New York Today: Film City

SLC Films “She’s Lost Control”

Updated 5:57 a.m.

Good Friday morning to you. Spring is moving slowly.

It’ll be nice enough to step outside this weekend, but not always nice enough to stay there.

Perfect weather for a movie.

New Directors/New Films, the annual festival for emerging talent, opened this week at MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Manohla Dargis, the co-chief film critic for The Times, told us it’s a good year.

“People may want to get on a train or bus or car for this,” she said.

There are 27 feature films in the festival. (The schedule is here.)

Where to start?

This weekend: “The Babadook.”

It’s an Australian film about a single mother in a haunted house.

Overall: “The highlight for me, the knockout, was a film from Iran called ‘Fish and Cat,’” Ms. Dargis said.

The story revolves around a restaurant in the countryside that might be run by cannibals.

For scenes of our city, try “She’s Lost Control.”

It’s about a woman who works as a sex surrogate while getting her degree.

“New York is a character in a way, in that sometimes, it’s the only familiar thing in her life,” Ms. Dargis said.

Here’s what else you need to know for Friday and the weekend.

WEATHER

Just a nice old sunny, slightly chilly spring day, with a breeze and a high around 50.

Tomorrow: much warmer â€" mid 60s â€" but cloudy, with maybe a shower in the morning.

Chilly again Sunday, with highs only in the 40s.

COMMUTE

Subways: No delays. Check latest status.

Rails: O.K. Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or N.J. Transit status.

Roads: No big delays. Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect.

Weekend Travel Hassles: Check subway disruptions or list of street closings.

COMING UP TODAY

- Mayor de Blasio announces a new parks commissioner: Mitchell Silver, former head of the American Planning Association and now an official in Raleigh, N.C. 12:45 p.m.

- The mayor heads for Albany this evening to speak at the “Somos el Futuro” conference of political progressives.

- A Scottish sculptor, Andy Scott, unveils his 15-foot-tall horse heads at Bryant Park. If that seems big, they’re replicas of ones back home that are 100 feet tall. 9 a.m. [Free]

- “Style Wars: The Original Hip Hop Documentary” screens at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. 6:30 p.m. [Free]

- The veteran Bronx graffiti artist COPE2 has a show opening at Krause Gallery on the Lower East Side. 7 p.m. [Free]

- Celebrate International Day of Puppetry at the Society of the Educational Arts on the Lower East Side with puppets, food and dancing. 7 p.m. [$15].

- Benji Hughes, composer of “I Went With Some Friends to See the Flaming Lips” and other tales of modern life, plays Joe’s Pub. 11:30 p.m., also Saturday. [$15]

IN THE NEWS

- The Citi Bike program is losing lots of money and needs tens of millions to stay afloat. [Wall Street Journal]

- A 14-year-old shot a man dead in an argument on a city bus in Brooklyn, the police said. [New York Times]

- The mayor has steadily found ways to impose his uncompromising liberalism onto New York City. [New York Times]

- He also vowed reforms on Rikers Island. [New York Times]

- There’s been a steady rise in the abandoning of pet rabbits in New York City. [DNAinfo]

- The teenager who sneaked to the top of 1 World Trade Center slipped through a fence hole 12 inches square. [New York Times]

- Bodega cat connoisseurs, your March bracket has arrived. [WNYC]

- Scoreboard: Devils conquer Wild, 4-3 in overtime. Yankees top Red Sox, 4-3. Mets beat Braves, 7-6.

THE WEEKEND

Saturday

- If the outdoors beckons, there’s plenty to do: you can take an introduction to bird-watching in Prospect Park at noon. [Free] …

- … Help install “tree guards” that keep deer from nibbling and otherwise damaging trees, at Orchard Park in the Bronx. 9 a.m. [Free] …

- … Or go on a guided two-hour hike through the green heart of Staten Island. 10 a.m. [Free] …

- Welcome spring with a frittata with pickled ramp vinaigrette at the Wave Hill House in the Bronx. 11 and 11:30 a.m. [$45]

- A record store in Carroll Gardens, Black Gold, will sell about about 3,500 records for a dollar each.

- Hitchcock galore: A complete retrospective of the director’s films continues at Film Forum. [$13 a film] …

- … And 20 short films he made for television all weekend at The Paley Center for Media in Midtown. [$10]

- Scarier still: A documentary about the world’s water wars at the Center for Remembering and Sharing near Union Square. (It’s U.N. World Water Day). 4 p.m. [Free]

Sunday

- First day of Macy’s annual flower show at Herald Square. Flower manicures in the Impulse Department at 1 p.m. Next week: Zyrtec’s “beauty secrets to combat Allergy Face ™” on the Cosmetics Main Floor.

- Last day for the annual “G.L.B.T. Expo” at the Javits Center, featuring business and nonprofits, from the International Gay Rodeo Association to the Provincetown tourism board. [$17]

- Hear Duke Ellington’s sacred music at Carnegie Hall. 3 p.m. [$7.50 and up]

- What’s cooking: Colman Andrews and Ruth Reichl talk about Mr. Andrews’s new book, “My Usual Table,” at Powerhouse Arena in Dumbo. 7 p.m. [Free, R.S.V.P.]

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

- And if you’re looking for stuff to do outside New York City, The Times’s Metropolitan section has suggestions for Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Joseph Burgess contributed reporting.

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