Moon Garden (2022)

“When a little girl has a terrible accident and slips into a coma, she finds herself thrust into a darkly surreal industrial dreamworld. Haunted by a nightmarish spectre that feeds off her tears, she must follow her mother’s radio-static voice to find her way back to consciousness. Shot on expired 35mm film stock with vintage rehoused lenses, MOON GARDEN is a fantastical odyssey and a visionary, handcrafted, and fully practical work of art that shows how a child can shine light even in the darkest places.”

The Eight Mountains (2022)

“An epic journey of friendship and self-discovery set in the breathtaking Italian Alps, The Eight Mountains is a landmark cinematic experience as intimate as it is monumental, as deep as it is expansive. Adapting the award-winning novel by Paolo Cognetti, directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch (The Broken Circle Breakdown) portray through observant detail and stunning landscape photography the profound, complex relationship between Pietro (Luca Marinelli) and Bruno (Alessandro Borghi), who first meet as children when Pietro’s Milan family vacations in an isolated village at the base of the Alpine slopes. As they mature, Pietro becomes estranged from his business-minded father (Filippo Timi) even as Bruno—emotionally abandoned by his own father—takes up the role of surrogate son. Pietro’s father’s death reunites the two in realizing his dream of constructing a cabin on the Alps, and the project and subsequent explorations of the awe-inspiring mountain range bond Pietro and Bruno in a shared purpose. Yet despite their connection, the purity of nature and the demands of society both threaten to drive the men to pursue different, possibly irrevocably divergent paths on the vertiginous terrain of life. Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.”

Other People’s Children (2022)

“When dedicated high school teacher Rachel (Virginie Efira) falls in love with Ali (Roschdy Zem), it’s not long before she also falls for his 4-year-old daughter Leila. The adolescent giddiness of Rachel and Ali’s late night rendezvous and secret sleepovers evolves into the familiar warmth of family picnics and after-school pickups. Although she feels like a mother, Rachel is not allowed to forget that Lelia is another woman’s daughter. She begins to long for a child of her own, but as a forty-something woman, she is abundantly aware that she has limited time to begin a family. Rachel must decide whether to embrace the inherent entanglements of her current situation, including the looming presence of Ali’s ex-wife Alice (Chiara Mastroanni) or strike out again on her own. Other People’s Children becomes a soulful, sexy, and resolutely grown-up story of the elusive quest for agency and belonging.”

BlackBerry (2023)

“The “true story” of the meteoric rise & catastrophic demise of the world’s first smartphone, BLACKBERRY is a whirlwind ride through a ruthlessly competitive Silicon Valley at breakneck speeds.”

Trenque Lauquen (Part 1 & Part 2, 2023)

Only on/
Sunday, May 28th at 2 p.m./

This program includes an intermission/
Part 1: 128 minutes &
Part 2: 132 minutes/

“From El Pampero Cine, the collective behind La Flor, comes a labyrinthine tale of obsessive pursuit and the quest for personal freedom . . . The search for a missing woman unspools in two unexpectedly interconnected parts in Laura Citarella’s playful new feature. The missing woman is Laura (Laura Paredes), a biologist cataloging plant species in and around the Argentinean city of Trenque Lauquen. The men searching for her: Rafael, her boyfriend, and Ezequiel, a coworker who has come to mean more to her in recent days. But in order to uncover the truth of Laura’s disappearance, a profusion of mysteries must be explored. There’s the question of love letters hidden in books in the local library, the discovery of a new species of flower, and then there’s the mysterious being, rumored to be haunting the lake at the center of town.”

Monica (2022)

“The intimate portrait of a woman who returns home to care for her dying mother. A delicate and nuanced story of a fractured family, the story explores universal themes of abandonment, aging, acceptance, and redemption.”

Plan 75 (2022)

“In a near dystopian future, Japan’s government launches PLAN 75, a program encouraging the elderly to terminate their own lives to relieve its rapidly aging population’s social and economic burdens. In Chie Hayakawa’s remarkable and sensitive feature film debut, the lives of three ordinary citizens intersect in this new reality as they confront the crushing callousness of a world ready to dispose of those no longer deemed valuable. Legendary Japanese actress Chieko Baishō stars as a 78-year-old Michi who considers signing up for the program after losing her meager but fulfilling hotel job and the means to live independently. A young Plan 75 salesman Himoru (Hayato Isomura) initially believes in the program’s benefits and serves as the human face of the program. And Maria (Stephanie Arianne), a Filipino care worker living overseas, reluctantly accepts a position with PLAN 75 to send money home to her ailing daughter. On the surface, the plan and its hawkers exude a kindness that serves as the film’s chilling vision of bureaucratic indifference and our increasing loss of interconnectedness. However, Hayakawa’s view is far from grim, as these characters soon learn to fully reckon with their own lives and what it truly means to live.”

Those Who Remained (2019)

“Having survived the camps, 42-year old Aldó lives a solitary life as a doctor in Budapest. 16-year old Klára lives reluctantly with her great-aunt, holding on to hope that her father and mother will return. She meets Aldó, and soon the two of them find something in each other that has long been absent in their lives. As they grow closer and closer, the joy in both of their lives slowly returns. But as the Soviet Empire rises to power in Hungary, their pure and loving father-daughter relationship is misunderstood and frowned upon. A lyrical story of the healing power of love in the midst of conflict, loss and trauma, Those Who Remained reveals the healing process of Holocaust survivors through the eyes of a young girl in post-World War II Hungary.”

De Humani Corporis Fabrica (2022)

“Five centuries ago, anatomist André Vésale opened up the human body to science for the first time in history. Today, De Humani Corporis Fabrica opens the human body to the cinema. It reveals that human flesh is an extraordinary landscape that exists only through the gaze and attention of others. As places of care, suffering and hope, hospitals are laboratories that connect every body in the world.”

Human Flowers of Flesh (2021)

“After a stirring encounter with the French Foreign Legion, Ida (Dogtooth’s Angeliki Papoulia), sets sail with her own corps of five men, none of whom speak the same language, to trace the route of this fabled troop. Their voyage will take them from Marseille to Corsica and finally to Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, the historical headquarters of the Legion. Along the way, boundaries blur. Life at sea produces a special kind of mutual understanding. A legionnaire of yore makes an about-face. In her spellbinding follow-up to the critically acclaimed Drift, Helena Wittmann invites us to relinquish control and join her on a Mediterranean voyage unlike any other.”

The Taking (2021)

“A radical examination of Monument Valley’s representation in cinema and advertising, THE TAKING scrutinizes how a site located on sovereign Navajo land came to embody the fantasy of the “Old West.” ”

Joyland (2022)

“The debut feature from writer-director Saim Sadiq, JOYLAND explores the many sides of love and desire in a patriarchal society. Gentle and timid, Haider (Ali Junejo) lives with his wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq), his father, and his elder brother’s family in Lahore, Pakistan. Following a long spell of unemployment, Haider finally lands a job at a Bollywood-style burlesque, telling his family he is a theater manager, when in actuality, he is a backup dancer. The unusual position shakes up the steadfast traditional dynamics of his household and enables Haider to break out of his shell. As he acclimates to the new job, Haider becomes infatuated with the strong-willed trans woman Biba (Alina Khan) who runs the show—an unforeseen partnership that opens his eyes and ultimately his worldview, in ways both unexpected and intimate.”

Showing Up (2022)

“A sculptor preparing to open a new show must balance her creative life with the daily dramas of family and friends, in Kelly Reichardt’s vibrant and captivatingly funny portrait of art and craft.”

Little Richard: I Am Everything (2022)

“LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard’s complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon’s life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions. In interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the film reveals how Richard created an art form for ultimate self-expression, yet what he gave to the world he was never able to give to himself. Throughout his life, Richard careened like a shiny cracked pinball between God, sex and rock n’ roll. The world tried to put him in a box, but Richard was an omni being who contained multitudes – he was unabashedly everything. Directed by Lisa Cortés, LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING is produced by Robert Friedman, Cortés, Liz Yale Marsh and Caryn Capotosto and Executive Produced by Dee Rees.”

Sick of Myself (2022)

“SICK OF MYSELF is a delightfully naughty, ‘unromantic’ Norwegian comedy from filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli and the producers of The Worst Person In The World. Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp) and Thomas (Eirik Sæther) are in an unhealthy, competitive relationship that takes a vicious turn when Thomas suddenly breaks through as a contemporary artist. In response, Signe makes a desperate attempt to regain her status by creating a new persona hell-bent on attracting attention and sympathy.”

R.M.N. (2022)

“Award-winning director Cristian Mungiu’s (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days) gripping portrait of ethnic and economic resentments tearing at the fabric of a small mountain town.”

Smoking Causes Coughing (2022)

“A wildly inventive new comedy from Quentin Dupieux (MANDIBLES, RUBBER), SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING follows the misadventures of a team of five superheroes known as the Tobacco Force – Benzene (Gilles Lellouche), Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Methanol (Vincent Lacoste), Mercury (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammonia (Oulaya Amamra). After a devastating battle against a diabolical giant turtle, the Tobacco Force is sent on a mandatory week-long retreat to strengthen their decaying group cohesion. Their sojourn goes wonderfully well until Lézardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to annihilate planet Earth.”

Actors (2022)

“In this satirical docu-fiction hybrid, actor-filmmaker Peter Vack (Assholes) decides to re-identify as female to maintain relevance in the art and entertainment world. This horrifies Peter’s sister (writer-director Betsey Brown) and makes her spiral deep into a mania of sibling rivalry as she desperately searches for her own artistic voice. A provocative cautionary tale of white cis male fragility and the lengths some will go to keep their seat at the table.”

How to Blow Up A Pipeline (2022)

“A crew of young environmental activists execute a daring mission to sabotage an oil pipeline in this taut and timely thriller that is part high-stakes heist, part radical exploration of the climate crisis.”

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (2022)

“A giant talking frog and an elusive cat help a listless bank employee, his traumatized wife, and a lonely accountant seek meaning in their lives and possibly save Tokyo from catastrophe in the animated feature Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. Based on stories by acclaimed Japanese author Haruki Murakami (Drive My Car), this feature debut by composer Pierre Földes won the Jury Special Mention award at the renowned Annecy Animation Film Festival and the Grand Prize at the Anima Festival in Brussels. In Tokyo, not long after the 2011 earthquake, Kyoko suddenly leaves her husband Komura after spending five days glued to the news on TV. Komura takes a week’s leave from work and heads north to deliver a box and its unknown contents to two young women. His colleague Katagiri, a simple debt collector by profession and an awkward loner in life, returns home one evening to find a 7-foot-tall frog asking for his help to save Tokyo from a tsunami. Using an innovative live-action 3D motion capture process, Foldes captures the memories, dreams and visions of these characters as they attempt to rediscover their true selves.”

Return to Seoul (2022)

“After an impulsive travel decision to visit friends, Freddie, 25, returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. Freddie suddenly finds herself embarking on an unexpected journey in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions.”

Walk Up (2022)

“In his ninth film for Hong Sangsoo, Kwon Haehyo plays Byungsoo, a film director who goes with his daughter Jeongsu (Park Miso), an aspiring interior designer, to a building owned by an old friend (Lee Hyeyoung) already established in the design field. She gives them a tour of the property, which includes a restaurant and cooking studio on the first two floors, her office in the basement, a residence on the third floor and an artist’s studio at the top. The three of them amicably chat the day away. But when his daughter leaves to get more wine, Byungsoo is left to spend time with the landlord and the other residents of her building. With Walk Up, Hong Sangsoo returns to an interest in structure that has been a defining characteristic of his work from the beginning. And this time the structure is a literal one. As Byunsgoo makes his way up the floors of the building, Hong fills these spaces with a profusion of everyday details spanning art, love, career, religion, dietary decisions and home renovations.”

A Thousand and One (2023)

“A THOUSAND AND ONE follows unapologetic and free-spirited Inez (Teyana Taylor), who kidnaps her six-year-old son Terry from the foster care system. Holding onto their secret and each other, mother and son set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability, in a rapidly changing New York City.”

Rebellion (2021)

“BAFTA Nominee. The first feature-length documentary to tell the behind-the-scenes story of Extinction Rebellion, whose peaceful demonstrations in 2019 bring London to a standstill and become the largest act of civil disobedience since the Suffragettes.”

What’s Love Got To Do With It? (2022)

“How do you find lasting love in today’s world? For documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr. Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath’s (Emma Thompson) dismay. For Zoe’s childhood friend and neighbor Kaz (Shazad Latif), the answer is to follow his parents’ example and opt for an arranged (or “assisted”) marriage to a bright and beautiful bride from Pakistan. As Zoe films his hopeful journey from London to Lahore to marry a stranger, chosen by his parents, she begins to wonder if she might have something to learn from a profoundly different approach to finding love.”

We Might As Well Be Dead (2021)

Starts June 2nd/

“A tower block on the edge of a forest, people hoping to join the building’s community as it is one of the last bastions of civilization in a world that has fallen apart.”

Final Curtain Call (short film, 2023)

Starts June 2nd/

“A gifted young organist struggles to endure the violent world around him. Inspired by the life of Radio City Music Hall’s Chief Organist, Ray Bohr.”

Falcon Lake (2022)

Starts June 2nd/

“Bastien and Chloé spend their summer vacation with their families at a lake cabin in Quebec, haunted by a ghost legend. Despite the age gap between them, the two teenagers form a singular bond. Ready to overcome his worst fears to earn a place in Chloé’s heart, the holiday becomes a turbulent pivotal moment for the young boy.”

Devilreaux (2023)

Starts June 9th/

Tickets on sale soon/

“A series of murders in 1800s will be avenged by forbidden voodoo, woken up accidentally by a group of teenagers.”

Kim Kahana: The Man Who Changed Hollywood (2023)

Starts June 11th/

“Kim Kahana: The Man who Changed Hollywood an independent docudrama chronicling the life and career of legendary Hollywood stuntman Kim Kahana. The film, directed by Frank Sollecito offers an intimate and personal look at the extraordinary life of Kahana, who rose to fame as a stuntman and actor in the 1970s and 1980s. Known for his incredible athleticism and fearless approach to performing dangerous stunts, Kahana worked on over 300 movies and television shows throughout his career.. Kim Kahana: The Man who changed Hollywood combines archival footage, interviews with Kahana’s family, friends and student alumni from his famed stunt school. Starring James Duval and using reenactments of some of his most memorable stunts to create a compelling portrait of a man who pushed the boundaries of what was possible in Hollywood and the safety measures he implied in the industry.”

“Shockagogo Film Fest is back! Thursday, June 22nd at the Lumiere Cinema at the Music Hall from 6pm ’til Late! Special guests include William Crain (director of Blacula & Dr. Black & Mr. Hyde) & Brinke Stevens (Slumber Party Massacre) who will presenting “The Night Jane Went Insane” by Count the Clock Productions & Victor Bonacore’s Thrust! (with Victor & Linnea Quigley in Person) Tickets are only $15 presale! Get yours now, this will sell out. Please share & Invite people :)”

Special Guests:
Jim Wynorski (director of Chopping Mall)
William Crain (director of Blacula)
Linnea Quiqley (Return of the Living Dead)
Brinke Stevens (Slumber Party Massacre)
Victor Bonacore (director of Thrust)
and more!

Film Line Up:
6pm – Shock Shorts
7pm – Chopping Mall (dir. Jim Wynorski in Person)
8:15pm – Thrust! (director Victor Bonacore & star Linnea Quigley in Attendance)
10:15pm – Blacula (dir. William Crain in Person)

Short Films Include:
The Night Jane Went Insane (starring Brinke Stevens) Count the Clock Productions (9 mins.)
Miracle Baby – Meg Welch (9:55)
Spirits – Matthew Catazano (8:38)
Peanut Butter And Zombie – Matthew Close (5:22)
The Devoted – by Gabrielle Paciorek (3:11)
Present – by Gavin T. Briggs (5 mins.)
Blood Thirsty – Kevin Barile (10:30)

Friday, June 23rd, 7:30 p.m. /

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)

“In the town of Twin Peaks, everyone has their secrets—but especially Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). In this prequel to his groundbreaking 1990s television series, David Lynch resurrects the teenager found wrapped in plastic at the beginning of the show, following her through the last week of her life and teasing out the enigmas that surround her murder. Homecoming queen by day and drug-addicted thrill seeker by night, Laura leads a double life that pulls her deeper and deeper into horror as she pieces together the identity of the assailant who has been terrorizing her for years. Nightmarish in its vision of an innocent torn apart by unfathomable forces, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is nevertheless one of Lynch’s most humane films, aching with compassion for its tortured heroine—a character as enthralling in life as she was in death.”

Saturday, June 24th, 7:30 p.m. /

Lost Highway (1997)

“For the 25th Anniversary Janus Films has commissed a 4K restoration supervised by David Lynch. The mysterious nature of identity is the subject of this surreal psychological thriller filled with desperate men, faithless women, expensive cars and cheap motels. Radical when it was originally released, even for a David Lynch film, Lost Highway is not only about the human psyche, it actually seems to take place inside the psyche. It is gripped right through the shattering, unforgettable ending. Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Robert Blake and Balthazar Getty star. From the director of Mulholland Drive, Wild at Heart, Inland Empire, Eraserhead and Blue Velvet.”