ARTS . Arts Picks

Can't Afford the Freeway

Fri., July 16, 8:30 p.m., free, screened with films by Caleb Lyons and Kathryn Scanlan, vacant lots behind Philadelphia Art Hotel (bring FM radio for audio), 2007-2015 E. Hazzard St., 267-639-9166.


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Published: Jul 14, 2010

film

The open road, already a paradoxical symbol of freedom and oil addiction, is now the stage for modern-day warfare. How's that for a prepackaged motif? Elana Mann, artist-in-residence at Kensington's Philadelphia Art Hotel, smartly avoids getting too obvious or heavy-handed in her 15-minute film. With an unexpected but much-appreciated sense of humor, Mann explores one soldier's journey back home from Iraq, and how it relates to her experience as a neurotic SoCal commuter. Mann steers her Subaru Legacy Outback through L.A., Valencia and Irwindale while her conversations with veteran Dylan Alexander Mack play in the background. "It's one of the first things you notice when you get home from war. ... I would look and say, 'I don't need to worry about any one of these cars, or who's in 'em,'" says Mack as Mann acts out his words, awkwardly slithering out of her parked car's window. Mann's nervous movements are funny but don't ever leech from the seriousness of Mack's story.

Fri., July 16, 8:30 p.m., free, screened with films by Caleb Lyons and Kathryn Scanlan, vacant lots behind Philadelphia Art Hotel (bring FM radio for audio), 2007-2015 E. Hazzard St., 267-639-9166, philadelphiaarthotel.org.