Weekend Event Planner

These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Two of Dallas' most well-known venues will be in heavy use this weekend, with American Airlines Center hosting three straight nights of big-name concerts and Winspear Opera House somehow cramming five events into four days. There will also be a film festival, classical music, unique ballet, a dance festival, a harbinger of spring, a famous comedian, and more.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, February 27

Best of Fests Film Festival
Film festivals based in Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas have joined forces to present the second edition of the Best of Fests. The one-of-a-kind event will include 11 feature films and 25 short films that either were popular with their audiences or represent their programming aesthetics. The festival will run through Sunday at Texas Theatre and Alamo Drafthouse Cedars.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Music of Tchaikovsky & Jongen
Inspired by Lord Byron’s “dramatic poem,” Tchaikovsky’s brooding Manfred Symphony portrays the solitary hero searching for peace and redemption. Organ phenom Cameron Carpenter shows off the Lay Family Concert Organ with Jongen’s tour de force Symphonie concertante. The concert, which will be conducted by Kirill Karabits, will be performed three times through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Verdigris Ensemble presents Dust Bowl
As part of AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project, Verdigris Ensemble will present Dust Bowl. Setting texts exclusively from newspaper articles, diaries, and first-hand oral accounts of survivors, Dust Bowl pieces together nearly a decade of human struggle, hopefulness, and perseverance in the face of constant catastrophe. The event will take place three times through Saturday at Hamon Hall inside Winspear Opera House.

Il Volo in concert
Italian operatic pop trio Il Volo, who call their style "popera," have won fans all over the world thanks to their unique style. Their versions of "O Sole Mio" and "Grande amore" reached the top of the classical charts in the United States, and four of their albums have reached the top 10 on the Billboard Classical charts. They'll perform at Winspear Opera House.

Friday, February 28

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Jeanne Robertson
At 76 years young, Jeanne Robertson continues to charm audiences with her humorous observations about life around her. This former Miss North Carolina, standing tall at six-foot-two, has a vivacious personality, heart and sense of humor. Robertson, who tours nationally and appears regularly on the Grand Ole Opry, will perform at Winspear Opera House.

Ballets With a Twist presents Cocktail Hour: The Show
Drama, mystery, humor, romance — Cocktail Hour: The Show by Ballets With A Twist has it all. This acclaimed floorshow-to-stage experience reinvents the glamour and excitement of classic entertainment with an original mix of charismatic choreography, intoxicating music, and exquisite costume design. The performance will be at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson.

TITAS/Dance Unbound Festival
TITAS/Dance Unbound is starting a new tradition, a Festival of Dance celebrating the dancemakers living and working in North Texas. This “preview” is a prelude to a larger festival TITAS will be producing later this year. The event, taking place at Moody Performance Hall on Friday and Saturday, will feature four local dance companies: Texas Ballet Theater, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Bruce Wood Dance, and B. Moore Dance.

Marc Anthony in concert
Marc Anthony has been breaking down the barrier between English language and Spanish language music for almost 30 years. He's only had a couple of bona fide hits — 1999's "I Need to Know" and 2000's "You Sang to Me" — and after an extended break from music-making, he's touring in support of his 2019 album, Opus. He'll perform at American Airlines Center.

Saturday, February 29

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden presents Dallas Blooms: The Sounds of Spring
Dallas Blooms is one of the largest floral festivals in the Southwest, with over 100 varieties of spring-blooming bulbs exploding with color and 500,000 tulips, plus hundreds of thousands of other spring flowers. The six-week celebration also features tasting and cooking classes, live music and entertainment, children’s activities, wine and beer pairings, book signings and speakers, Easter events, and more. It will take place through April 12.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Paula Poundstone
Paula Poundstone is one of the country’s pre-eminent comedians, known for her smart, observational humor and legendary spontaneous wit. She is a popular panelist on NPR’s No. 1 show, the weekly comedy news quiz, Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! Her weekly podcast for Maximum Fun, Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone, is a comedy field guide to life. She'll perform at Winspear Opera House.

Chris Tucker in concert
Chris Tucker is an international award-winning actor and comedian best known for playing the role of Detective James Carter in the Rush Hour film series. He became a favorite on Russell Simmons’ HBO Def Comedy Jam in the 1990s and came to prominence in his first starring role, the 1995 film cult classic Friday starring alongside Ice Cube. He'll perform at The Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Eagles in concert
Eagles, with the lineup of Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Deacon Frey, and Vince Gill, will come to Dallas as part of their limited Hotel California tour. Each night’s concert will feature them playing their iconic album Hotel California in its entirety, accompanied by an orchestra and choir. After an intermission, they'll return with an entire additional set of the band’s other greatest hits. They'll perform on both Saturday and Sunday at American Airlines Center. If you can't get in to either one of those concerts, they'll return for one more on March 17.

Sunday, March 1

Lightwire Theater presents The Ugly Duckling
Lined with electroluminescent wire, the beloved story of The Ugly Duckling plays out on stage through a cutting-edge blend of puppetry, technology and dance. With dazzling visuals, poignant choreography and the creative use of music ranging from classical to pop, this production brings this story into a new and brilliant light. The production will be at Winspear Opera House.

Paula Poundstone will perform at Winspear Opera House on February 29.

Photo courtesy of The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

Paula Poundstone will perform at Winspear Opera House on February 29.

movies festivals concerts event-planner theater dance

Movie Review

Iranian film It Was Just an Accident is a thriller with deep meaning

Photo courtesy of Neon

Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr, Majid Panahi, and Hadis Pakbaten in It Was Just an Accident.

American filmmakers, for the most part, enjoy luxury and freedoms when making movies in the United States that filmmakers in other countries could only dream of. Not only does Iranian writer/director Jafar Panahi not have millions of dollars with which to make his films, he also has to deal with a government that has previously arrested him for being critical of their policies.

And yet he persists, returning to the screen with the taut It Was Just An Accident. The film begins with a kind of misdirect, showing Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi) and his family driving home at night, during which they strike and kill a dog. That accident sends Eghbal into the orbit of Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), who works at a business that helps repair Eghbal’s car.

Recognizing the distinctive sound of Eghbal’s prosthetic leg, Vahid believes him to be the same man who kidnapped and tortured him and others in a recent government arrest spree. Desperate to confirm his suspicions, Vahid kidnaps Eghbal and takes him to a series of people who were also imprisoned under the man they named “Peg Leg,” including Shiva (Mariam Afshari), a wedding photographer; Golrokh (Hadis Pakbaten), the bride being photographed; and more.

Most filmmakers have the ability to use sets and take as much time as they need - within reason - to get the shot they need. Panahi employs a type of guerrilla filmmaking rarely seen these days, stealing shots in broad daylight while trying not to gain the notice of Iranian authorities. The daring nature of the making of the movie infuses the story with an extra tension that elevates what is otherwise a relatively simple story.

The film puts the audience directly in the shoes of the various characters as each of them wrestles with the complicated feelings arising from their actions. As they were all blindfolded while imprisoned, they can’t be 100 percent sure they have the right man, and debates/arguments between the characters keep viewers guessing as to who he is and what they will do with him. Even if he is who they think he is, will enacting some kind of revenge on him soothe their consciences?

Through it all, the idea that a former political prisoner is making a film about former political prisoners who are engaging in conduct that could get them arrested again - just as Panahi is doing with his film - makes this meta filmmaking on another level. The simplicity of the story belies the complexity underscoring the entire film, and it delivers one of the most impactful endings of any recent movie.

While a few of the actors have acted before, including in previous Panahi films, most of them are making their first appearance in a movie. Despite this lack of experience, each of them does well, especially Mobasseri and Afshari, who share a number of heated scenes that bring out the best in both of them.

It Was Just an Accident is the type of film that constantly keeps the audience on their collective toes, never knowing where it will head next. And that’s even if you didn’t know the details of how and why it was made; once that is discovered, it becomes something much deeper and more important than most other movies that will be released in 2025.

---

It Was Just an Accident is now playing in select theaters.

movies film