OCTOBER 13

James Schneider’s new film Blue Is Beautiful wasn’t available for preview, but he’s calling it “an experimental documentary about musicians in exile.” Other experimental Schneider documentaries that I did see were Faerie-Monition and OASIS. The former visits Euro-Disney, the latter a planned community near Las Vegas. While not unpleasant, these works don’t exactly blaze new territory. His “hipster visits Squaresville” stance and the handheld photographic technique were long out of date even in 1993, when he made Faerie-Monition. But I quite enjoyed his most recent Rosebud entry, The Staticose Chamber, a wry look at “audio-visual abuse” that was more mock-doc than experimental. Since some of the members of the very happening band the Make*Up are in Blue Is Beautiful, I expect the experimentation to be bubbling at full throttle. This first installment of the New Alaska Film Society series also includes shorts Please Cry and Silly Game by Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto and Black Music in the ’70s at 8:30 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1831 14th St. NW. $3. (202) 667-7960. (Dave Nuttycombe)