French film festival
“Quatre étoiles,” today and tomorrow, 3, 5 and 7 p.m.; “Selon Charlie,” Wed. and Thu., 3, 5 and 7 p.m.; “L'homme de sa vie,” Fri. and Sat., 3 and 5 p.m.; “Transylvania,” Sun. and Mon., 3 and 5 p.m.; “Le serpent,” June 17 and 18, 3, 5 and 7 p.m., Variedades Theater.

Santos y Zurdo in concert
Manuel Obregón (piano), Federico Miranda (guitar) and Nelson Segura (bass), 9:30 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro.

Early Music Festival
Baroque guitar master class with Antonio Corona, UCR Art School , Room 107, 2 p.m.; inaugural concert by Syntagma Musicum , Spain Cultural Center, 7 p.m.; tomorrow María Luisa Morales plays sonatas by Antonio Soler and Domenic Scarlatti, Spanish Cultural Center, 7 p.m.; Dúo Ambriz-Corona, soprano voice and Baroque guitar, Mexican Institute, 7 p.m.; on Thu., talk on 18th century Spanish dances and music with María Luisa Morales, UCR Arts School, Room 107, 6 p.m.; Fri. Grupo Ganassi performs opera “Venid, venid deidades,” Spanish Cultural Center, 7 p.m. Info: 2271-4090, maria.vargascullell@ucr.cr.ac.cr.

Transit officials closed Costa Rica's Caribbean-bound Braulio Carrillo Highway because of landslides, the online daily Nacion.com reported yesterday evening.

The highway, which runs from San José through mountains to Caribbean flatlands, has experienced landslides at two points: near the bridge over River Sucio and by a railway 5 kilometers away, going toward the port city of Limón.

To avoid the blockage, motorists are recommended to use alternate routes to Turrialba or Sarapiquí, according to Nacion.com.

Wal-Mart-owned supermarket chain Más x Menos opened a new branch in Santa Ana, west of San José, on Friday and will hire 76 employees from the surrounding area.

“It's a great joy for Más x Menos to inaugurate this new point of sale in the Santa Ana canton, a zone that is experiencing large commercial and urban development in recent years,” said Eugenio Dobles, format director for the Más x Menos division of Wal-Mart Central America in Costa Rica. “With this opening, we are looking to bring our products and the best prices to this San José community.”

The Santa Ana location is the 24th Más x Menos store opened since the supermarket chain first set up shop in 1960.

Measuring 1,395 square meters, the supermarket will offer 18,000 different products – from fruits and veggies to a selection of meat and household goods.

The new Más x Menos is located 400 meters north of the Red Cross office in Santa Ana. It will be open from 7 a.m.-12 a.m. Monday-Saturday and 7 a.m.-9 p.m. on Sunday.

The Early Music Festival begins today in San José, featuring Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque sounds and instruments, and an 18th century Peruvian opera premiere.

“Early music” usually connotes a period in Western music that ranges from the Middle Ages to around 1750, the year Johann Sebastian Bach died.

The festival commences with Costa Rican ensemble Syntagma Musicum, who will perform material from the baroque and colonial Latin American period (7 p.m. at the Spanish Cultural Center).

The early music celebration continues through Friday with free concerts at the center as well as the Mexican Institute and the University of Costa Rica (UCR) Art School.

Featured artists include Mexico's Dúo Ambriz-Corona – soprano Lourdes Ambriz and baroque guitarist Antonio Corona – and Spanish clavier player María Luisa Morales.

Friday's finale raises the curtain for Costa Rican Grupo Ganassi, rendering “ Venid, venid deidades,” an opera composed by Fray Esteban Ponce de León in 1749, making its Costa Rican debut (7 p.m. at the Spanish Cultural Center).

(See the What's Happening listing for a full program.)