Three to See Friday: Nina in the window, a SkirtsAfire short and Cléo from 5 to 7

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Nevertheless: A reliable beacon of happiness amid the downtown dirt is a new show in the Nina window gallery, Nevertheless. This collection of vibrant, cheerful paintings, drawings, sculptures and — oh yeah! — so many masks is a great antidote to the often bleak, construction-scarred core and brings joy and inspiration to the hood.

Artists in this show include Uli Rossier, Lora Pallister, Scott Berry, David Dang — love the snakes! — Erin Lepine, Matt Sinn, Aaron Harvey, Desiree McCook and Jamie Laventure. If you happen to be in the mall, pop outside kitty corner from City Hall and have a look. Contact info for the gallery is in the window if you want to take a piece home.

Nevertheless is Nina’s new window gallery show in City Centre. Photo by Fish Griwkowsky /Postmedia

Details: Day or night at City Centre Mall (102A Avenue and 100 Street), no charge.

Covid Collections: A rather moving short film about the disrupted lives of various women — including frontline healthcare worker Vanessa and trapped-overseas PhD student Lebo — this talking-head documentary is part of SkirtsAfire, still going Sunday.

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“My grandma lives five minutes away but I can’t see here because she’s 93,” says Vanessa, but there’s a great laugh as she notes so many people are checking up on her in the seniors centre she’s all, “I’m watching the hockey game, can we get off the phone?” Like real life over the last year, just a big emotional range here, and your empathy circuits will be activated.

The art in the windows of empty A&N on Whyte also responds to some of these stories.

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Details: Through Sunday at skirtsafire.com, no charge.

Cléo From 5 to 7 (1962): Belgium-born cinema pioneer Agnès Varda’s existentialist drama takes a look at how women were perceived in French society in the early ’60s, including how value was most often given to the beautiful. Dealing with mortality, despair and how to live a worthwhile life, it starts with a singer waiting to hear the results of a cancer test.

Featuring cameos from Jean-Luc Godard — who liked to connect things in French cinema — and avant garde actor-filmmaker Anna Karina, it features a beautiful score by Michel Legrand. French with subtitles, 90 mins.

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Details: Streaming through March 29 through metrocinema.org, $10 USD.

fgriwkowsky@postmedia.com

@fisheyefoto