It’s the penultimate week for the Carbon Arc winter-spring season, and there are two screenings this weekend. On Friday it’s the Jane Jacobs documentary by Matt Tyrnauer, Citizen Jane, telling the story of an urban planning from 50 years ago in a way that “just about pulses with contemporary resonance.” On Saturday it’s the 18th Annual Animation Show of Shows, the latest yearly anthology of animated shorts, as usual “bringing the more personal and experimental films from the international festival circuit to larger audiences.”

This Wednesday is National Canadian Film Day, featuring a massive number of free screenings all over Canada, including many, many places in Nova Scotia. For me a couple of the most interesting screenings are happening at out-of-town theatres: Bill MacGillivray’s 1988 Nova Scotian drama Life Classes screens at the Astor Theatre in Liverpool, and Atom Egoyan’s 1997 Cannes Grand Prix winner The Sweet Hereafter is presented by Fundy Cinema in Wolfville.

There are a number of non-NCFD free film screenings in Halifax this week that deserve mention:

• The “Featured Film Director Series” of films by Nicole Holofcener continues Tuesday at the Central Library with Tara Thorne introducing Lovely and Amazing, a film “not about the plight of its women but about their opportunities.”
• The Dal Art Gallery First Features series continues Wednesday with the Miranda July debut film Me and You and Everyone We Know, “a film that with quiet confidence creates a fragile magic.”
• The same night at Pier 21, the Emerging Lens Film Festival opens with Jean of the Joneses, the directorial debut from Toronto-born writer/director Stella Meghie that last year scored positive reviews at SXSW Film Festival and again at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

• In theatres, seen and recommended:
  • Personal Shopper, Olivier Assayas, France, 2016, 110 minutes — Halifax showtimes
  • Get Out, Jordan Peele, USA, 2017, 103 minutes — Halifax showtimes
• In theatres, notable:
  • Maudie, Aisling Walsh, Ireland/Canada, 2016, 115 minutes [58] — Halifax showtimes
  • Your Name, Makoto Shinkai, Japan, 2016, 107 minutes [80] — Halifax showtimes
• Halifax screenings this week:
  • Monday (Apr 17) — The Graduate, Cineplex Park Lane, 9:15pm, $6.99. Mike Nichols, USA, 1967, 105 minutes.
  • Tuesday (Apr 18) — Lovely and Amazing, Central Library, 6:30pm, free, introduced by Tara Thorne. Nicole Holofcener, USA, 2001, 91 minutes.
  • Wednesday (Apr 19) — Jean of the Joneses, Canadian Museum of Immigration @ Pier 21, 6:30pm, free. Stella Meghie, Canada, 2016, 82 minutes.
    — Me and You and Everyone We Know, Dalhousie Art Gallery, 8pm, free. Miranda July, USA, 2005, 92 minutes.
    — The Graduate, Cineplex Park Lane, 9:15pm, $6.99. Mike Nichols, USA, 1967, 105 minutes.
  • Friday (Apr 21) — Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, Carbon Arc Cinema @ the Museum of Natural History, 7pm, $7. Matt Tyrnauer, USA, 2016, 92 minutes.
  • Saturday (Apr 22) — 18th Annual Animation Show of Shows, Carbon Arc Cinema @ the Museum of Natural History, 7pm, $7. Various directors, USA, 2016, 102 minutes. “NOTE THAT PARENTS may want to take pre-teen children out before the last four films as they contain mature subject material.”
  • Sunday (Apr 23) — The Graduate, Cineplex Park Lane & Dartmouth Crossing, 12:55pm, $6.99. Mike Nichols, USA, 1967, 105 minutes.
• Annapolis Valley & South Shore screenings this week:
  • Wednesday (Apr 19) — Life Classes, Astor Theatre (59 Gorham Street, Liverpool), 1:30pm & 7pm, free. William D. MacGillivray, Canada, 1987, 117 minutes.
    — The Sweet Hereafter, Acadia Cinema’s Al Whittle Theatre (450 Main Street, Wolfville), 7pm, free. Atom Egoyan, Canada, 1997, 112 minutes.
  • Sunday (Apr 23) — A Man Called Ove, Acadia Cinema’s Al Whittle Theatre (450 Main Street, Wolfville), 4pm & 7pm, $9. Hannes Holm, Sweden, 2015, 116 minutes.