginative leaps defy gravity. A composer, ethnomusicologist and instrument builder who draws on his deep knowledge of traditional Sardinian music, he inhabits a timeless zone as a soil-rooted master and brash experimentalist. While suffused with Mediterranean cadences, Angeli’s original pieces encompass flamenco, jazz, Baroque, post-rock and new music. He plays a prepared Sardinian guitar of his own invention, a fantastical 18-string hybrid combining elements of guitar, cello and drums.

A feast for the eyes as well as the ears, Angeli in full flight is an astounding sight, as he bows, strikes, hammers, plucks and strums an instrument with strings going in all directions and foot-pedal-controlled motorized propellers. With sympathetic strings creating shimmering drones, he adjusts tunings on the fly to create exquisitely lapidary, orchestral music using electronic effects in real time (he eschews loopers, creating every sound in the moment).

It’s not surprising that this singular musician has improvised and collaborated with masters such as Pat Metheny, Fred Frith, Evan Parker, Zeena Parkins, and Phillip Greenlief. Angeli’s music may be unclassifiable, but it takes no expertise to recognize its strange and extravagant beauty"-SF Jazz

Admission is FREE; donations greatly appreciated. Advance registration recommended. Register HERE

SOLD OUT!!!Doors Open @ 5pm Show Starts @ 6pm Sharp Doors Close @ 6:30pm (no entry)

All Sales are final accept due to cancellation of show

More info: https://uglygirlproductions.com/

SOLD OUT!!!

Bowerbird is pleased to present Philadelphia favorites Alash at The Rotunda for a FREE concert. Alash are masters of Tuvan throat singing (xöömei), a remarkable technique for singing multiple pitches at the same time. Masters of traditional Tuvan instruments as well as the art of throat singing, Alash are deeply committed to traditional Tuvan music and culture. At the same time, they are fans of western music. Believing that traditional music must constantly evolve, the musicians subtly infuse their songs with western elements, creating their own unique style that is fresh and new, yet true to their Tuvan musical heritage.

Alash are: Kang-Khüler Saaia: vocals, byzaanchy, chadagan, Ayan-ool Sam: vocals, doshpuluur, igil, xomus, guitar, Bady-Dorzhu Ondar: vocals, igil, doshpuluur, bayan, guitar, Ayan Shirizhik: vocals, kengirge, shoor, shynggyrash, murgu

Bowerbird is pleased to present Nathan Davis in a solo performance at The Rotunda.

Finding narrative in natural processes and acoustic phenomena, Nathan Davis’s solo work elucidates essential characters of instruments and objects. This concert presents his recent work with the bowed psaltery alongside pieces for river stones and amplified computer, supported by and immersive video projections.

“It is beautiful, haunting, immersive. A meditative sound world to live in for a time and think about once you’ve left… In Davis’ hands, the psaltery soars and twangs, pings and croons. Gentle and meditative at one moment, sharp and melancholy the next, evoking fluid shapes and celestial voices moving together through a complex, slowly shifting soundscape. It is both of this world and somehow beyond it.” – Megan Westberg – STRINGS Magazine

Nathan Davis “writes music that deals deftly and poetically with timbre and sonority” (NY Times). His opera/ballet “Hagoromo” was produced by American Opera Projects and premiered at the BAM Next Wave Festival with the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, choreographer David Neumann, and dancers Wendy Whelan, and Jock Soto. Lincoln Center presented the premiere of “Bells”, a site-specific work for ensemble, multi-channel audio, and live broadcast to audience members’ mobile phones.

Nathan received other commissions from GMEM and Ensemble CBarré (Marseille), FringeArts and the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Donaueschinger Musiktage (Germany), Yarn/Wire, Claire Chase, Ekmeles, Miller Theatre, Ojai Music Festival, the Calder Quartet, and Third Coast Percussion, with premieres at Tanglewood, Park Avenue Armory, Guggenheim Museum, and Carnegie Hall. His music has been released on Starkland, Tundra, New Focus, Bridge, Infrequent Seams, and Sono Luminus.

An Aaron Copland Fellow at the Bogliasco Foundation, Davis received awards and fellowships from the Camargo Foundation, New Music USA, NYSCA, Meet The Composer, Fromm Foundation, Jerome Foundation, American Music Center, MATA, and ASCAP. He and Phyllis Chen won an NY Innovative Theater Award for their score to Sylvia Milo’s play “The Other Mozart”.

An active percussionist and multi-instrumentalist, Nathan has premiered hundreds of works by luminaries and by emerging composers, and he appeared as a concerto soloist on hammered dulcimer with the Seattle Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, and Nagoya Philharmonic. Davis holds degrees in composition and in percussion from Rice, Yale, and the Rotterdams Conservatorium on a Fulbright Fellowship, and he teaches composition and electronic music at The New School. www.nathandavis.com

Admission is FREE/pay-what-you-wish. Registration is not required but it is appreciated. Please register HERE

DEEP WATERWorkshop, Lunch, and Story Concert This event is free w/pay-what-you-can options. Let's support the art of storytelling together.Workshop DetailsStory Concert Details

Join Patchwork for a day of storytelling, creativity, and connection!

Immerse yourself in Deep Water, a special Storytelling event featuring:

A hands-on Storytelling Workshop (1:00 – 2:30 PM) – Develop and enhance your storytelling skills, whether you’re a novice or a pro. Registration required. 

A shared Lunch (2:30 – 3:15 PM, pre-registration required) – A perfect opportunity to network, enjoy good company, and take advantage of special perks.—Space is limited, registration required. 

An afternoon Story Concert (3:30 – 5:00 PM) – Experience the power and allure of storytelling with performances by renowned tellers.

Hosted by Denise McCormack, the concert also features Michele Belluomini, Tiffani Dean, Gigi McGraw, Christina Sturgis, and Nancy Wexler Taylor.

 Be part of our story.

For more information, visit PatchworkMore info and registration HERE

DEEP WATERWorkshop, Lunch, and Story Concert This event is free w/pay-what-you-can options. Let's support the art of storytelling together.Workshop DetailsStory Concert Details

Join Patchwork for a day of storytelling, creativity, and connection!

Immerse yourself in Deep Water, a special Storytelling event featuring:

A hands-on Storytelling Workshop (1:00 – 2:30 PM) – Develop and enhance your storytelling skills, whether you’re a novice or a pro. Registration required. 

A shared Lunch (2:30 – 3:15 PM, pre-registration required) – A perfect opportunity to network, enjoy good company, and take advantage of special perks.—Space is limited, registration required. 

An afternoon Story Concert (3:30 – 5:00 PM) – Experience the power and allure of storytelling with performances by renowned tellers.

Hosted by Denise McCormack, the concert also features Michele Belluomini, Tiffani Dean, Gigi McGraw, Christina Sturgis, and Nancy Wexler Taylor.

 Be part of our story.

For more information, visit PatchworkMore info and registration HERE

Spring into Grant Writing Part 2 ft. Trish Downy 7pm-9pm Eastern

Join us at virtually for an exciting in-person event that will help you take your artistic career to the next level! In this workshop, we will dive into the world of grant writing, providing you with the essential tools and knowledge to secure funding for your creative projects. Whether you're a painter, writer, musician, or any other type of artist, this event is for you! Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn from experienced professionals and connect with fellow artists. Mark your calendars and get ready to spring into action!

Organizer: Jasmine Jahwula Seapoe, thebiggerpix@jahwula.comRegistration is FREE and required to receive the Zoom link. Please register HERE 

Moonstone Arts presentsConflict & Poetry: An Interactive Workshop. 2pm-4pmRegister for this free event

In a time fraught with political strife and armed conflict, how can we reframe, heal, and continue to live in the midst of destruction, chaos, and loss? We seem to have forgotten that we are all human beings. Where is our empathy? How do we reconcile? How do we survive? In an effort to inspire people embroiled in conflict (all of us), to meet and create dialogue across differences for the sake of resolving heartbreak, damage and personal or cultural loss.

Australian authors, David B. Moore and Alike Vernon, writers of Setting Relations Right in Restorative Practice, have provided the backgrounds and the methods for humane ways to make peace. They will share knowledge on the possibilities occasioned by people seeking repair and resolution.Restorative practice uses deliberative decision-making processes to:

Dr David Moore and Dr Alikki Vernon are Australian ‘pracademics’, who remain actively engaged with fellow educators and researchers while working as facilitators in each of these applications.

In their 2024 book Setting Relations Right in Restorative Practice, they explain how:

The reforming potential of restorative practice is great. The need for further restorative reform urgent. Practical skills are essential for that reform.

Dr Moore and Dr Vernon will describe:

The audience and poets will participate with Moore and Vernon to consider pathways out of the impasses that inhibit our creativity as humans.

Register for this free event