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Just in case D.C. didn’t have enough film festivals, along comes Reelfest DC, the latest long weekend of hopeful amateurs and would-be local cinematic darlings. Launched as an outgrowth of a similarly named festival in Boston, Reelfest offers a mishmash of features and shorts obscure enough to at least merit a passing glance. Its organizers have put particular stock in Amateur Hour, a film by Sam Moussavi in which two guys pull a heist to finance their cinematic debut (which technically makes it a novice novice novice film, assuming all heist flicks are about making movies), and Northern Comfort, starring the mumblecore queen Greta Gerwig. Also showing is restauranteur Eric Hilton’s paranoid masterpiece Babylon Central. Come scared, leave angry. The festival runs to Nov. 14 at the Boston University Center for Digital Imaging Arts, 1055 Thomas Jefferson St. NW. Schedule and ticket information at reelfestdc.com. (Benjamin R. Freed)
MUSIC
Pick your rock-music flavor: The Sea & Cake at Black Cat or AIDS Wolf at Comet Ping Pong. Tough, huh? How’s this: If you’re already wearing a tasteful Gap mock-neck, go with Sea & Cake; if you’ve got on a torn-up T-shirt with crusty snot and ketchup stuck between the ribbing, try AIDS Wolf.
Other options: On the backstage at Cat, Medications is playing with Cleveland’s Cloud Nothings, whose frontman was interviewed on Arts Desk yesterday. 8 p.m. $10. There’s even more energy to be found at the 9:30 Club, where the always robust, Michael J. West-approved Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue takes the stage after a set by Fort Knox Five. 7 p.m. $25. Then, right around the corner, Afropop ensemble Elikeh plays Bohemian Caverns at 8 p.m. $10. Or maybe—-just maybe—-you’re booked tonight, because you’ve got tickets to Sting at DAR Constitution Hall.
BOOKS
I regret to inform you that Joan Didion‘s talk at Avalon Theatre tonight is sold out. But you should still read her probably wonderful, gutting new memoir, Blue Nights.