On the agenda: Festival Brazil; Taika Cohen; open day at the Faber Academy; Australian chef Scott Hallsworth; Fin's
Rickaayyy! We're off to Hackney to recreate 'EastEnders'; plus, chic sushi in West Susse
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If you know your caipirinha from your capoeira, you'll fit right in at this year's enormously diverse Festival Brazil at London's Southbank Centre, with its heady mix of intoxicating music (psychedelic rockers Os Mutantes), dance (samba-soaked show Brazil! Brazil!), food, art. But the highlight for many will be the return to London of Rio-based visual-arts sensation Ernesto Neto, whose immersive, otherworldly installations have brightened spaces across the globe. Here, he'll be transforming the Hayward Gallery into a Lycra-clad labyrinth for visitors to explore. From Saturday to 5 September, southbankcentre.co.uk
Adam Jacques
Film
As befits an actor/writer/director who has helmed several episodes of Kiwi TV comedy Flight of the Conchords (not to mention the Napoleon Dynamite-esque Eagle vs Shark, New Zealander Taika Cohen's latest film, the coming-of-age comedy 'Boy', ramps up the quirk factor to 11 with a bittersweet tale about a precocious kid learning to reconcile the dad of his imagination (played by Cohen) with the father who returns to him after years in prison. Catch its UK première at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival on Friday and Saturday. The festival runs from 16-27 June; tel: 0131 623 8030, edfilmfest.org.uk
AJ
Books
RSVP early for the 10 July open day at the Faber Academy, which is bound to attract legions of wannabe writers. Not only does the event, from 10am-1pm at the publisher's Bloomsbury offices, provide a chance to meet course tutors Jo Shapcott, Louise Doughty, Peter Parker and Richard Skinner – as well as exclusive offers on courses and events with the likes of Jacob Polley, Jon Ronson, John Burnside and Francis Wheen – it will also provide tea and cake! RSVP to beckyf@faber.co.uk
Katy Guest
Culture
Remember that scene in Notting Hill when Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts break into a private garden square for a bit of romantic tomfoolery? Now you, too, can go cavorting around some of London's most exclusive squares (albeit without trespassing), thanks to the London Parks & Gardens Trust, which is opening up 200 communal gardens to the public today. Head to the Lansdowne and Elgin Crescent Gardens where Hugh and Julia got it on, saunter around the impossibly grand Belgrave Square or head to Hackney to see Fasset Square, which provided the inspiration for EastEnders' Albert Square. londongardenstrust.org
AJ
Food
Who better to head a swanky new Japanese restaurant on our bustling south coast than the man who spent six years as head chef of upscale sushi restaurant Nobu London? Bringing a lot of raw talent to the table, expect to see some of Australian chef Scott Hallsworth's signature dishes at new Horsham venue Wabi, such as roasted scallop with foie gras and misozuke, as well as an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients, thanks to nearby Japanese organic vegetable farm Nama Yasai. wabi.co.uk, tel:01403 788 140
AJ
Fashion
Riviera-chic men's shoe company Fin's offers one of the jolliest collaborations around for the holiday season, having teamed up with the leather luxury brand Bill Amberg. The classic loafer has been reinvented in Amberg's signature selvage leather and classic red, blue and white stripes, so they're all you need for pottering around on the beach. They'll also do well pounding a pavement, if you're town-bound this year too. £115, finsforhim.com
Harriet Walker
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