Cinema, Comics, and Crafts in This Week’s Arts Events

Nacho Libre Make and Watch

Monday 5, St. John Branch Library

HESS HIVE RISE! Awkward absurdist auteur Jared Hess might be rolling in the dough with Minecraft’s continued box office dominance, but nothing beats his Napoleon Dynamite follow-up: the tale of orphan friar-turned-luchador, Nacho frickin’ Libre. Forget Steve and his chicken jockeys, Nacho is Jack Black’s ultimate role – and his personal favorite, so there. This library viewing also lets you become one with the corn-crunching champion by joining the wrestling world and making your very own luchador mask. Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with stretchy pants, the Lord’s chips, and a muy excelente movie experience.   – Cat McCarrey

The Accidental Producer

Monday 5 & Wednesday 7, Austin Playhouse

Many may know the name Marc Seriff from that ol’ online business of his (AOL, for those not in the know), but here he’ll be talking about his theatre journey that started years ago at an Austin Musical Theatre production of West Side Story. Austin Playhouse’s producing artistic director Lara Toner Haddock moderates a discussion with Seriff where he’ll regale all about his and his wife’s many projects while artists re-create the events on stage.   – James Scott

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

Monday 5, Hyperreal Film Club

Kicking off new HFC series “Freaks Only” where all cinematic picks are “by, for, and about freaks” is the sequel to body-horror must-see Tetsuo: The Iron Man. As experimental as its predecessor, Body Hammer digs into familial ties as a father undertakes a techno transformation after his son gets kidnapped. Carrying over from his first Tetsuo flick is actor Tomorowo Taguchi, who also appears in director Shinya Tsukamoto’s 1995 boxing throuple thriller Tokyo Fist.   – James Scott

Noroi: The Curse

Monday 5 & Wednesday 7, Alamo Slaughter Lane & Lakeline

The found footage genre gained traction in the states with The Blair Witch Project, a scratchy camcorder-fuzzed terror about a film major getting more than she bargained for. Following in those footsteps – and in fact stepping quite beyond Blair Witch’s trail – is Japanese director Kōji Shiraishi’s fifth film. This pseudo-VHS rip spells major bad vibes from the very first scene, where you learn the director of the fictional doc you’re about to watch died in a house fire alongside his wife. What plays out over the short but never sweet 115-minute runtime are slow-burn scares of the metaphysical variety. Drafthouse drops screenings this Monday and Wednesday, but no sweat if you miss ’em. This is one scary movie that plays very well on a home screen with all the lights off.   – James Scott

Photo by Katherine Hanlon via Unsplash

Get Crafty: Lavender & Rose Sachets

Tuesday 6, Howson Branch Library

Looking for a way to bring more calm to your life? Join artist Rita Wang for a day of craftery that will be scent-sational. Lavender is known to be calming and improve sleep, and rose can uplift mood. Both together in a handmade sachet, and you’ve got the perfect Mother’s Day gift or a nice little treat for yourself and your sock drawer. All materials provided; recommended for ages 8 and up.   – Kat McNevins

Hell Drivers

Tuesday 6 & Saturday 10, AFS Cinema

As Quentin Tarantino correctly observed, “British guys fucking love Hell Drivers.” Dubbed the English Wages of Fear, Cy Endfield’s gritty masterpiece opens up AFS Cinema’s new series, This Nation’s Saving Grace, highlighting soot-covered gems from the 1950s and early 1960s UK, including Teddy Boy classic Beat Girl, Soho strip club crawl The Small World of Sammy Lee, and All Night Long, a reenvisioning of Othello in London’s jazz scene. But with an all-star cast of postwar British cinema, including comedy legends Alfie Bass and Sid James, Herbert Lom, Patrick McGoohan, a never-better Stanley Baker, and a very young Sean Connery, and a high-stakes plot about corruption and disposable employees, Hell Drivers puts the “essential” in AFS’s Essential Cinema.   – Richard Whittaker

Greater Austin Clay Artists Present: Dougherty Visual Artists In Residence

Tuesday 6, Dougherty Arts Center

Last month we talked GACA and their big Greater Austin Clay Tour, where the ceramic-enjoyer was able to take in clay sights around town. This month, we recommend a smaller but no less satisfying program featuring the five visual artists in residence at local cultural capital Dougherty Arts Center. These artists – Diane Sung, Chance Ramirez, Gargi Sharma, Anna Gadzhikurbanova, and Jamie Lerman – each have a skill set based in GACA’s clay-wheelhouse and will demonstrate their unique abilities for those gathered. Interested parties can also attend a pre-meet dinner at Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co. around 5:30pm.   – James Scott

Victim

Wednesday 7, AFS Cinema

When Victim came out in 1961, homosexuality was illegal. Director Basil Dearden’s neo-noir thriller was the first British film to name it explicitly – and treat it sympathetically. It centers around a blackmail scheme targeting a closeted barrister (Dirk Bogarde, who was himself closeted), and his pursuit of the blackmailers after their scheme turns deadly. Initially banned in the U.S., it’s now celebrated as a groundbreaking queer film, here video-introduced by expert film programmer Elizabeth Purchell, who’ll shed more light on its history and social impact.   – Kat McNevins

Inky Eyes Comics Mixer

Wednesday 7, Alienated Majesty

Those who peddle panels and speech bubbles on an indie level, rejoice! Alienated Majesty Books plays venue to a quarterly comics mixer hosted by author Ashley Franklin (The Hills of Estrella Roja, The Skin You’re In) that acts both as a get-to-know-you event as much as it is a reading series. Inaugural readers include folks like Kat Fajardo, Laura Cañas, Logan Beecher, Morgan Thomas, and Sammy Ness. As the social provides free drinks and a plethora of perusable small-press comics for purchase, interested indie makers need only bring their pens, paper, and a few gently used books to donate to Inside Books Project, which collects and sends free books/educational materials to Texas prisoners.   – James Scott

Mikey and Nicky

Wednesday 7, Hyperreal Film Club

As reported on by me to my friend over text, the first time I watched director Elaine May’s toxic boy-best-friends movie, I immediately got the flu. Such is the power of Peter Falk and John Cassavetes’ codependent mania in this miracle of a film. I say miracle because this took a lot to be in its current state, which is still largely rough-and-tumble in terms of literal film quality. Over budget and schedule, yanked from May’s hands by Paramount, and cut to shreds without her eyes on it, the initial box office release tanked May’s desire to direct for another 10 years. Lucky for all of us, she later re-cut the film into the state it screens in this week at HFC. Don’t make my mistakes: Get your flu shot before attending.   – James Scott

Lost Soulz

Thursday 8, Hyperreal Film Club

An award winner and critical favorite at both South by Southwest and Tribeca, first-time feature director Katherine Propper’s rap road trip revises the conventions of the rise-and-fall rock odyssey for modern times, when celebrity is more fleeting than ever and musicians seem even more primed to implode. A hypnotic, enchanting, and mournful meditation on found family and lost community, catch this special homecoming screening with Propper and star Sauve Sidle.   – Richard Whittaker

Want to see all of our listings broken down by day? Go to austinchronicle.com/calendar and see what's happening now or in the coming week.