Art Notes: German film fest at Lynchburg College

“The Wall,” Lynchburg College’s second annual German Film Festival, kicks off this weekend.

The festival will include screenings of three East German films, along with a film produced in 2009 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall; a lecture about art in East Germany; and a recital of German art songs and arias.

All events are free and will take place in the college’s Hopwood Hall.

The schedule is as follows:

- Thursday: LC history professor Brian Crim offers an introduction at 7:30 p.m., followed by a 7:50 screening of “Berlin — Ecke Schonhauser (Berlin — Schonhauser Corner).”
- Friday: Delane Karalow, an LC art professor, will lead the lecture “Art in East Germany” at 6:30 p.m., followed by the film “Spur der Steine (Traces of Stone)” at 7:30 p.m.
- Saturday: Ole Diehl, Minister Counselor of the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., will give a lecture at 6:30 p.m. before a showing of “Der Schweigende Stern (The Silent Star)” at 7:30 p.m.
- Monday: Jessica Burkey, an LC music professor, will perform a recital of German art songs and arias by Schubert, Mahler and Humperdinck at 7 p.m. An 8 p.m. screening of “Das Wunder von Leipzig (The Miracle of Leipzig),” the anniversary film, follows. It is about the peace marches that helped precipitate the fall of the wall and has never been shown in the U.S. outside of the German Embassy.

For more information, call (434) 544-8262.

Sweet Briar College holds concert
Sweet Briar College’s business management lab is hosting Rockin’ for the Smile, a benefit concert for Operation Smile, from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday in the Dell.

Operation Smile raises money to provide free medical treatment to children who have cleft palates, cleft lips or other facial deformities and can’t afford the surgery to fix them.
The concert will bring three bands together: Lynchburg-based Point of Honor, Danville’s Swing and Miss and the Michelle Raymond Band, featuring Sweet Briar alumna Raymond.

Admission is $2 per person or family. For more information, call (434) 381-6388.

Bedford concert series continues
The April Verch Band will headline the latest Friends of the Bedford Public Library concert, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Verch, who started out as a Canadian fiddle player and step dancer, plays a mix of folk, jazz, old-time, bluegrass and roots music. Her latest CD, “Steal the Blue,” was recently released.

Admission is a suggested donation of $10. For more information, visit http://www.friendsofbedfordlibrary.org.