Images of Immigration Amateur Photographer Captured Filipino Life in '40s and '50s by Heather Nalbone Ricardo Alvarado started taking pictures to pass the time. A Filipino immigrant and bachelor until the age of 45, Alvarado dedicated much of his free time to a camera. It wasn’t until 1959—31 years after he first came to the United States—that he exchanged photography for a Filipino wife he met through letters. Alvarado filled a basement trunk with nearly 3,000 negatives and photos by the time he started a family, but it wasn’t until after his death and years of working as a low-wage cook that his daughter discovered the trove and turned it into the traveling exhibit “Through My Father’s Eyes,” now on display at the National Museum of American History... African Agenda ‘Focus’ Reveals Stereotypical Images of Central Africans From Colonial Times by Carolyn Chapman The photographs displayed at the National Museum of African Art in “In and Out of Focus: Images From Central Africa, 1885-1960” follow strikingly similar themes. There are portraits of men dancing, displaying their hunting gear and showing off their native dress. There are portraits of beautiful women with body decorations, adornments and elaborate hair. There are also images of workers on steam ships, on caravans, on fields, on railroad tracks and in quarries. These photographs—taken by Western photographers during the period of colonial domination in Africa by Belgium, France and Portugal—followed the same themes for a reason: They all had an agenda... Bad to the Bard Berkoff’s ‘Shakespeare’s Villains’ Spotlights Evil Characters by Gary Tischler When it comes to villains, Steven Berkoff ought to know. Berkoff, after all, played Adolf Hitler in the famed television mini-series “War and Remembrance”—and you don’t get much badder than that. So when Berkoff—an acclaimed actor, writer, playwright, rebel, and general thorn in the side of the cultural establishment for much of his long career—brought his one-man riff “Shakespeare’s Villains: A Masterclass in Evil” to The Studio Theatre, you can bet he knows whereof he speaks... Video Verité Latin America, Caribbean Address National Problems in Film Competition by Serena Lei The Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) Cultural Center proposed a unique challenge to artists in Latin America and the Caribbean: Create a piece of video art that addresses the social and economic problems in your country, do it with whatever resources you have available, keep it under five minutes in length, and make it visually interesting, creative and personal. In short, they had to construct an artistic expression of the very real and often harsh realities facing their countries. The results of this challenge can be seen in the IDB’s First Latin American and Caribbean Video Art Competition and Exhibit... Conscientious Objector Comparisons of ‘South Pacific’ Issues With Today’s Don’t Jibe by Lisa Troshinsky How relevant is Arena Stage’s current production of war-time “South Pacific” for today’s audience, which is mired in threats of another war on the horizon? The quintessential Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, currently in the round at Arena’s Fichandler Stage, is set on an island during World War II. With today’s front-page headlines consumed by an inevitable war with Iraq, Arena’s choice to produce this play at this time is apropos... Music Seen Govinda Gallery Strikes Chord With Specialized Photography by Steve King The story of Georgetown’s Govinda Gallery begins simply enough, with a young schoolteacher named Chris Murray, whose only ambition was trying to help out a couple of friends. In 1975, two of Murray’s former classmates at Georgetown University—painters Howard Carr and Kim Waters—were desperate to find a place to show their art to the public. By chance, Murray was passing along 34th Street one day and noticed there was a vacant space for rent. Seeing an opportunity to help out his friends, Murray took a chance... Real Manipulator Photographer Neuwirth Experiments With Altering Negative by Sandra Martinez The Experiment”—now on view at the Embassy of Austria—gives American audiences their first comprehensive look at up-and-coming Austrian photographer Katharina Neuwirth and her experiment-based photography...

Book Value Folger Looks at Literary Ownership Over the Centuries by Gary Tischler Thys Boke Is Myne,” now at the Folger Shakespeare Library, is both a statement of ownership and the title of an exhibition. If you’ve ever held a book in your hand and considered its weight and found it pleasing, if a room without books seems naked and empty to you, or if bookstores and libraries draw you like a magnet, well, then this is the exhibition for you... Dining: Diving for Pearls Washington’s La Perla Serves Original, Traditional Italian Dishes by Rachel Hunt and Stephen Qualiana We remember a time in our childhood when fine dining almost certainly meant an Italian restaurant. Now most Italian restaurants are the neighborhood pizzeria joint with a small dining room. So we jump at the chance whenever a “fine dining” Italian restaurant opens and comes to our attention, such as Ristorante La Perla of Washington. Happiness Is a Smiling Family Photo Collection Shows Good Feelings Still Exist in Post-9/11 World by Natalie Koss The room is full of smiles at “Familiar Hour,” the first Washington, D.C., exhibit by Japanese artist Kumi Ecchuya. In fact, hundreds of children and their parents smile at viewers from snapshots displayed at the Japan Information and Culture Center... Divine Inspiration Pope John Paul II Center Displays Various Interpretations of Spirituality by Heather Nalbone In a painting by Father Jerome Tupa, one small slab of deep-blue sky peeks through towering campaniles that bend as though they are about to break. The pavement is golden. Walls that are typically straight resemble arches, and colonnades used to support them are made of enlarged bones. This is the Vatican City the way you’ve never seen it before. There is nothing realistic about Tupa’s canvases on display at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center. They are imaginative and inspired, which is precisely the kind of exhibit fitting to the museum... Events Bizarre Love Story In ‘Talk to Her,’ Almodóvar Communicates His Sensitive Side by Ky N. Nguyen • God of Gamblers • Ignorant Fairies • Stolen Generations • Polanski’s Return to Poland • Repertory Notes Working With Almódovar Javier Cámara Gets to Know Renowned Director in ‘Talk to Her’ by Ky N. Nguyen Actor Javier Cámara is a big star in Spain, having starred for nine seasons in the wildly popular television sitcom “Seven Lives.” Now, Cámara plays a lead role as the nurse Benigno in acclaimed director Pedro Almódovar’s “Talk to Her.” In Cámara’s suite at the Four Seasons, he was dressed fashionably casual as I talked with him about working with Almódovar... Rookie Spanish Filmmaker Gambles with 'Intacto' by Ky N. Nguyen “Intacto” writer-director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo recalled the events of March 27, 1977, in his Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands. “For the first time ever, our car broke down, just outside the entrance to the airport. I got out and saw the cloud of dark smoke illuminated by the airport lights. I couldn’t see anything, but there was a sour smell in the air.” After witnessing two 747 planes collided, 578 people died in the worst accident in aviation history. Fresnadillo continued, “I think it was that exact moment that gave birth to ‘Intacto.’... Film Directory/Cinema International Film Clips