Sonia Sanchez, Buffalo Bailey, free fifes, and more this weekend

Summer is winding down, but this weekend is full of annual events that locals look forward to year-round, and a cool assortment of special happenings.

On Friday night, Scribe Video Center’s free Street Movies! series lands in Frankford Pause Park for a performance and screening starting at 8pm. Scribe’s summer program mixes live performance with screenings of shorts by local independent filmmakers, plus a moderated discussion of the topics in the films.

Jacqueline Constance kicks off Friday’s event, followed by four films, none longer than 20 minutes. These include We Are Sankofa, which follows seniors at Philly’s New Media Technology Charter School who use DNA testing to trace their African ancestry and explore their identities; and La Perla after Maria, a short documentary about life on the ground in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

On Saturday night at 8pm, Street Movies! presents legendary Germantown poet Sonia Sanchez at West Philly’s Malcolm X Park and five more short films, including an experimental documentary about Bartram Village and Gardens. In case of rain, the events will move to an indoor space—visit online for details. (Next week, get a closer look at the series with our WNWN story.)

Japanese and Indian festivals

Saturday is full of family-friendly options for international culture lovers. At Shofuso, West Fairmount Park’s Japanese house and garden, the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia hosts the sixth annual Philadelphia Obon Festival. Taking place just outside Shofuso (which will be open as usual), this free event runs 11am to 5pm. In Japanese tradition, Obon (rooted in Buddhism and Confucianism) has become a family-reunion holiday, with people visiting their ancestral homes and spirits believed to visit their living families.

Saturday’s festival features live music and dance, tea ceremonies, and interactive arts, crafts, and games. The Obon tradition is spreading throughout the Japanese diaspora around the world, mounting cultural carnivals with their own local touches and seasonal snacks.

Down on the Delaware waterfront, from noon to 7pm, catch the Festival of India at Penn’s Landing. This free annual fest (hosted by the Council of Indian Organizations of Greater Philadelphia) celebrates India’s Independence Day and invites everyone to experience our Indian-American community. There’ll be plenty of art, music, dance, and authentic food.

Drums and historical dramaturgy

Nearby, at the Museum of the American Revolution, the year-round celebration of America’s independence includes a free Fife and Drum Party on the museum’s outdoor plaza, running Saturday from 11am to 2pm. There’ll be 18th-century costumes for all ages to try, fife and drum demonstrations, mustering drills, and musical performances. PARENTS, BE WARNED: The first 300 guests will get a free toy fife. In case of rain, the fest will move inside the museum, and will still be free.

On Saturday night at the Penn Museum, check out Material Influence: A One-Day Performance Festival, happening from 7 to 9pm. “The collision of dance, material culture, and visual art has been the genesis of cultural exchange and new performance for millennia,” says the museum, and it’s pairing six performers/devisers with dramaturgs to create new performance works inspired by artifacts in the museum’s collection. The artists include Carl(os) Roa, Eppchez!, and many others, plus a panel discussion with Anita Holland, Daniel Park, and Amy Smith. It’s happening in the Widener Lecture Room Garden, and admission is $10.

Buffalo Bailey’s ranch

If you’re up for the unexpected, head to East Passyunk for Buffalo Bailey’s Ranch for Gay Horses, Troubled Teen Girls and Other: A 90 Minute Timeshare Presentation. Written by Bailey Williams and directed by Derek Smith, this unabashedly hard-to-divine performance premiered in January at New York City’s Exponential Festival and is now on the road. You can see it in Philly at the Whole Shebang (1813 S. 11th Street) on Saturday night at 7pm or Sunday afternoon at 2pm (tickets are $15).

“There’s no place like Buffalo Bailey’s,” say the artists, “where you can watch horsedrag all night at the discobarn, relax in the jacuzzi (coming Fall 2007!) or sort beans over yonder by the pig pit.” You must stay for the entire 90-minute presentation to receive your gift basket (the contents of which are, of course, a surprise).

Above: A drumming performance at 2017's Obon Festival. (Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Obon Festival.)