Friday | April 26
Now that it’s a feisty 13 years old, The Chicago Anarchist Film Festival’s rebellious streak is beginning to set in. The festival will hold its first screenings tonight, though this radical event will run all three nights of the weekend. Cointelpro 101 and Just Do It: A Tale of Modern Day Outlaws give homage to tonight’s “sabotage” theme. A discussion on “movement building and destruction,” led by Four Star Anarchist Organization, will accompany the films. Bring your own black jeans, safety pins, and antiauthoritarian swagger. 556 West 18th Street. 7 p.m., $5–$10 suggested donation.
The weather this weekend will be beautiful, so why not sit in a quiet, dark room and academically ponder “the spatial history of Chicago”? Chicago and the Built Environment is a weekend-long conference including a field trip around Chicago on Saturday. On Friday, all those lusty panels will go down in the atrium of the Gordon Center for Integrative Science. Talks will include “Past and Future” with Dean Boyer and “Environment” with Michael Conzen, one of the geography department’s two proud professors. 929 East 57th Street. Various times, free. To register, visit urban.uchicago.edu.
Saturday | April 27
It’s that time of year again—Fat Cat’s Annual Beer and Bacon Fest has arrived. There’ll be over 20 of the nation’s best craft beers and, apparently, something called “chocolate bourbon bacon cake.” Be there. 4840 North Broadway. 3 p.m., $40.
Can’t get a date this Saturday? Just buy one instead! Splash! Chicago will be hosting its fourth annual Splash! into Love date auction featuring some of the hottest hunks and honeys on campus (read: the University of Chicago campus), and all for a good cause. Date packages include trips to the Girl and the Goat, the Second City and the Museum of Science and Industry. 1212 East 59th Street. Doors open at 6 p.m., $1.
Sunday | April 28
Everything ends, some things sooner than others. Like the Renaissance Society’s 2012–13 season, and unlike this school year. Sunday will see the Society take a final bow for the year with Forlesen, a new installation by DoVA faculty member William Pope.L. Pope.L’s first show since joining the university staff, Forlesen promises to feature an exploration of multimedia unlike anything the artist has done previously. Plus, free wine. Forlesen runs through June 23. 5811 South Ellis Avenue. 4 p.m.–7 p.m., free.
In some part of the country, this spring is actually warm and pleasant. Go to Frontier for its Crawfish Boil and Bands starting at 3 p.m. for Louisiana-style boiled crawfish, potatoes, and corn, plus $4 beer and complimentary SKYY vodka between 5 and 6 p.m. Veggie kebabs for the herbivores among us, with bands starting at 6:30. 1072 North Milwaukee Avenue, 3 p.m., $25.
With the current frenzy of student election scandal and general real-world social unrest, it’s been all too easy to slip into a brand of American parochialism that’s no fun for anyone. If you want to take a step back and realize that hey, things are kind of shitty everywhere, check out the first Chicago run of The Angels’ Run at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Directed by Ken Loach, who’s famous for his anti-Hollywood sentiments and socialist/realist style, The Angels’ Run won the Grand Jury Prize at last year’s Cannes and purportedly blends comedy and social commentary perfectly in its tale of a young British delinquent whose ability to identify whiskies is near supernatural. 164 North State Street. Showings at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., $7 with UCID.
