What's On Scotland 16-23 Sep: Take One Action & more

Art can change the way we view the world: this basic premise is at the heart of Take One Action, Scotland’s film festival dedicated to inspiring social change. Running this weekend from the 16-18 September at the Filmhouse and the Grassmarket Community Project, this year’s programme is slightly smaller than usual but on the swing side is screening in even more places: catch them in Glasgow next weekend, with subsequent screenings in Aberdeen and Inverness in October.

There are four features leading this year's programme, all of which explore how subjectivities, narratives, and controls are formed around land, with a host of shorts and workshops alongside. Kicking things off is Foragers, which examines human-nonhuman relations under colonial rule through the story of foragers in historical Palestine, where such practices are punishable under Israeli law. And for something a little quirkier, their closing film The Mushroom Speaks looks at what we can learn from fungal networks of relation and support.

You can browse the full programme here, and while you're at it, why not take a peek at the specially curated book lists put together by Lighthouse Bookshop especially for the festival.

clipping.
SWG3, Glasgow. 21 Sep, 7pm
Star of Hamilton and star of the even better Blindspotting - one of the best films of the last decade - Daveed Diggs comes to Scotland with his experimental hip-hop group clipping. Spitting the quickest fire lyrics with a deliciously grimy, industrial sound, their distinctive sound culminated in their most recent album Visions of Bodies Being Burned, inspired by slasher horror and contemporary politics. Image: Damien Maloney.

Rhiannon Salisbury: Chthonia
Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh. Until 2 Oct
Drawing on the chthonic - the nonhuman, inhuman, more-than-human - powers of the Earth, Rhiannon Salisbury's new exhibition Chthonia examines the eerie, restorative, mysterious character of beauty, both natural and otherwise. Her paintings are strange and vibrant, bleeding colours and forms into one another as dreamy, fragmented women peer through. Image: Rhiannon Salisbury / Arusha Gallery.

ADVERTISEMENT | ‘Symoné: Utopian (t&c's apply)
Tramway, Glasgow. 24 Sep, 7:30pm
Can the perfect Utopia exist? Join performer, Hula Hoop specialist and all-round Vaudeville dynamo Symoné to explore power play, cults and rave in a psychedelic pilgrimage filled with pole dancing, aerial skills, voguing, and high heel roller-skating. The UK-wide tour of Utopian (t&c's apply) opens by bringing its ‘buzzing club atmosphere, amazing visuals and exceptional circus skills’ to Tramway. Join the party.

Scottish Ballet: Coppélia
Theatre Royal, Glasgow. 22-24 Sep, various times
Forget everything you think you know about ballet, Scottish Ballet’s extraordinary staging of Coppélia is rewriting all the rules. Transforming the classic fairytale of a man who falls in love with an enchanted doll into a posthuman examination of artificial life, corporate greed, and the bounds of human subjectivity, this Donna-Haraway-meets-prima-donna adaptation is not to be missed. Image: Andy Ross.

Skateboobs X Sneaky Pete's
Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh. 20 Sep, 11pm
A joyous collaboration between Sneaky Pete's and Skateboobs, Edinburgh's female, non-binary and queer skate crew, this queer club night is based around the loudest, vibiest, most optimistic tunes: think a mix of hip-hop, Egyptian shaabi, Arabic percussion, dancehalll and more.

Freakender
Old Hairdressers, Glasgow. 17 Sep, 2pm
Freakender celebrates its fifth birthday this month, compacting the usual three days of the festival in a one day, all out, massive blowout. Grab a pass for access to the whole lineup, from Scottish pop punk legends Bikini Body to Glaswegian garage rock group Sweaty Palms. There’ll be DJs, there’ll be food trucks, there’ll be great vibes - a perfect way to spend the last days of summer. Image: Ryan Johnston.

Katy J. Pearson
The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh. 20 Sep, 7:30pm
There's a hint of country to Katy J. Pearson's lilting vocals and strumming guitar but her music is really much more complex than such generic boxing in suggests. Featuring delicate, lyrical storytelling and a rich, at times almost orchestral, instrumental landscape, her songs have the dreamy sensibility of the best of indie pop, with a darker, Bat for Lashes-esque edge.

Glasgow Youth Film Festival
Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. 16-18 Sep
Perhaps Glasgow's freshest festival, Glasgow Youth Film Festival is programmed by the local youth, i.e. Glasgwegians aged between 15 and 19. It's an absolutely delightful mixture of old and new cinema, from the Agatha Christie-inspired See How They Run to a screening of Barry Jenkins' masterpiece Moonlight and the micro-budget Glasgow venture Angry Young Man, complete with director Q&A.