Grab a brush! Stop by the DIA Art-Making Studio and take part in creating a large Detroit-centric wildflower mural using the classic Paint-By-Numbers method with local muralist Louise Jones, better known as Ouizi. 

Italy/2019-directed by Mimmo Calopresti | 87 minutes 

In 1951, in Africo, a small village in the southern valley of Aspromonte, a woman dies in childbirth because a doctor fails to arrive on time. No road connects Africo with other villages. In the wake of this tragedy, all of the inhabitants put aside their work and unite to build their own road. Giulia (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), the new school teacher arrived from the North, has another mission: to teach standard Italian to the local children to help them integrate with the rest of Italy.

But she will have to contend with local mafia leader, Don Totò (Sergio Rubini), who is determined to ensure that the town remains cut off and under his control. Director Mimmo Calopresti will be in attendance and will answer questions after the show.

"A vibrant portrait of an archaic world, where poor folk demanding basic rights are met with nothing other than indifference on the part of institutions, and the tyranny of local crooks who are allowed to lay down their own version of the law, Aspromonte is intended to be a tale that’s at once neorealistic and epic.” -Vittoria Scarpa, Cineuropa

The Italian Film Festival USA is the largest festival dedicated exclusively to contemporary Italian cinema in the United States. It presents new, feature-length comedies, dramas, documentaries and even short animated films. They all share iconic Italian locations and language that resonate with audiences worldwide, and offers Detroiters an opportunity to discover a new wave of young Italian film artists without hopping on a plane.

All films are in Italian with English subtitles. For the complete festival schedule visit italianfilmfests.org.  

The Italian Film Festival USA is presented under the auspices of the Consulate of Italy in Detroit. This activity is supported by the Michigan Arts & Culture Council and Detroit Film Theatre.

Italy/2019-directed by Leonardo D’Agostino | 105 minutes 

Young, talented, and very spoiled, Christian Ferro (Andrea Carpenzano) is “The Champion”, a rock star of the Italian soccer world. Lonely, shy, and burdened with financial problems, Valerio (Stefano Accorsi) is the professor who is assigned to this young soccer star to help him pass his high school equivalency exam. The two men could not be more different. But they will learn to lean on each other, generating a bond that will change them both.

"Leonardo D'Agostini’s debut film starring Stefano Accorsi and Andrea Carpenzano is a compelling story about friendship set in the world of professional, millionaire footballers in Italy” -Camillo De Marco, Cineuropa 

The Italian Film Festival USA is the largest festival dedicated exclusively to contemporary Italian cinema in the United States. It presents new, feature-length comedies, dramas, documentaries and even short animated films. They all share iconic Italian locations and language that resonate with audiences worldwide, and offers Detroiters an opportunity to discover a new wave of young Italian film artists without hopping on a plane.

All films are in Italian with English subtitles. Free admission. For the complete festival schedule visit italianfilmfests.org.  

The Italian Film Festival USA is presented under the auspices of the Consulate of Italy in Detroit. This activity is supported by the Michigan Arts & Culture Council and Detroit Film Theatre.
 

In celebration of Arab American Heritage Month, the Detroit Institute of Arts in partnership with National Arab Orchestra  music director Michael Ibrahim will present three concerts celebrating Arab music and poetry, both classical and contemporary. Performances will be presented in the DIA’s Kresge Court throughout April.

DJ and musician Tammy Lakkis is one of  the brightest talents to come out of Detroit’s electronic music scene. Her EP, Notice, made Barack Obama’s list of his favorite films and music from 2021 and was selected as one of the best records of that year by NPR. 
 

In celebration of Arab American Heritage Month, the Detroit Institute of Arts in partnership with National Arab Orchestra music director Michael Ibrahim will present three concerts celebrating Arab music and poetry, both classical and contemporary. Performances will be presented in the DIA’s Kresge Court throughout April.

Emma Aboukasm is an award-winning, Detroit-based recording artist, composer and vocalist. She is a graduate of the Jazz & Contemporary Music program at the University of Michigan and has performed at a variety of music venues, including the Detroit Jazz Festival. As an Arab-American musician with a variety of musical backgrounds, Emma is in the vanguard of contemporary music in metro-Detroit.
 

Celebrate the voices and stories of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities at the DIA throughout May in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! The DIA partners with AAPI community groups and professional artists to showcase a blend of traditional and contemporary dance, musical performances, art, and more. This year’s celebration and performances include Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, Filipino, Hmong, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Polynesian, Taiwanese, Thai, and Vietnamese cultures.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage American Month programs are developed in partnership with the DIA’s auxiliary group Friends of Asian Art and Cultures.

All programs are onsite and are free with general museum admission unless otherwise noted ($). Capacity for programs in Rivera Court and Marvin & Betty Danto Lecture Hall is limited. Seating begins 30 minutes before performance start.

Thursday, May 2

• 6 p.m. Alan Chin – Home and Away: A Photographer's Journey Through Conflict and Culture in the *Marvin & Betty Danto Lecture Hall

Friday, May 3

• 8 p.m. Drop-in Workshop: Uchiwa paper fans in the Artmaking studio
• 6 – 8:30 p.m. Drawing in the Galleries: Japanese & Korean and Indian & Southeast Asian Art Galleries

Saturday, May 4

• Noon – 4 p.m. Drop-in Workshop: Uchiwa paper fans in the Artmaking studio
• 2 p.m. Music and Dance Performance: Asian American Pacific Islander Celebration Show in *Rivera Court

Sunday, May 5

• 6 – 8 p.m. Drop-in Workshop: Uchiwa paper fans in the Artmaking studio

Friday, May 10

• 7 p.m. Friday Night Live! Music Performance: Aki Takahashi in Danto Lecture Hall

Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19

• Noon – 4 p.m. Guest Artist Drop-in Workshop: Separate and Together with Mike Han in Artmaking Studio

Friday, May 24 

• 7 p.m. Friday Night Live! Music Performance: Gao Hong & Issam Rafea in *Rivera Court 
• 7 p.m. Film: Evil Does Not Exist at the Detroit Film Theatre ($)

Saturday, May 25

• 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Film: Evil Does Not Exist at the Detroit Film Theatre ($)

Sunday, May 26

• 2 p.m. Film: Evil Does Not Exist at the Detroit Film Theatre ($)

Friday, May 31 

• 7 p.m. Friday Night Live! Music and Dance Performance: Vietnamese Cultural Journey in *Rivera Court

In celebration of Arab American Heritage Month, the Detroit Institute of Arts in partnership with National Arab Orchestra music director Michael Ibrahim will present three concerts celebrating Arab music and poetry, both classical and contemporary. Performances will be presented in the relaxing setting of the DIA’s Kresge Court throughout April.

The NAO Takht Ensemble was founded by Michael Ibrahim in 2010 as the premiere traditional ensemble performing classical repertoire. The ensemble is comprised of instruments such as the oud (Arab lute), the qanun (Arab zither), the nay (Arab reed flute), violin, riqq (Arab tambourine), table (Arab goblet drum), and bass.

The National Arab Orchestra Takht Ensemble performs classical and contemporary Arab music otherwise known as tarab music.
 

Katie Yamasaki’s newest picture book, Shapes, Lines, and Light: My Grandfather’s American Journey, celebrates the life of her grandfather, the acclaimed Japanese American architect Minoru Yamasaki.

Please join Katie for a joyful and reflective afternoon of storytelling and art-making for friends and families of all ages with a collage-based project in our Art-Making Studio. 

Create a pencil drawing to take home while taking a closer look at the collection. No experience is necessary. All supplies provided.

For ages 6 - Adult (children ages 12 and younger should be accompanied by an adult). Capacity is limited.

Senegal/1968—directed by Ousmane Sembène | 91 minutes

This second feature by Ousmane Sembène was the first movie ever made in the Wolof language—a major step toward the realization of the trailblazing Senegalese filmmaker’s dream of creating a cinema by, about, and for Africans. After jobless Ibrahima Dieng receives a money order for 25,000 francs from a nephew who works in Paris, news of his windfall quickly spreads among his neighbors, who flock to him for loans even as he finds his attempts to cash the order stymied in a maze of bureaucracy, and new troubles rain down on his head.

One of Sembène’s most coruscatingly funny and indignant films, Mandabi—an adaptation of a novella by the director himself—is a bitterly ironic depiction of a society scarred by colonialism and plagued by corruption, greed, and poverty. In Wolof and French with English subtitles. 

“Sembène’s classic 1968 feature about colonialism resonates today.” –  Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

The Detroit Film Theatre presents this series of films by African directors, working in Africa and Europe during the 1960s and 1970s, in conjunction with the DIA special exhibition James Barnor: Accra/London.