For 23 years, the Friends of the Patuxent have raised funds for their beloved natural refuge by holding a weekend-long art show and sale. For 20 years, The Environmental Film Festival has raised awareness for the decline of the planet by screening green-themed films in the D.C. area. Three years ago the groups joined forces.     “We have a giant auditorium here at the visitor’s center,” says Wildlife Art Show publicity chair Lisa Bierer-Garrett. “I...

It’s business as usual at the Pasadena Senior Center, until Mary Ann Jung walks in waving a knife.     “Julia Child presents the chicken sisters,” Jung trills in Child’s unmistakable accent. Whipping the coverlet off a table, she reveals raw chickens of several sizes.     Jung is not deranged; she’s a performer. Jung travels along the East Coast and further, impersonating famous women in her popular History Alive! shows at senior...

Nader (Peyman Moadi: About Elly) and Simin (Leila Hatami: Aseman-e mahboob) are in the middle of a bitter divorce and custody battle, made more bitter by the fact that neither wants to end the marriage.     After years of paperwork and expense, the Iranian government has granted the couple visas so that they can emigrate. Simin has been dreaming of this day so that she can move her daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi in her screen debut) to a country that offers more opportunities...

Modern thrillers are typically bogged down with fantastical plots, unnecessary twists and red herrings. Gone avoids most of these pitfalls with a simple thriller plotline that’s easy to follow. In doing so, it becomes a boring potboiler.     Waitress Jill (Amanda Seyfried: In Time) comes home from an overnight shift to find her sister Molly (Emily Wicker: I Am Number Four) gone. This wouldn’t be a big deal, except that a year ago, Jill was abducted from her bed and...