WORLD PREMIERE

With little time and even littler budget, a directing duo attempt to finish their indie movie - but at what cost? Two is a meta-fictitious film that was principally shot in two days, a dark comic satire of gender and power dynamics in the film industry created with an ensemble cast of some of the greatest up and coming comedic talent. 

Screening followed by Q & A moderated by special guest

In the heart of a bustling Times Square kitchen, dreams and desperation collide as the back-of-house staff each chase the elusive American dream. When money goes missing from the till, the spotlight falls on Pedro (Briones), a passionate dreamer entangled in a tumultuous love affair with Julia (Mara), a waitress grappling with her own commitments. As tensions rise and shocking revelations unfold, the relentless pace of the kitchen threatens to shatter the hopes and aspirations of those who keep it running. It's a high-stakes drama that explores the intersection of the personal ambition and systemic exploitation of undocumented immigrant workers within the pressure-cooker environment of a Times Square New York restaurant.

Screening followed by Q & A.

NEW YORK PREMIERE

After a mysterious incident, a mid-20s non-binary sex worker must consider making a life-altering decision during one late summer weekend in New York City.

Screening followed by Q & A.

NEW YORK PREMIERE

A troubled lesbian, experiencing intrusive sexual thoughts, confronts her girlfriend and the men of her nightmares.

Screening followed by Q & A with director.

SHORTS BLOCK 4

The Stew is almost ready, but there is one thing missing…

Screening followed by Q & A with director.

SHORTS BLOCK 4

Two siblings meander around at a dreadful family funeral. Neither of them have an easy time connecting with their family and desperately stick to each other’s side, but at least their family isn’t boring.

Screening followed by Q & A with director.

SHORTS BLOCK 4

NEW YORK PREMIERE

PITCHER/CATCHER is a VHS-shot movie about a washed up baseball player and his last shot at glory.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 4

NEW YORK PREMIERE

LOLO is a short film with no dialogue.

The story is of an estranged relationship between mother and daughter. The film is framed by the mother’s memory, and what the mother does not know or cannot understand about the life of her daughter she fills with her worst fears.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 4

A fame-obsessed young woman fabricates a conspiracy to jump-start her career.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 4

How a thought travels from upstairs, down into the Tube station- but it can't get on a train, it's a thought.

Screening followed by Q & A with director and cast.

SHORTS PROGRAM 4

NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director Dhara Wright and Steven T. Hanley of Deeper Into Movies are given the opportunity to rummage Avon Video, a London video store left abandoned for about 20 years.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 4

NEW YORK PREMIERE

HEY LOVER is a 2024 slideshow exhibition of black and white photographs taken between 2017 and 2024 by artist Marcus Maddox. With 65 images, Maddox explores the intimately personal relationships in his life in New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Nashville. The photographic sequence is a movement from a blissful, idealized version of youth—to a melancholy, dark interior of those same young subjects. In the end, what appears to be sweet isn’t so sunny after all. Inspired by the titling structure of Topographical poetry from the Romantic era, all of the picture titles in Hey lover cite a specific location and time. The titles, mostly written in verse, suggest emotional states too. This makes the work all the more personal and psychological, while rising to the effect of poetry.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 4

NEW YORK PREMIERE

A Tap Dancer prepares for her final performance.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 4

NEW YORK PREMIERE

BITS follows a young woman in small town Montana who catches the attention of a serial killer on the hunt. When his pursuit ends abruptly, the young woman is overcome with rejection. Pining for closure, she struggles to untangle feelings of neglect and desire.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 4

 Quite possibly the most rare and collectable of Michael M. Bilandic’s work, NRG2000 is a surreal, ecstasy fuelled, collage of Eurodance music videos, first person shooter video games, forgotten rave dances, familiar (and unfamiliar) ducks, cruise ship furries, Na’vi, Fred Flintstone and more. Innovatively edited by Stephen Gurewitz, this found footage film was originally commissioned for the Spectacle Theater’s 2019 “Mike Madness” retrospective.

WORLD PREMIERE

Rose's father has just died. He had a "touch" to him that she seems to share, and she isn't sure what to do with it as it begins to creep into her life. Her mother, Annie, was always outside this connection her daughter and husband had - now that he's gone Rose is farther away than ever. They move to a place where James Dean died on a notoriously dangerous road. Rose starts seeing strange things all around her and slowly deteriorates, while Annie learns about the death of an unknown girl at the famous intersection and begins a kind of communion with her - the one person she can give love to. Rose and Annie are finally led back to each other, with help from the one person they never expected. 

NEW YORK PREMIERE

The music video for Emily Allan’s Steps to Destruction.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 3

NEW YORK PREMIERE

A broken-hearted filmmaker finds meaning as he documents punk band Show Me The Body record their latest album.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 3

NEW YORK PREMIERE

Down on her luck, aimless young Molly must sell her bunnies. She meets Leftaris, the perfect customer: a delusional magician. This chance encounter leads them down a rabbit hole of deception. Who exactly is pulling a trick on who?

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 3

NEW YORK PREMIERE

Peering into the struggles of interconnected lives, a city grows lonesome by selfish attempts to get ahead.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 3

NEW YORK PREMIERE

A cowboy earns the favor of a rancher’s daughter, but can’t keep his eyes off his horse.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 3

NEW YORK PREMIERE

A preacher’s repressed daughter develops a crush on a visiting salesman.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 3

NEW YORK PREMIERE

A search by the lost. An older woman, Clara, cannot find her way to a child's birthday party. Interactions with strangers reveal the chasm between herself and the world around her.  Wandering the city, Clara is in movement but covers little distance. 

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 3

The music video for Maya Hawke’s Dark.

Screening followed by Q & A

SHORTS PROGRAM 3

NEW YORK PREMIERE

There has been a shooting at pop-superstars The E’s sold-out stadium show. The band is in lockdown in their hotel suite, detached from the outside world and without their phones. They have only each other to get them through the night. They are reeling from the tragedy in different ways - through anxiety, dissociation, paranoia - while united in grief. When a tragedy like this occurs, the world is watching, waiting for a response. The band’s social media is skyrocketing, they’re trending in the news… Their celebrity is cemented. Though the circumstances of their newfound fame are horrific, someone will seize the spotlight.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 3

NEW YORK PREMIERE

APPLIANCE follows Sophie Weiss, whose house and its malfunctioning appliances become extensions of her biological self deconstruction. Just after a week of moving into her new home, Sophie's sense of reality takes on a distorted form as she begins to believe her house is living and breathing around her. Perhaps a result of her isolation? The side effect of a fertility treatment? Or even an outside antagonist? Appliance makes light of the disturbing history shaping the American delusion that homeownership is both an accessible tool for social mobility and a means by which one can value their self-worth.

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 3

This film documents the legendary SoHo restaurant and artists' cooperative Food, which opened in 1971. Owned and operated by Caroline Goodden, Food was designed and built largely by Matta-Clark, who also organized art events and performances there. As a social space, meeting ground and ongoing art project for the emergent downtown artists' community, Food was a landmark that still resonates in the history and mythology of SoHo in the 1970s.

Screening followed by Q & A with artist Lucien Smith, who is opening a new FOOD restaurant, and filmmaker Zachary Graves-Miller, moderated by Jessamyn Fiore, Co-Director of the Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark.

WORLD PREMIERE

The Ion Pack, New York City’s once-anonymous Instagram trolls of the downtown film world, talk with filmmakers as they contemplate life, love and longing in the city of 8 million stories.

Screening followed by Q & A with director, The Ion Pack, Caveh Zahedi, and Lucien Smith.

NEW YORK PREMIERE

A sexless couple, paranoid about the status of their relationship, embraces surveillance, spying and performance as a means to fall in love again, in this absurd, high-concept comedy.

Screening followed by Q & A with director, moderated by special guest.

NEW YORK PREMIERE

A legendary acting teacher (Eric Roberts) relentless pursuit of perfection pushes an overly eager student (Conlan Kisilewicz) into the dark depths of his own psyche. As the student becomes engulfed in a masochistic and obsessive acting 'method', the lines between reality and performance blur. Soon, the series of events takes a criminal turn, leaving the audience questioning... Where does the act end and reality begin?

Screening followed by Q & A.

SHORTS PROGRAM 2