Hollywood is taking over Philadelphia starting today as the 21st annual Philadelphia Film Festival kicks off right here in West Philly.

The opening screening of the new film Silver Linings Playbook (already sold out), starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, is tonight at Penn’s Zellerbach Theater in the Annenberg Center. Other West Philly screenings throughout the festival (October 18-28) will be held at Shoemaker Green (217 S. 33rd St.), and the Rave University 6 (40th & Walnut) Cinemas. Films include American independent movies, international films, upcoming Hollywood and Oscar faire, as well as classics shown on the big screen. See below for a full list of showings in the West Philly area. Tickets can be purchased online at the Philadelphia Film Society’s site, with discounts and special deals for members. Check out the festival to see exotic and exciting movies right around the corner.

Friday October 19:

• Beware Mr. Baker 5:00pm, Rave University 6
• Waiting for Lightning 7:30pm, Rave University 6
• The ABCs of Death 9:45pm, Rave University 6
• Miami Connection 11:59pm, Rave University 6

Saturday October 20:

• Only the Young 12:45pm, Rave University 6
• The Zen of Bennet 3:00pm, Rave University 6
• We Are Legion: The Story of Hacktavists 5:05pm, Rave University 6
• The History of Future Folk 7:20pm, Rave University 6
• John Dies at the End 9:50pm, Rave University 6
• Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning 3D 11:59pm, Rave University 6

Sunday October 21

• The Good Son 12:05pm, Rave University 6
• Leave Me Like You Found Me 2:20pm, Rave University 6
• The Final Member 4:45pm, Rave University 6
• The Comedy 7:05pm, Rave University 6
• Dragon 9:40pm, Rave University 6

Monday October 22

• This Time Tomorrow 5:20pm, Rave University 6
• Room 237, 7:30pm, Rave University 6
• Antiviral 10:00pm, Rave University 6

Tuesday October 23

• Alaskaland 5:00pm, Rave University 6
• Somebody Up there Likes Me 7:15pm, Rave University 6
• Thale 9:15pm, Rave University 6

Wednesday October 24

• The Missing Piece: The Truth About the Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa 3:10pm, Rave University 6
• Call Me Kuchu 5:20pm, Rave University 6
• La Comioneta: The Journey of One American Schoolbus 7:30pm, Rave University 6
• Dead Sushi 9:30pm, Rave University 6

Thursday October 25

• Seeking an Asian Female 5:00pm, Rave University 6
• Wreck-It Ralph 7:00pm, Rave University 6
• Here Comes the Devil 9:45pm, Rave University 6

Friday October 26

• American Scream, The 7:15pm, Shoemaker Green
• Poltergeist 9:30pm, Shoemaker Green

– Kelly Lawler

If you live between 45th and 52nd Streets and Locust and Cedar Avenues, Garden Court Community Association (GCCA) is your neighborhood association and you are invited to the general community meeting next Thursday (Oct. 25).

Here’s the GCCA meeting announcement:

Please join us at our next general community meeting:

GCCA General Community Meeting
Thursday, October 25, 2012
7:00 – 9:00 PM at 4725 Chestnut Street (Community College)

• Help us set goals for the year; tell us what you like and don’t like about our neighborhood.

• Do we need a Town Watch? Learn what’s involved from Tara Smith, Community Support Specialist for Philadelphia Town Watch Integrated Services.

• Learn how to develop a Household Emergency Plan from the City’s Office of Emergency Management.

• Meet our new officers and committee chairs.

• Hear updates on Lea School, Parks, Planning and Zoning, Business District.

• Enjoy refreshments and meet new neighbors!

For more information, contact Kate Mills, Corresponding Secretary, at katewmills@gmail.com or 267-254-3078.

It’s time to sharpen your knives and start carving those pumpkins as West Philly Local’s 2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest has opened today. We are accepting photos of your pumpkins through October 29. Please follow this link to read more about the contest and how to enter it.

We have awesome prizes from these amazing sponsors this year: Curio Theatre, Dock Street Brewery, Four Worlds Bakery, Green Line Cafe, Lil’ Pop Shop, Locust Moon Comics, Mariposa Food Co-op, Penn Museum, and Sabrina’s Cafe.

Don’t miss this great opportunity to engage with the environment and the history of one of the nation’s oldest botanical gardens. Data Garden’s bio-interactive art and music festival, The Switched-On Garden, returns to Bartram’s Garden on Sunday. From 2 to 8:30 p.m. head to Bartram’s and connect with it through live music, performance and sculpture that blurs the distinction between biological and digital worlds. This is a free event and everyone is welcome. Here’s a full line-up:

Live Performances

 
KING BRITT (Album Release Concert)
Philadelphia producer, composer, performer and curator of electronic music will explore sound design, noise and ambient.

SPACESHIP ALOHA (EP Release Concert)
Philadelphia producer/composer/percussionist Christopher Sean Powell (Man Man/Need New Body) teams up with Data Garden to bring you the maiden voyage of Spaceship Aloha.

ALLEN CRAWFORD with LAURA BAIRD, DINO LIONETTI (of Cheap Dinosaurs) and GRETCHEN LOHSE
A sonic essay inspired by Bartram’s Garden

COSMIC MORNING
Renowned visualist and educator Don Miller presents a special light show that revisits the roots of modern VJ culture.

DJ RYAN TODD
International crate digger and electronic music producer Ryan Todd will provide natural grooves. Continue Reading

This upcoming Second Friday on Lancaster Avenue, Oct. 12, look out for Fall Market discounts, street vendors, live music, giveaways and plenty more. Little Baby’s Ice Cream Truck and Jimmie’s Cupcakes will also be there in this beautiful fall weather.

The collaboration between Diedra Krieger, a participating artist in the 40th Street Artist-in-Residence program, and community members made it possible to create something amazing at the corner of 49th and Chancellor Streets. Plastic Fantastic is a 16-foot geodesic dome covered in over 6000 recycled water bottles collected from residents and organizations.

The project’s goal is to raise public awareness to such problems as access to clean water, the politics of water, environmental issues, recycling, self-care, and equity. The dome structure, which is a metaphor of liberated consciousness, was first built in 2007 and since then the Plastic Fantastic project has traveled to many locations, most recently to Salisbury University (in 2011).

Plastic Fantastic is a great community effort. Besides the artist and individual water bottle collectors, the installment at 49th and Chancellor is a joint collaboration among Huey School’s after school program, Portside Art Center, University City District, 40th Street AIR, Mariposa’s Food Justice and Anti-Racism (FJAR) Working Group, The Rotunda, Hector’s Metal Shop, Inciting H, Planet Fitness, Bikram Yoga of Philadelphia, and Bartram’s Garden.

The project will be on display through October 17 and this Friday (Oct. 12) everyone is invited to a public reception, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the corner of 49th and Chancellor. As part of this project, there will also be a free film screening at the Lucien E. Blackwell Library (125 S. 52nd St) on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 5:45 p.m. The film, Tapped, sheds light on the bottled water industry’s impact on our health, economy, environment and more. Please RSVP to: education@mariposa.coop

To learn more about this project, visit Plastic Fantastic Facebook page.

Huey After School Program students helped out with the Plastic Fantastic project (they got 1000 bottles onto the dome).