LITERARY TRIBUTE

LEADER OF THE NEW SCHOOL Author Chinua Achebe’s 1959 novel “Things Fall Apart” charts the rise and demise of a proud Nigerian tribal leader, Okonkwo, whose fellow villagers have converted to Christianity and are seeking to appease the newly arrived British colonial administrators. The tale unfolds like a Greek tragedy as a series of events exposes the uneasy realities of pre- and post-colonial life. Today, nearly 50 years after its publication, the book is required reading for most American courses in African and African-American literature. The PEN American Center presents a tribute to Mr. Achebe, right, with guests including authors Toni Morrison, Chris Abani, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Edwidge Danticat, Ha Jin, and Colum McCann. The Francesca Harper Dance Project performs with dancers from the Alvin Ailey School. Tonight, 8 p.m., Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St. at Sixth Avenue, 212-840-2824, $15.

ART & DESIGN

HAUTE COMMODES New work by the contemporary French sculptor Ingrid Donat is on view at Barry Friedman Ltd. The exhibit features Ms. Donat’s richly textured, limited edition bronze-cast furniture. Ms. Donat’s aesthetic combines tribal, classical, and Modern sources, and recalls the stylistic influence of colonial Africa, Central and South America, and Oceania on French artists and designers of the 1920s and ’30s. Highlights include her low-lying tables that evoke the handcrafted detail of ancient African masks. Through Saturday, March 15, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Barry Friedman Ltd., 515 W. 26th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-239-8600, free.

DANCE

GEORGIA ON MY MIND The Brooklyn Academy of Music presents “Nina Ananiashvili and the State Ballet of Georgia.” Ms. Ananiashvili, who is the artistic director of the company, is also a former principal of the Bolshoi Ballet and has been a frequent guest performer of American Ballet Theatre. The company, which is based in Tbilisi, the capital of the former Soviet republic, dances Balanchine’s “Duo Concertant” and “Chaconne.” Also on the program are new works by the Bolshoi Ballet’s artistic director, Alexei Ratmansky, and the choreographer in residence at the San Francisco Ballet, Yuri Possokhov.

Tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Sunday, 3 p.m., Brooklyn Academy of Music, Howard Gillman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Ave., between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 718-636-4100, $20–$70.

FILM

CRIMES OF THE HEART The docudrama “A Love During the War” (2006) follows a journalist, Aziza, who is separated from her husband when the Democratic Republic of Congo erupts into civil war. Even after the couple is reunited, Aziza remains haunted by the violent crimes suffered by many Congolese women, so she returns to the war-torn Congo to capture their stories. The film’s director, Osvalde Lewat-Hallade, discusses the making of the film, which earned jury praise at the Montreal Film Festival. Tonight, 6 p.m., Barnard College, Barnard Center for Research on Women, Altschul Hall, 3009 Broadway near 118th Street, 212-854-2067, free.

THE TRUTH HURTS Vice President Gore hosts a screening of his Academy Award-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” (2006) at the Museum of Modern Art. The recent Nobel Peace Prize recipient discusses the long-term effects of climate change and why the matter is an urgent one. The film’s director, Davis Guggenheim, moderates the talk. “An Inconvenient Truth” is the fourth-highest-grossing documentary to date. Tomorrow, 8 p.m., MoMA, Roy & Niuta Titus Theater 2, 11 W. 53rd St. at Fifth Avenue, 212-708-9480, $10.

THE BAND PLAYED ON The story of Joy Division is one of pop music lore: The English post-punk band was buoyed by lead singer Ian Curtis’s spastic, melancholy songs and performances, until he hanged himself at 23. Director Grant Gee’s documentary “Joy Division” (its wide opening this May follows a limited release in 2007) is the filmmaker’s look at the enigmatic singer’s life. Curtis’s death in 1980 was the subject of much rumor and only accelerated interest in his work. The biopic focuses not only on Curtis, but also on the lives of the surviving band members. The director places the lives of rest of the members — who are living stable, midlife existences — in direct contrast with Curtis’s unpredictable bleakness. The screening is featured as part of this month’s Film Comment Selects Series.

Tomorrow, 7:30 p.m., Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza at 65th Street, 212-875-5600, $11 general, $7 students, seniors, and members.

PHOTOGRAPHY

SAND FEVER Massimo Vitali began his career in the 1960s as a photojournalist. By the 1990s, he had turned his attention to creating large-scale photographs of crowded, leisure scenes. His 1995 “Beaches” series captures its subjects in various forms of repose and enjoying the great outdoors. His latest work, a self-titled exhibit, is on view at Bonni Benrubi Gallery. Through Saturday, March 29, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Bonni Benrubi Gallery, 13th floor, 41 E. 57th St. at Madison Avenue, 212-888-6007, free.

PUSHING BOUNDARIES The second of four exhibits showcasing the photography of graduating seniors enrolled at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts opened last week. Thirteen student artists are featured in this installment, including Jacqueline Bovaird, whose works document her trips to India and Bhutan; Bonnie Briant, whose series of images is embellished with text, and Robert Sukrachand, who photographed Jackson Heights, Queens, exposing the juxtaposition of homelessness and addiction with the bustling 74th Street. Other highlights include the “Transient Boundaries” series by Monique Jaques, a collection depicting how deeply connected travel is to her work. Through Saturday, March 15, Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Saturday, noon–5 p.m., NYU, Gulf + Western Gallery and the 8th Floor Gallery, 721 Broadway at Waverly Place, 212-998-1930, free.

READINGS

BIRD’S EYE VIEW The author of “The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Jonathan Rosen, unravels Americans’ enduring interest in bird-watching at a reading tonight at Barnes&Noble. The carefree pastime, once favored by Teddy Roosevelt and John James Audubon, now claims more than 46 million devotees, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Mr. Rosen, inset, who is also a novelist and contributor to the New Yorker, discusses his own passion for birds, including his pursuit of a particular white-billed woodpecker, above, and his determination to seek out nature against a busy Manhattan backdrop. Tonight, 7 p.m., Barnes and Noble, 2289 Broadway at 82nd Street, 212-362-8835, free.

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