FILMS ARCHIVE
#womensmarch
Three women sit down to talk about making her-story.
100/100 THE ITINERANT PORTRAITIST
In 2017, the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale, NY, turned 100. Over the course of that year, portraitist Brenda Zlamany painted 100 of its elderly residents in an effort to engage them as participants in her artistic process.
A History of Sitting in Waiting Rooms
“A History of Sitting in Waiting Rooms (or whatever longer title you prefer)” is the coming of age story you never knew you wanted. Meet Lorenita: a rambunctious six-year-old with six cavities. One for each letter in her name no one can pronounce. Lorenita is a butch Latina fighting to find herself in the cacophony of Queens, NY in the 90s. With the help of her imaginary best friend, Boo, a civil war ghost, Lorenita will poorly navigate the drawn-out pains of puberty.
A LETTER FROM GREENPOINT
In February 2004, after 30 years of my life in SoHo, I made a decision to leave SoHo and move to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This video is about what it feels like to leave a place in which one has spent more time than any other place, and which was also the place of my family life. I am somewhere else now. It’s about beginning of growing roots in a new place, new home, with new friends, new thoughts, experiences.
A PIONEERING PROJECT
The ‘Silvi-Pastoril’ in the Ourobranco fazenda located in Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil) is the largest plant of this kind in South America. This pioneering project allows for two fantastic results in the agro-food field: increasing grazing productivity, and at the same time a great environmental sustainability thanks to the capture of greenhouse gas emissions and their subsequent conversion into oxygen.
This film shows the positive effects that such a system could have on our environment and suggests a possible perspective on the future of food production.
ACE
Playing cards come to life and compete for the ACE. They quickly learn that the deck is stacked against them.
Achromatism
My documentary is about the way black hijabis are represented in the media through dance. I plan to enlighten people’s knowledge on us black hijabis through a preformative and cinematic documentary.The media is extremely biased in who they want to present to the public and I find that unfair. We work just as hard as others so why is our talent pushed aside?
Aguilucho: Dance of the Harpy Eagle
The discovery of a rare Harpy Eagle nestling on their land reawakens a relationship between an Embera community in the remote Darien Gap in Panama and the endangered raptor species.
ALINA
As Nazis separate children from their parents in the Warsaw Ghetto, a gang of women risks everything to smuggle their friend’s three-month-old baby to safety. Inspired by true events.
AMADI COMES HOME
When two female childhood friends announce their adoption of an Ethiopian boy over a celebratory dinner, the evening takes a heated turn as guests debate raising a black boy by white parents in present-day America.
AMERICAN MARRIAGE
Leonardo, a New York Italian immigrant facing deportation fakes a marriage with Hispanic single mother Nikki to get American citizenship. Will they be able to trick the government?
And Along Came Lily
And Along Came Lily is an intimate story following a young woman’s journey to understanding the mythical orgasm. Media often portrays sex as all “sexy” “fun” and “adventurous”, but it rarely dives into how complicated and stressful trying to “find” pleasure in the bedroom is. Lily is a sheltered Midwesterner struggling with what it means for her to have pleasure and with the help of her best friend Rachel, what that journey looks like.
ART OF HEALING
Engaging with art and artmaking can profoundly impact our mental, emotional and physical health. In this short-form documentary, we hear stories about how one museum’s Art and Wellness programs have turned that truth into transformative action.
Astonishing Little Feet
Afong Moy, the first documented Chinese woman to come to the United States, realizes the men who separated her from her family only have interest in profiting off the peculiarities of her bound feet.
BACON N’ LACES
A single dad of three boys manages a diner. But, there’s more to John than meets the eye.
Bad Blood
On an Autumn Friday, 10-year-old Olivia receives her period for the first time. However, she shields the truth from her mother, Sharon, and her older sister, Andrea, in hopes of attending a sleepover at the family’s church. Blind to her young sister’s experience, Andrea continues to defy her mother’s wishes as she searches for freedom and her identity outside of their family unit. Unable to communicate as they wish they could, these two sisters find themselves navigating their coming-of-age stories as they try to overcome the guilt of their shame together.
BALANCE
A young man in a sexually frustrated relationship ventures out to find satisfaction and gets more than he bargains for.
BALL & VASE
Professor and magician Ed Coleman is ailing. He is 92 years old, widowed, a World War II veteran and living alone in a small apartment in Hoboken, NJ. He has been all but forgotten. Ed does have one thing that keeps him going—an upcoming visit by his grandson on Christmas. But a change plans leaves Ed with one last opportunity to reconnect with the world.
BARNEY’S WALL
The life and work of Barney Rosset, the late founder of Grove Press and the Evergreen Review, is laid bare by family and friends as they enter his home and office to interpret one of his last and most personal works: a giant, abstract mural.
BEAR-LIKE
At the far end of the Alaskan peninsula, for filmmaker Roman Droux a childhood dream comes true. He discovers together with the bear researcher David Bittner the universe of wild grizzlies.
BEAUTIFUL
A teenage girl reckons with love and loss as her mother battles a dangerous disease. A story about the enduring bond between mothers and daughters, Beautiful explores the transformative power of resilience.
BEFORE/DURING/AFTER
Jennie Lonergan, a middle-aged NYC theatre actress, is forced to figure out the kind of person she wants to be when her seemingly perfect 15-year marriage comes to an end.
BLACK DRAGON
Vietnam, 1968. A feared American colonel nicknamed “the Black Dragon” by Vietnamese locals must face his inner shadow when his platoon presents him with a captured Vietcong girl who harbors some very unusual powers.
BLUE REVERIE
A woman’s two inner selves recognize each other for the first time.
Bowling 4 Eva
A troubled teen girl spends her time trolling men online and bowling with her grandfather while becoming increasingly medicated by her psychiatrist.
BQGREEN
A doc short about a visionary idea to address the toxic legacy of Robert Moses in Southside Williamsburg.
BreadWinners
Breadwinners is a five-part mini docuseries that examines the complex relationship between New Yorkers and the people who feed them. By focusing on farmers, food distributors, and home cooks, the series explores access to sustenance, the power of land, and the magic of community.
Episode 4 features Raina Kennedy – co-owner and sourcer for Brooklyn Packers, a co-op that makeS food more accessible by distributing fresh produce throughout Brooklyn and Queens without the grocery store pricing.
BREAK THROUGH THE ABYSS
A visual symphony of the mind in the abyss beyond our screens.
BROTHERS
While two brothers are on a journey towards a mountain lake, they meet a stranger who helps them rediscover their desire to live.
CARNIVAL
A young, visually impaired woman — accompanied only by her guide dog — sits in a café, reading a novel as she waits for the next bus. Suddenly, a pay phone begins to ring loudly outside. Led by her trusty friend, the young woman then experiences something that can only be described as magical.
CATO’S NAVY & ARMY
In business for over 40 years, Cato’s Army & Navy Store claims that not much has changed since it was founded in 1975. Yet while business has been conducted in the same fashion, much has indeed changed, from the clientele to the neighborhood. Owner and manager Ed Veneziano accounts for the old and the new in this short doc, testifying to the purpose this store has served over the years and his own commitments to the Greenpoint community.
CHANGING THE DISCIPLE
After years of hardship and tragedy, a former gang leader changes his life for the better through yoga and by helping others in need.
CHRISTMAS EVE EVE
A woman goes home for the holidays to Kentucky, where she’s forced to confront an unresolved family trauma.
CHUCK BERRY
CHUCK BERRY tells the story of the Granddaddy of Rock & Roll. In this highly anticipated feature-length documentary, the absolute instigator of Rock and Roll, Chuck Berry is truly revealed with exclusive access to his family, friends, famous fans and music icons he inspired.
CIRCLE OF FOURTHS
When the seasons mysteriously reverse their order, an artist seeks to channel the energy to resurrect her dead husband.
CITY FABLES
A crisis of over-consumption leaves a father and daughter stranded outside a shopping mall. As the pressure mounts on all sides, the family soon find themselves in an absurdist trap of their own making.
CONTAMINATED & FORGOTTEN
A few residents in Anniston have decided to stay in this environmentally toxic town that could very much be the epicenter of a worldwide contamination.
Daddy’s Night
h Mommy out for the night, Daddy invites over Natalie. But when his daughter Betsy wakes up afraid of a monster, can Daddy put her back to bed in time to get in bed with Natalie?
DEATH HOMEWORK
A brother and sister mourn their father’s death through reflection, humor and cannibalism.
DOING MONEY
A Romanian living in London, Ana (Anca Dumitra) is a part-time nursing student and cleaning lady, until one day she is grabbed off the street in broad daylight. Threatened with the life of her mother, she is flown out to Northern Ireland and trafficked through a series of pop-up brothels in the United Kingdom as a sex slave. She soon becomes known to paying customers as a noncompliant girl and survives physical, sexual, and psychological abuse for a year. Authorities (including Downton Abbey’s Allen Leech) track her movements and those of other girls and women like her, but have no case unless someone comes forth to testify against their captors, who exercise brutal and dehumanizing psychological control over them.
DOPO YUMEMORIES
The short documentary explores Dopo Yume, a NYC-based rock band that gained traction in the late 90s, early 00s, but never quite took flight. Told through home videos and present day narration from the band’s lead singer, we experience his memories of the highs and lows, the friendships and community that formed around the music and the role that fate and tragedy played.
DRAMA
The young actor Arthur hopes for his first big success, while director Ruth fights for her last. The theater is on the brink of extinction, the director too, only the young leading actor still has everything ahead of him. The responsibility weighs heavily on his shoulders and four days before the premiere it begins to become apparent what no one wants to admit. While Ruth tries with her last ounce of strength to steer the play in an orderly direction, everything gets out of hand for Arthur.
DROWN THE CLOWN
When a young girl fails to dunk a clown at a county fair, her father steps up to avenge her loss. An escalation ensues, and as the clown’s remarks cut closer to the bone, the father gets more caught up in the game than he intended.
ELEMENTAL
Elemental takes viewers on a journey with the top experts in the nation to better understand fire.
Faith in Blackness
“How can the creator of the universe be smaller than me?” Black Latine people around the world practice a myriad of faith traditions. This short-form documentary explores dynamic identities of these AfroLatine people and their journey for a home, a faith in Blackness.
FAREWELL SYMPHONY
A woman’s journey from defying her family’s gender expectations and migration to the United States, to her life decades later after an accomplished career as a professional cellist.
Feeling the Apocalypse
A psychotherapist struggling with climate anxiety explores what it means to live in a dying world.
Filip
A Polish Jew who found himself in the eye of the storm, lost everything and everyone in Poland, and now just wants to survive.
Film For Aliens
Fourteen-year-old Jeremi is a YouTuber. His father, a space agency employee, promised to show him the launch of a real rocket, but called it off at the very last minute. Instead, he sends the boy to his grandpa’s place in the countryside. To distract Jeremi from spending time on the Internet, his father comes up with a competition. Jeremi receives a package with a small robot that gives him tasks to complete. The boy is supposed to create a message for aliens in the form of a film, which will help to save the world. At first unhappy, Jeremi gradually makes friends with a group of local kids. Together, they make the film until the secret plan comes to light.
FINDING MY VOICE
Dealing with the daily struggles of life, the youth of Bushwick Brooklyn found refuge in My Voice Theatre – A haven for those who don’t have a voice.
FOR HEMINGWAY
A lonely teenage girl learns that she can communicate with her recently deceased uncle through a series of audio cassette tapes. Together, they attempt to escape the oppressive grasp of her desperate mother.
Forgive
Five people from different walks of life are joined by an art therapist whose sister was a victim of sexual violence. Together, they embark on a session in order to alleviate their feelings of guilt and regret. The session unfolds with each participant candidly sharing their deeply-rooted guilt, shedding light on the personal burdens they’ve been carrying. As the session continues, the therapist’s ulterior motive is revealed, prompting all but one participant to leave.
FRANK
After his wife leaves him for a vacuum salesman, Frank takes refuge in routine until a number of chance encounters force him to embrace spontaneity and face the ultimate unknown: Himself.
FRONT STAGE & BACK
Tragic comedic character study of a gay 58 year old, New York actor who has been in more than a hundred totally unheard of films.
Fundamental Shapes
Jacob, an unemployed actor seeking a steady day job, stumbles into an unusual gig: nude figure model for a fine arts class. When his next-door neighbor turns up in the class, he must find a way to keep his identity hidden, and their budding romance intact. A gentle romantic comedy about vulnerability, surprising coincidences, and the unexpected ways we find love.
Go / Don’t Go
A wallflower finds himself the last man alive, or so he thinks.
GOODBYE HOME
A boy must say goodbye to his home and save some animals as a fire ravages the forest around him.
GRAB MY HAND
A personal story of grief, those we look up to, and how the interactions we may deem insignificant may play a huge part in how we live our lives.
GREENING BROOKLYN – KINGSLAND WILDFLOWERS GREEN ROOF
Kingsland Wildflowers is a 20,000-square-foot green roof and community space constructed in the heart of industrial Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in 2016. Learn how this green infrastructure project is improving the surrounding environment and benefiting the local community. The project is a partnership between New York City Audubon, Alive Structures, Newtown Creek Alliance, and Broadway Stages. Funding for the Kingsland Wildflowers Project was provided by the Office of the New York State Attorney General and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation through the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund.
GREENSHIELDS
When an out of work playwright arrives to close up his family’s summer home, the ghost of his great uncle interrupts his seemingly endless solitude.
Hangman
A recently widowed woman works through the complexities of grief with the help of friends, strangers and Tupperware.
HAWAWSHI
When Farida witnesses Eva getting sexually assaulted, she tries to stand up to the harasser. The situation doesn’t go as expected.
Hela
When teenage trouble maker orphan Hela learns that her 5 years old sister has been adopted, she decides to run away from the reformatory to find and kidnap her sibling.
HIDDEN
Maureen comes home to hear suspicious noises coming from her step-daughter’s bedroom. Busting in, Maureen catches Penelope, her stepdaughter, suspecting she was with a boy and he is hiding in the room. Who emerges from hiding is not who Maureen expected, and causes a swift and rippling change in their relationships.
HIGH GROUND
1930. A man deep in debt enters a pole sitting contest, but as the days stretch on he becomes increasingly more paranoid that his wife is having an affair with a stranger in the crowd.
HIGH STREET
Jake, an early twenty-something who still lives at home, walks around his town contemplating his life after a fight with his dysfunctional parents.
HISTORIC BUSHWICK INLET STREAM PAINTING
On October 20, 2018 environmental artist Stacy Levy led a group of volunteer stream painters as they used chalk paint to imagine & trace the paths of historic Bushwick Inlet & Creek from the Inlet, down N 15th Street in Greenpoint Brooklyn. Research & mapping for the creek & connecting underground streams was created by Eymund Diegel. Co-organized by Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park and NYCH2O. Support provided by the North Brooklyn Boat Club and the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund.
HOME MOVIES
After moving back home, a failed comedian interviews her Colombian immigrant parents and recreates their wildest and most touching stories.
HOMEBOUND
After losing her therapy dog, she must muster the courage within, not only to find her dog, but ultimately, to find herself.
Hot Girl
In the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Mia is a young woman in the throws of the female experience and what it means to be a “Hot Girl”, this slice of life takes a look at her social commentary and journey to acceptance.
Hot Tears
When a precocious eighth-grader develops a crush on her older sister’s 20-year-old boyfriend, the line between friendliness and flirtatiousness becomes blurred. Eve finds herself lost in his ambiguous nature. After a mutual attraction forms between the two, Eve has to face the consequences head-on.
Hush
June, a standby dancer, is obsessed with dancing and wants to learn solo choreography with the lead dancer Lauren. However, as soon as she wins the opportunity from Lauren, she is distanced by the group. Thus, she decides to cancel her rehearsal schedule with Lauren and fixes her relationship with the others. When she thinks her life returns to normal, Lauren gets injured during the rehearsal for unclear reasons and has to quit the practice. Feeling guilty about Lauren’s injury, June wants to fill her position as the only person who learned her part to secure the coming show. However, she has to face the same isolation again when she does so.
I WANT YOU BABY
Longing for a baby, an unhinged, young woman concocts a plan to use a dating app to find the perfect man to impregnate her. However, when she chooses a heartbroken Casanova, she soon finds out that a baby might not be the only thing he’s leaving her with.
IN A STATE OF CHANGE
An American photographer and filmmaker living in Iceland romanticizes his own personal connection to glaciers and struggles to discover the true role of beauty in nature for communicating the most critical issue of our time: climate change.
IN SYNC
A young couple walk a fine line while thriving in an open marriage until they catch each other breaking their own rules.
INDIANA
In a state in the American Midwest a tedious reality of isolation and disconnect defines the lives of its people. Imaginative reports of paranormal experiences provide a means for escape. A belief in supernatural entities serves the fight to free themselves from the problems and traumas of everyday life. Old friends Michael and Josh, otherwise known as the Spirit Doctors, take it upon themselves to help people who are troubled by episodes of a supernatural nature.
INTAKE
After an unfortunate incident, a high school senior finds herself participating in a drug and alcohol abuse evaluation with a seasoned administrator.
Interview with Traveler #582
Drawing the power dynamics of a job interview out from behind closed doors, Traveler #582 takes aim at this absurd capitalist ritual and its many tropes. Our satirical short also introduces the world of Third Eye Moonwalk, a secretive spiritual order that has learned to teleport through time and space. Despite their miraculous powers, the organization is mired in debt, suffering from dwindling numbers and struggling to keep the lights on. A seasoned gatekeeper launches a recruitment campaign and interviews Traveler #582 for a middle management position, but his corporate approach frustrates the devotee, who dreamed of a meaningful discussion about truth and enlightenment.
Into The Spotlight
A heartfelt story of how a script, a stage, and a theater program composed of adults with disabilities celebrate their creativity, explore life’s complexities, and empower a community, in their own words and their own way.
It’s Look Sunshine
Young-eun returns to Jeju for her mother’s death anniversary and meets her old friend Seung-hwan on a beach where he is beachcombing.
JACOB
Jacob M. Appel is a recognized professor, doctor, lawyer, bioethicist, and published creative writer. But despite his eccentric, unassuming intellect and wealth of knowledge and nuanced opinions, the man is as humble as he is accomplished.
JOE
A washed up Clown, who is given a second lease on life when a street-wise Scamp reminds him of what it means to be an artist.
JOSE’S SUNDAY PAELLA
José has it all. He’s a successful doctor, he has a loving husband and has built a good life for himself after immigrating to New York City. There’s one thing missing, José desperately wants to make a traditional paella the way he did growing up in Spain.
Joyland
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.
K2 TOG
Two girls sit in two separate chairs deep in the woods. They knit. They make mistakes. One sneezes a few times. Anxiety grows stronger. Will they make it out unscathed?
KILLING EVAN
A poser bass player is forced to find her voice as her punk band’s new lead singer after her abusive ex-boyfriend suddenly dies.
KINGSLAND WILDFLOWERS AT BROADWAY STAGES INTERVIEWS
The Kingsland Wildflowers Green Roof & Community Engagement Center at Broadway Stages is the setting for an ambitious environmental project that promises to transform the most industrial part of Greenpoint. Made possible by a partnership between Broadway Stages, NYC Audubon, Alive Structures and the Newtown Creek Alliance, this project aims at providing education and events for people of all ages and creating natural habitats for local flora and fauna. In these interviews, landscape architect Marni Majorelle and project manager Niki Jackson talk about the already visible impact of Kingsland Wildflowers and prospects for the project’s expansion, including plans for several more green roofs.
LAST FAIR DEAL
A bluesman meets a stranger by a crossroads. He might think he knows how this ends, but he’s wrong.
LAUNDRY NIGHT
A woman descends into a nightmare while trying to do a common household chore.
Leaving Yellowstone
What starts as a romantic trip in the wilderness, turns ugly as Tessa fights for her life in the winter of Yellowstone National Park.
LEFTOVERS
After taking over his family’s Chinatown restaurant, Steven and his pet fish must find a way to survive as a global pandemic sweeps New York City.
LENA
I Am Curious (Yellow) became the highest-grossing foreign-language film in the US between 1969-1992 and it is based on one woman’s unique history. This is a documentary about female artistry and the high price that Lena had to pay for it.
LESYK a.k.a. Words of Wisdom
‘LESYK a.k.a. Words of Wisdom’ is a moving portrait of Alexander Lesyk Balaban, an eccentric Ukraine stamp collector living in Astoria, NY for over fifty years. Told across four seasons and spanning over 1,000 years of history, come spend some time with Lesyk, who’s extensive stamp collection is part of the fight for the survival of Ukraine’s identity and history.
Let My Grandpa into Heaven
Lucas, a six-year old boy, wants to bring his recently deceased grandfather to Heaven after hearing his father say that Grandpa is burning in Hell.
Limbo
Edward, now 28, hasn’t seen his family since he crossed the US-Mexico border on foot 10 years ago. Trapped in the US by a maddening waiting game for citizenship, he grapples with the idea of leaving the life he built in New York behind forever in exchange for a long overdue homecoming. Will Edward reunite with his family or continue on in his self-imposed purgatory?
LOCKED ALONE
Obtaining a new job offer, Catherine finally arrives in New York and ends a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend, Ethan. She moves in a luxury apartment in midtown Manhattan. However, she starts to feel a strange presence that harasses her sexually. Just the second day of arrival, the evil entity locks her in her own apartment. She is completely isolated and has to survive with limited resources. After losing her freedom, she starts to realize how ignorant and ungrateful she was in life. Will Catherine leave her apartment alive?
LOS SURES
In the late 70s and early 80s, Los Sures was one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City. In fact, it had been called the worst ghetto in America. Diego Echeverria’s film skillfully represents the challenges of its time: drugs, gang violence, crime, abandoned real estate, racial tension, single-parent homes, and inadequate local resources. The complex portrait also celebrates the vitality of this largely Puerto Rican and Dominican community, showing the strength of their culture, their creativity, and their determination to overcome a desperate situation. Beautifully restored just in time for the 30th anniversary of the premiere at the New York Festival, this documentary is a priceless piece of New York City history.
LULLABY TO LOVE
Past, present, and future collide when two ex-lovers meet.
Lunchbox
When a Taiwanese American woman prepares lunches from her childhood, she struggles to forgive herself for pushing away her immigrant mother.
Made in Germany
A nearly finished construction site. The wiring is completed, the walls are painted, the final inspections are being done. The construction manager Thomas Zetzsche is proud of his achievement. The prestigious building he created is a modern dream come true. But suddenly that dream begins to crumble as more and more defects appear. Cables run into dead ends, the fire protection malfunctions and entire rooms go missing. Desperately Thomas is trying to fix the building until he finally accepts that the opening date has to be postponed. Now he must confront his own responsibility in this faulty system and draw the necessary consequences.
Made in Heaven
Serena, a closeted lesbian, accidentally finds her mother trying to reconnect with an old boyfriend. She sends her girlfriend to be her mom’s assistant, only to realize her secret can no longer stay hidden.
MARIA EL DIABLO
Maria el Diablo is a surrealist short-doc on the topic of the devastating Hurricane Maria, which made landfall in Puerto Rico fall last year. The piece is a timely reminder of the long-lasting impacts that environmental disasters have on the people whose lives are forever changed by them, and a testament to human resilience and the perspective that can be gained.
MAYDAYTERRANEAN
Maydayterranean is a documentary film portraying the problems of the Mediterranean Sea as well as the beauty it still has to offer.
ME + LEE
Current recluse Theo strikes up a conversation that he didn’t realize he needed with his pizza delivery guy.
Mechanical Bulls
Four wayward twenty-somethings reconnecting after years apart. Taking place over the course of one day, the once close-knit group attempt to confront their personal truths and unresolved issues with each other. Will they recognize each other by the end of the night?
MERCI MECHANICS
Two androgynous French mechanics fix cars by “repairing” the inside of the car…owner.
MICROPLASTIC MADNESS
Microplastic Madness is an optimistic take on the local and global plastic pollution crisis as told through a refreshing urban youth point of view with an inspiring take action message.
MODERN COWGIRL
Quinn, a 22 year-old rebellious Texan who believes she’s more grown up than she actually is, embarks on a road trip from Austin to Dallas when she spies a hitchhiker on the side of the road.
Moth Hunting
Warsaw 1905. A young girl, entangled with independence activists, gets out of prison and is sold to the high-end brothel of Franciszka Szlimakowska. She takes the name “Yvette” and decides to earn money working as a prostitute to go to her beloved in Siberia. She wants to take her life into her own hands, hoping fortune will smile upon her. However, she does not anticipate the coming storm resulting from a political conspiracy of General Margrafsky, the head of Okhrana, a secret police-force of the Russian Empire, carried out with one of the most dangerous men of the Warsaw underworld – a corrupt policeman, Wiktor Grun. Warsaw brothels will fall victim to the conspiracy.
MOUSE
A lonely groundskeeper struggles with the crushing guilt of a local murder, eventually losing himself as he desperately tries to cling onto an innocence he never truly lost.
MY DEAR GOD
Searching for solace after claiming her sister’s ashes, June Bell unearths the painful truth of her sister’s overdose and finds the closure she didn’t know she needed.
NARCISSUS
Under the familial pressure and countless rejections in her career, an Asian American actress blames everything on her appearance and blindly takes action to better herself.
NEULAND
Conflicted by her identity, Amelia Chan is an American-Born-Chinese waitress who is drawn into an unimaginable circumstance by a mysterious man in a black limo.
New Lives
A psychological portrait of a Holocaust survivor navigating the trauma of her past with the pressures of assimilation, in 1950s Brooklyn.
NICODEMUS
Nicodemus, Kansas is the oldest and only remaining all black town west of the Mississippi. This film introduces you to direct descendants of the ex-slaves who helped found the town in 1877.
No Elephant In The Room
Two huge plastic elephants are being pulled down from the top of the colourfully decorated grand are-na of the State Circus of Bucharest. Change has finally become unavoidable for this circus built by the communist regime in 1961. Wild animal shows are suddenly forbidden and with this, the circus loses its main attraction. Long-time animal-training partners Adi and Mioara are left without the occupation that has meant everything to them, and have to see their pupils off to the zoo. The circus is in crisis, so the director makes a risky move: he calls in Adrian, a Vegas show director who works for the famous Cirque du Soleil. Adrian holds casting calls, and now Mioara, Adi and their colleagues are expected to turn an old-school circus into a world-class acrobatic spectacle by the end of the year. Through the stories of the trainers who lose their jobs and are trying to survive in the new reality, the circus becomes a mirror for processes of transition that have been taking place all over East Europe over the past thirty years.
No Other Gods But Me
In the midst of a sexual awakening, a religious teen finally musters up the courage to kiss her crush, but will lust send her straight to h-e-double-hockey-sticks?
Nora
Influenced by Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”, Nora is confronted with her primal urges, when her husband is away on a business trip and she is left home confined to herself.
ODYSSEY
ODYSSEY is a surreal journey story; a wordless, danced film set to the gorgeous music of Cross Record.
Only The Wind
It is the story of an extraordinary journey of 90-year-old Zdzisław, from Krakow to the Kazakh steppe, searching for a woman – his first love that he was forced to leave there 70 years ago. Zdzisław is part of over 300,000 people who were forced to work in Siberia during the war. However, he stands out from the few still living exiles –¬¬¬ he decides to travel back to the deportation place. Zdzisław and his granddaughter will travel 3500 km by train to reach the village of Karasu in Kazakhstan. Zdzisław doesn’t know that a friend he has not seen for 70 years is waiting for him there.
PARTING GLASS
Bonnie is an American on holiday in Ireland to cope with her husband’s recent suicide. She visits a pub and keeps to herself, but is confronted by the pub-owner’s younger sister, who’s intent on finding out why she’s so somber. All the while, two patrons flirt across the bar and the pub owner wrestles with the alleged suicide of a local beloved disabled boy.
PASTALIGHT
An eccentric Italian father and his son set out to start their own pasta sauce company. But can they cut it in the merciless world of New York gourmet?
PICKET FENCE
A high-school student struggles to deal with his new found sexuality among a conservative community.
PINBALL
An orphaned teenager dreams of racing school buses at an infamous speedway. “Pinball,” directed by Naveen Chaubal, is part elliptical character study, part modern fable about a boy with a wild dream who lives a reclusive life outside of town.
POSITIVE
Violet has writer’s block, has decided to start dating again, and on top of that, she tests positive for Herpes.
POUR L’AMOUR
Marlena struggles with a serious marital crisis due to the alcohol addiction of her husband, Zbigniew. Via the Internet, she meets Bruno, a Senegalese, who brings back Marlena’s self-confidence and sense of womanhood. However, it turns out that the man plans something rather different for her than building a relationship with her…
Powerful Stuff
Confronted by the inspiration for his most problematic character, an indie filmmaker fights to save his career at the premiere of his debut feature.
PRATT STUDENT FILMS
The Expanded Cinema course focuses on modes of filmmaking that defy classification. It provides students with the historical and political context for nontraditional uses of the moving image. Students experiment with the visual language of cinema and push the boundaries of their work. Topics may include tactile explorations of the medium, experimental film, video art, fiction/nonfiction hybrid, installation, and new uses of video.
PRISONER #1616
Rudy Vaspar, a dangerous and violent convict, sits comfortably behind bars in a maximum security prison. His day is interrupted by a surprise visit from Monica Klee and her assistant, Vince, as Rudy soon discovers he has been selected for a scientific study.
PROLIFERATION 2018
A shape evolves with an accompanying sound score, birthing a synesthetic collaboration. A cross-like figure grows, moving in captivating harmony with the sound, until it is unclear where the figure starts, where it ends, and where it begins again.
RED BEAN
An individual who is suffering from the obsessive-compulsive disorder and forced to migrate to outer space, he misses his mother and homeland. However, the only response to his calling his mother is an endless busy tone.
Repentance
After sharing online a video of herself dancing, a young Iranian woman is being pressured to apologize on public television.
Rest
Iris, a recently sober alcoholic, is due in court tomorrow: rested and prepared. Unable to fall asleep, she battles the voices in her head and her own desire for a drink as the night stretches on, seemingly without end.
RODNEY DICKSON
A look inside the studio, routines and life of Brooklyn-based artist Rodney Dickson as he works “along the edge” of art and seeks to push the boundaries of how it can and should be experienced.
ROSIE “THE RIVETER” LESSLIE
Rose Lesslie helped build dirigibles on a California airforce base during WW2. As she shares her incredibly personal story we’re left wondering, could she be the real Rosie the Riveter?
SEARCHING: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science
How is it possible that falling in love, feeling connected to nature, and experiences of awe and wonder, can all arise from the material atoms of our bodies? Can science explain such complex human experiences? Can a computer achieve consciousness? And what does it mean to be human in a world of increasing science and technology? In “SEARCHING: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science,” physicist and novelist Alan Lightman (Einstein’s Dreams) embarks on a journey across time and space to ponder these questions. In the course of his odyssey, he speaks with Nobel-prize winning scientists, leading ethicists and philosophers, faith leaders (including the Dalai Lama), a paralyzed ex-gang member who was the first person to have computer chips implanted in an area of his brain that allowed him to move a robotic arm by pure thought, and even an advanced humanoid android named BINA48, one of the few African-American AI’s.
SEASICK
Sadie, a 17-year-old ferry deckhand has her day turned upside down when she tries to delete a love-confessing text message before outing herself to the crew.
Smothered
In the midst of a breakup, Slim visits Dani’s apartment to pick up a painting. An argument ensues, Slim’s fate is determined by a surreal and horrific turn of events.
SNATCHERS
A rough-hewn Mennonite witnesses a meteor rip apart the skies on his farm, leaving behind a smoking crater filled with glowing corn husks. A lesbian couple unknowingly distributes the corn to un-suspecting Brooklynites through their food truck. An FDA agent with FBI dreams tries to track down a mysterious pod he’s only seen on Instagram. A woman in the midst of a late-20’s crisis is cleaning toilets when she starts noticing her co-workers changing.
Starved
A young man’s pet goldfish sits atop a dresser, observing its owner neglect his ambitions, relationship and livelihood in order to feed the only thing that matters: an opioid addiction.
Stay Don’t Go
Martha, a devoted volunteer in the search for a missing teenager, stumbles across a possible lead and is forced to take matters into her own hands.
Stopping The Next Pandemics
Stopping the next pandemic is a new challenge to the most prominent scientists. Their field studies around the world are showing that our health as humans depends on animal and environmental health. Diseases that occur in the remotest places are now our concern. We live in a connected world. We will have to preserve the environment to prevent future pandemics.
Sulam
When an immigrant teen must help her mother buy a ladder before a school exam, tensions of belonging in a new country bubble to the surface.
SUPERMALO
“Supermalo” portrays a young artist’s fight for creative freedom in Havana, Cuba.
SURFING THE RUSTBELT
When most people think of surfing they immediately draw parallels to beautiful shorelines in sunny places like California. They do not associate surfing with Lake Michigan’s icey shores, below freezing temperatures and industrial landscapes. There is a lot of will power in putting on a 6 mm wetsuit and wading into lethally cold water just to capture the unique adrenaline rush of standing on a wave.
The Appointment
A troubled author launches an obsessive hunt to uncover the identity of his 12 o’clock appointment.
The Artist & the Astronaut
Pat and Jerry would grow up in the same neighborhood and go to the same schools. Pat would travel thousands of miles and Jerry would travel millions of miles before they would eventually meet each other in Houston Texas. This film centers around a uniquely American couple’s captivating story during the pinnacle of American exploration and social change. Although this film is in essence a love story, Pat and Jerry lived entire lives before they even met each other in 1976. Pat was a 1950’s housewife with three daughters married to a football coach. Jerry was an astronaut with six children of his own. The experiences that each of them went through in the 1960’s and 1970’s prepared them to create art that would address the very important social issues of woman’s rights, race relations, issues of the native Americans, environmental sustainability and war.
THE BIG PITCH
Two young entrepreneurs on the cusp of greatness- or disaster- with a unique new app they’ve developed: Spotlight. With their partnership on a knife’s edge, they prepare for the single biggest pitch they’ll ever make, to a group of hungry venture capitalists.
THE BLESSING
When a timid, midwestern boy decides to propose to his girlfriend, he has to go through her immigrant, Chinese family first.
The Confirmation
A tenacious biologist grapples with her beliefs when her ailing daughter turns to spiritual healing in search of a cure.
The Cookbook
After his father’s debilitating stroke, an estranged son returns home to Central New York where he’s torn between taking over his father’s Lebanese restaurant and carrying on family tradition or pursuing his own dream.
The Ever Hours
In a dreamlike montage of tangible love, we follow three separate stories: Cleo and Noah, a mother and her young daughter, Elsie and Aaliyah, lovers, and Thomas and Kait, an elderly father and his daughter. We are touched by intimate moments of joy and peace in these love stories before transitioning to a lens of loss. The tone is not one of sadness but of hope as we transcend into an abstract interpretation of love as an ethereal and immortal energy that surrounds us even beyond death.
The Hamlet Syndrome
THE HAMLET SYNDROME is a powerful portrait of a vibrant young Ukrainian generation, the first one born after the collapse of the Soviet Union, shaped by the Maidan Revolution of 2013, empowered by political change and scarred by war.
THE HUNGRY
While on the run from mysterious forces, a Mother and her Son take refuge in a beach side motel for the night.
THE MAN OF THE TREES
Daniel as a child falls ill with polio and, although growing without the use of his legs, he is able to follow his father in the family nursery, walking on his hands.
THE SCIENCE OF COLLECTIVE DISCOVERY
Open Source Stories: The Science of Collective Discovery dives into the world of citizen scientists—ordinary people with varying degrees of training who contribute to scientific research in their spare time. This film explores how two citizen science projects are using open hardware tools to monitor their environment and make impactful policy changes.
THE SPRAYER
In the land occupied with the sprayers army, no one has the right to grow any kind of plants either in public or private.
THE THIRD FLOOR
The Third Floor is an animated short film comprised of three character vignettes occurring simultaneously in the same apartment building.
THE WASHING SOCIETY
From class and race to women’s history and gentrification, filmmaker Lynne Sachs and playwright Lizzie Olesker craft an intimate sociohistorical portrait of an urban laundromat using the people who worked there for decades.
THEY WON’T LAST
After attending a friends perfect wedding, commitment-averse Christine is forced to make a life-changing decision when her boyfriend Alex proposes to her.
Till Eye Die
Isaac is a young painter who suffers from achromatopsia. Since birth, he only sees in black, white and shades of grey. His life changes overnight, when he takes a pill that will make him see in color…
TOTAL DISASTER
Trickster environmental activists pretending to be oil behemoth Total stage a satirical press conference to introduce “RéHabitat,” a plan to rescue animals from the East African Oil Pipeline by relocating them to “more sustainable” habitats in France. Using humor and mischief, they expose a deadly ecological and humanitarian disaster in a zany effort to help #StopEACOP.
Touch
A woman’s affair with her blind masseur leads to dark consequences.
TWO WONGS
Two brothers from Queens, NY drive to Maine to avenge the murder of their mother, who was beaten to death during an Asian hate crime spree.
VALID GLITTER
Teenage girls in New York City weaponize misconceptions and privileges to pull off their biggest heist yet.
VOICE ABOVE WATER
VOICE ABOVE WATER is the story of a 90-year-old Balinese fisherman who can no longer fish because of the amount of plastic pollution in the ocean, instead he collects trash in hopes of being able to fish again.
WAKING UP
After suffering a brutal beating, Dorian must decide what kind of person he is willing to be.
Wild Geese Returning
A blind painter who has never seen the sea is obsessed with painting it, hoping to capture its entirety—till the sea takes him.
WINDBLOWN
After the unexpected death of her brother, Beth Reeves seeks solace in her family’s New England cottage. What seems at first like a quiet retreat quickly proves deceptive and dangerous. Windblown challenges the classic adage, “find what you love and let it kill you”. And proves that grief… is a bitch.
YOU LOOK GREAT
A man is consumed by a negative relationship with his body, manifested as a slick, toxic companion who lingers on his every move and threatens to sabotage every aspect of his life.