Here's what's going on this week:
Thursday, December 12

• At today's Focus 45 from 12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m. in the Curtis Theatre of the Georege Eastman House, Nancy Kauffman will discuss Film Stills: Beyond the Glamour Shot.
  

  Eastman House has a large collection of paper objects related to motion pictures. Nancy Kauffman, Motion Picture Archivist for Stills, Poster, and Paper Collection, will talk about film stills and explain their importance in promoting motion pictures in the golden age of Hollywood. You'll see examples of film stills, along with posters, lobby cards and coming attractions that used the same images.

  [source: Eastman House calendar, 2013-Dec-9]

• From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., George Eastman House will host its Annual Holiday Homecoming Celebration with "festive displays, live music, refreshments, family activities, and a visit from Santa." [source: Eastman House calendar, 2013-Dec-9]
• Starting around 6:30 p.m. in the Upstairs Lounge at Abilene are screenings of Italianamerican (Martin Scorsese, U.S. 1974, 49 min.) and Who's That Knocking At My Door (Martin Scorsese, U.S. 1967, 90 min.) [source: Abilene website, 2013-Dec-9]
• Susan Lakin, and David Halbstein will present a Lecture titled Augmented Reality tonight a 7 p.m. at the Memorial Art Gallery.
  

  Join RIT professors Susan Lakin and David Halbstein as they introduce MAG's audience to a dynamic new Augmented Reality platform. Over the past two years, RIT students in Lakin and Halbstein's classes have brought MAG paintings "to life" through a smartphone app that integrates works in the collection with student-created animations. Following their presentation in the auditorium, Lakin and Halbstein will lead anyone interested around the collection to discover the animated artworks in action.

  [source: MAG website, 2013-Dec-9]

• The Bertrand Russell Society meets tonight at Writers and Books at 7 p.m., hosted by Phil Ebersole. [source: Writers and Books website, 2013-Dec-9]
• Tonight at 7 p.m. at the Flying Squirrel is the Annual Meeting of the Green Party of Monroe County with a screening of Little Town of Bethlehem (Jim Hanon, Palestine / Israel 2010, 75 min.) "which follows the story of three men of three different faiths and their lives in Israel and Palestine." [source: Green Party e-mail, 2013-Nov-30]
• Tonight at the Gandhi Institute at 7 p.m. is a Bringing Conscious Back screening of Millennium Slave. [source: Gandhi Inistitute website, 2013-Dec-9]
• The Eastman New Jazz Ensemble performs in Kilbourn Hall tonight at 8 p.m. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar, 2013-Dec-9]
• Tonight at 8 p.m., the Dryden will screen Champagne (Alfred Hitchcock, U.K. 1928, 105 min., DCP) with live piano accompaniment by Philip C. Carli.
  

  Feigning bankruptcy, a wealthy champagne magnate tries to teach his impetuous flapper daughter a lesson, forcing her into a working-class life. Starring the energetic and effervescent Betty Balfour, Hitchcock's screwball-melodramatic-comedy about the foibles of the wealthy contains many exciting experimentations, including a shot filmed through a glass of champagne and cinema's first ever freeze-frame.

  [source: Dryden website, 2013-Dec-9]

Friday, December 13

• The Eastman Wind Orchestra will perform in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre tonight at 8 p.m. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar, 2013-Dec-9]
• Starting tonight at 8 p.m. and running Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. through December 21, the MuCCC will host a performance of Parfumerie.
  

  A delightful comedy set in the 1930s, which immerses its audience through the tangled lives and emotional ties of the employees and owner of a Budapest perfume/cosmetics shop. Only the truth can lead to a happy resolution in this old-fashioned, romantic Christmas tale.

  [source: MuCCC website, 2013-Dec-9]

• Starting tonight at 8 p.m. at Blackfriars Theatre is a performance of It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, running through December 22.
  

  Inspired by the classic American film, It's A Wonderful Life by Frank Capra, It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play is performed as a 1940s live radio broadcast in front of a studio audience as a group of actors re-create the timeless holiday favorite. With this original twist, its clever use of props and sound effects – this charming comedic play will delight all ages.

  [source: Blackfriars Facebook page, 2013-Dec-9]

• Tonight at 8 p.m. and on Sunday at 2 p.m., the Dryden will screen A Christmas Story (Bob Clark, U.S. 1983, 93 min., 35mm).
  

  Celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Bob Clark's classic Christmas comedy. Based on the childhood experiences of narrator, writer, and radio personality Jean Shepard, the holiday trials and tribulations of Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) and the rest of the Parker clan have entertained audiences for decades. Bound and determined to convince his parents he needs a Red Ryder BB gun, Ralphie continually bucks everyone's allegations that he'll shoot his eye out. Along the way, he encounters bullies, a frozen flagpole mishap, a questionable lamp, and a memorable Christmas dinner.

  [source: Dryden website, 2013-Dec-9]

• Updated: Tonight starting around 10:30 p.m. at Monty's Krown is a Rash Release Party with the thick, bass-driven noise of Tuurd, good acoustic soloist Joe Sorriero, Scott Oliver, and Drippers. [source: Facebook, 2013-Dec-13]

Saturday, December 14

• Tonight at 7 p.m. is part of the Alternative Music Film Festival at the Memorial Art Gallery at 7 p.m. with a screening of Marley (Kevin Macdonald, U.S. / U.K. 2012, 144 min.) [source: MAG website, 2013-Dec-9]
• Tonight at 8 p.m. in the Zeppa Bistro and Auditorium is an Annual Holiday Benefit Concert for The Center For Youth Services featuring Hunu?, wicked fun, saxophone-driven, percussive groove-rock band The BuddhaHood, Buzzo, excellent, daring folk/acoustic-rock soloist JoAnn Vaccaro, and more. [source: Facebook, 2013-Dec-9]
• Tonight at 8 p.m. at the Dryden is a screening of Camille Claudel, 1915 (Bruno Dumont, France 2013, 94 min, French w/ subtitles, DCP).
  

  In the most riveting performance of her career, Juliette Binoche draws an emotionally charged portrait of French sculptor Camille Claudel, the former lover of Auguste Rodin. Locked in an asylum by her younger brother, Paul, in 1914, at the onset of World War I, Camille is desperate to escape. Her ordeal is described within a three-day timeframe, staged by Bruno Dumont with spare visuals, Bach's choral music, and a cast of non-professional actors. Most of them are genuinely disabled—a controversial choice, for sure, but there's no hint of exploitation here. Fasten your seatbelt for the climactic confrontation scene between Camille and Paul, a memorable display of acting style and raw spiritual honesty. Christian morality has rarely been examined with such precision on the big screen.

  [source: Dryden website, 2013-Dec-9]

• The 23 Psaegz, fantastic, subdued "gypsy folk" from The Pickpockets, Mr. Boneless, and John Valenti perform at the Bug Jar tonight starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2013-Dec-9]
• Starting around 10:30 p.m. at Sticky Lips BBQ Juke Joint is 5Head. [source: Facebook, 2013-Dec-9]

Sunday, December 15

• Today at 10 a.m. in the Carmen Clark Lodge (777 Westfall Rd.) is the Rochester Academy of Music and Arts Seventh Anniversary Recital.
  

  On Sunday December 15, musician and business owner Brannon Hungness celebrates the seventh anniversary of his music school with a special commemorative recital. Shows will take place on the hour, from 10 am until 3 pm. Rochester residents can celebrate the milestone at the cozy Carmen Clark Lodge, where they will enjoy live performances from local music students. The all-ages event is free and open to the public, and will feature appearances from noted local musicians who teach at the school.

  [source: RocWiki events, 2013-Dec-9]

• In the Rundel Auditorium of the Rundel Library Building is an installment of the Rochester's Rich History Series from 2 p.m. with Deborah Nevin hosting the 5th Annual Victorian Tea. [source: City of Rochester website, 2013-Jan-16]

Monday, December 16

• Tonight starting around 8 p.m. at Banzai Sushi is Banzai Comedy Night. [source: City Newspaper events calendar, 2013-Dec-9]

Tuesday, December 17

• The Dryden will screen Our Nixon (Penny Lane, U.S. 2013, 84 min., DCP) at 8 p.m.
  

  Offering a candid view of one of American history's most fascinating figures, Penny Lane's new documentary uses as its basis hundreds of reels of 8mm footage shot by Nixon aides H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and Dwight Chapin, all of whom, of course, were later taken to trial during the Watergate scandal. Complementing this imagery are generous excerpts from the infamous "White House tapes" that document the "private" Nixon that the silent home movies tend to eschew, as well as contemporary news reports and latter-day interviews with the three cameramen. A study of an enigmatic man whose actions changed the course of history and the psyche of the America, Our Nixon is both a fascinating time capsule and a fresh, revelatory glimpse at a president and nation wracked with paranoia and uncertainty.

  [source: Dryden website, 2013-Dec-9]

• The Branch Davidians, House Majority, Declan Ryan, and Tim Avery perform at the Bug Jar starting around 9 p.m. tonight. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2013-Dec-9]

Wednesday, December 18

• The Dryden will screen Boxcar Bertha (Martin Scorsese, U.S. 1972, 88 min, 35mm) tonight at 8 p.m.
  

  Barbara Hershey and David Carradine sizzle on screen as a pair of train-hopping outlaws in this second directorial effort from Martin Scorsese. A sensational adaptation of Ben Reitman's Sister of the Road, Scorsese's version of the story follows Bertha, an orphaned farm-girl, and Big Bill Shelly, a radical union leader, as they fight against an evil railroad conglomerate and the oppressive society of the American South. Despite carrying many "low brow" hallmarks of exploitation cinema, Boxcar Bertha boldly and intelligently confronts the prominent class and racial tensions of the 1930s, skillfully weaving together this social commentary with Bill and Bertha's compelling love story. Additionally, the film both prefigures the successful career that would come for Scorsese and stands as a testament to the culturally significant output of American International Pictures.

  [source: Dryden website, 2013-Dec-9]