A list of Chicago locations is here.

• "Unsere Afrikareise"

Austrian filmmaker Peter Kubelka spent five years scrambling and reassociating images and sounds from a 1961 African hunting trip into the 12-minute Unsere Afrikareise, screening Monday 3/15 in a free program of landscape films at the School of the Art Institute.

"There is often a temptation to read direct thematic statements in many of the film's articulations. Editing connections are continually made on the white hunters' gazes, hand gestures, and gun-pointing, linking those actions to suggest the Europeans' aggression toward their surroundings," Fred Camper writes in Film Reference.

"Kubelka's cuts often suggest that a European has just 'shot' an African, or the forest itself. The Africans, by contrast, appear as part of nature, rather than separate from it. It would be a serious mistake, however, to limit one's perception of the film to such themes...The viewer is ultimately led out of time, to contemplate these connections in memory, and to regard the film as if it were a monument erected as a record of civilization, not as a statement on it but as a kind of totem for it."

• pinmonkeypress@Flickr

Lillstreet Art Center (4401 N. Ravenswood) hosts its spring open house on Sat 3/13 from noon to 5 PM, with free workshops in jewelry-making, embroidery, drawing, and other arts and crafts. Free tours of the facilities, art activities for kids, live music, and snacks from First Slice Pie Cafe will also be available. A detailed schedule of the day's events is here.

Bus stops include:

Loop and River North: the Clark and Lake el, Merchandise Mart, Mother Hubbard's (5 W. Hubbard), and O'Callaghan's (29 W. Hubbard).
Old Town: Corcoran's Grill (1615 N. Wells).
Lincoln Park: Fullerton el, Kincade's (950 W. Armitage), McGee's Tavern (950 W. Webster), Kendall's Pub (2263 N. Lincoln), and Victory Liquors (2610 N. Halsted).
Wrigleyville: Addison red line el, Harry Caray's Tavern (3551 N. Sheffield), Murphy's Bleachers (3653 N. Sheffield), the Cubby Bear (1059 W. Addison), and Rebel Bar & Grill (3462 N. Clark).

• k4dordy@flickr

Faith and Whiskey (1365 W. Fullerton) hosts a daylong party Sat 3/13 from 11 AM to 10 PM with free corned beef sandwiches and green eggs and ham. The food will flow until the party ends, or until it runs out — whichever comes first. There's no cover for the party, which also features Irish music and drink specials.

Before their 6:30 PM performance tomorrow at the Harris Theater (205 E. Randolph), Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago will host a free reception featuring company dancers and the associate board of directors. Guests will enjoy free wine, a live performance by singer-songwriter Kevin Mileski, and the chance to purchase half-price tickets to that night's show, Ovations — a showcase of their greatest hits. Tickets can be purchased at the door, at 312-334-7777, or online— use promo code AB01 to get the discount.

• School of Nature: The Children of Satoyama

It's an opportune time to explore Japan's relationship to nature, what with The Cove's Oscar win and yesterday's arrest in Tokyo of New Zealand anti-whaling activist Peter Bethune.

Surely this isn't the kind of profile the Japan Information Center is going for with its Japan and Nature Film Series, concluding Friday 3/12 at Columbia College with a free screening of Masaki Haramura's documentary School of Nature: The Children of Satoyama.

“Children will not grow unless they are put in a risky environment. They will not grow healthily unless they get injured, covered in mud and play rough and physical games," Eijyu Miyazaki says in the film. Haramura examines Miyazaki's iconoclastic pedagogy and its impact at the Kisarazu Community Nursery School in Satoyama, Chiba.

• Moolaade

A woman defies her village in Burkina Faso and casts a spell to protect four girls from ritual circumcision in Ousmane Sembene's 2004 drama Moolaadé, screening for free, Tuesday 3/9 in the College of DuPage's Women's Rights Day Film Festival.

"Among Sembene's strengths as a storyteller are deceptive simplicity and apparent looseness, which allow his drama to steadily gather momentum and political force," Jonathan Rosenbaum writes.

• Masahiro Sugano's "Second Moon"

Local filmmaker Masahiro Sugano has recut his debut feature Second Moon since it premiered at Asian American Showcase in 2007. He screens the new version Thursday 3/4 at DePaul University.

Andre Ing stars as a member of the gigolo syndicate Art of Love (led by Jim Finn), whose antimonogamous ideology is threatened by wayward Korean immigrant Jennifer Shin's vulnerability and cooking. Sugano was inspired by Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, peppered with a healthy dose of the Asian sexuality issues that he also played with in his short Super Kamada.

• Huang Weikai's "Disoder"

"Huang Weikai earns the nickname 'documentary's David Lynch'" for his film Disorder, "a disturbing, lyrical portrait of hell on earth, weaving together a series of striking observational scenes from the streets of Guangzhou, China," Chris Boeckmann writes in the program for the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri.

"Between the chilling, surreal content, creepy, grainy aesthetic and disturbing lack of exposition, Disorder is captivating from start to finish."

Disorder screens for free, Wednesday 3/3 at DePaul University Museum.

• CJE Artistic Director Jon Faddis

On Wed 2/3 at 2 PM, the Chicago Cultural Center's Claudia Cassidy Theater (78 E. Washington) hosts Terenga: Exploring the African Roots of Jazz Percussion, a free discussion of the rhythm and percussion of the African diaspora. Chicago Jazz Ensemble artistic director Jon Faddis and music director Dana Hall will lead the talk, which is cosponsored by the CJE and Columbia College's Center for Black Music Research. The event also includes a performance by Senegalese percussionists Alioune Faye and Rich Baba Faye and a listening session.

As part of Turner Classic Movies' inaugural Classic Film Festival, which takes place in Hollywood this April, TCM host Robert Osborne and actor Eva Marie Saint will appear at the Music Box on Tuesday, March 30, to introduce a 7:30 PM screening of Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest. Tickets are free; click here to order.

Tonight 3/1 at 6:30 PM, Columbia College (618 S. Michigan, Stage 2) presents Corporeality and the Digital Gaze — a panel discussion at which academics and artists of many disciplines will explore the intersection of performance and technology. Held in conjunction with Columbia's ongoing exhibit Digital Incarnate: The Body, Identity, and Interactive Media, the panel features composer, performer, and choreographer Grisha Coleman; artist and educator Marianne Kim; Ohio State University design professor Maria Palazzi, and choreographer and dancer Dawn Stoppiello. Columbia dance professor Raquel Monroe moderates.

On Sun 2/28 at 7 PM, the Empty Bottle (1035 N. Western) presents a free screening of Pete Seeger: Power of Song—the only authorized film biography of the folk singer. Directed by Jim Brown, and produced by Norman Lear and Seeger's wife Toshi, the documentary features unreleased archival footage and examines Seeger's political activism and songs (not that the two were ever separable).

Tomorrow from 1 to 3 PM, Big Shoulders Realty's Lee Diamond leads a free 17.5-mile bike tour of West Town, including Wicker Park, Bucktown, Ukrainian Village, East Village, River West, Noble Square, and Humboldt Park. The meeting place is the intersection of N. California and W. Division. This is the last Big Shoulders Big City Bike Winter Classic ride of the 2009-2010 season.

• annieo76@flickr

Albany Park Bikes, a new, nonprofit community organization for bicycle enthusiasts, will host a free bike workshop on Sat 2/27 from 1 to 3 PM in Eugene Field Park (5100 N. Ridgeway). APB reps will provide tips for tune-ups and maintenance and review rules for bike safety and visibility. Free pizza comes compliments of Marie's Pizza, and the event is all ages—organizers want you to bring your whole family.

Tonight at 7 PM, Second City Alum Abby Sher presents a free performance at Flourish Studios (3020 N. Lincoln Ave.) in honor of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. Sher and other Second City alumni will act out scenes based on her 2009 book, Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn't Stop Praying (Among Other Things), in which she discusses overcoming an eating disorder. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres will be available, and a raffle follows.

On Sat 2/27, Sher offers a free writing workshop from noon to 2 PM, also at Flourish. Attendees are asked to bring a pen, notebook, and "the last list they made"—even if it's a grocery list—and Sher will lead writing exercises encouraging participants to "see everything as a new thought." To RVSP, contact event cosponsor Erasing the Distance at info@erasingthedistance.org or 773-944-5062, ext. 4.

On Fri 2/26 at 6:30 PM, REI (1466 N. Halsted) hosts a free screening of Philipp Stölzl's North Face — reviewed this week by Andrea Gronvall. Whole Foods provides the popcorn. Register to attend the screening here.