The OPENING NITE screening of the Nitehawk Shorts Festival highlights diverse short films by nine independent filmmakers that address power, corruption, family, and coming of age. Sexual self-discovery, corporate capitalism, rural traditions, and the 2016 presidential election are amongst the stories you’ll find in this program of animated, documentary, and narrative shorts.

Includes Q&A with filmmakers. Join us afterwards for the official OPENING NITE PARTY at Nitehawk’s Lo-Res Bar. Featuring Jameson Irish Whiskey!

THE RABBIT HUNT
PATRICK BRESNAN / USA / 2017 / DOCUMENTARY / 12 MINS
In the Florida Everglades, rabbit hunting is considered a rite of passage for young men. This film follows a 17 year old and his family as they hunt in the fields of the largest industrial sugar farms in the US.

UNPRESIDENTED
JASON GIAMPIETRO / USA / 2017 / NARRATIVE / 15 MINS
In the early days of the Trump presidency a New Yorker attempts to justify his having won a bet on the election.

AND THE MOON STANDS STILL
YULIA RUDITSKAYA / BELARUS, GERMANY, USA / 2017 / ANIMATION / 11 MINS
A small monster notices the energies invoked by the moon and can’t get enough of the power.

CURTIS
TANNIS M. SPENCER / USA / 2017 / NARRATIVE / 9 MINS
A young man struggles to make amends with the harsh family life he left behind while also ensuring the safety of his younger brother Jordan.

ADOLESCENCIA
JOSE FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ / PUERTO RICO, USA / 2017 / DOCUMENTARY / 10 MINS
A portrait of a teenage boy in 2002 Puerto Rico who films odd and unusual movie vignettes by himself – and tries to get a girl’s attention in the process.

DAYTIME NOON
MICAH PERTA / USA / 2017 / NARRATIVE / 13 MINS
Narcolepsy, siblings, nudity, and senility combine for the best kind of road trip. Or do they?

AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS
AMANDA ZACKEM / USA / 2016 / DOCUMENTARY / 15 MINS
Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, author and activist Chris Hedges discusses modern day consumerism, totalitarian corporate power and living in a culture dominated by pervasive illusion.

YES, GOD, YES
KAREN MAINE / USA / 2017 / NARRATIVE / 11 MINS
Fifteen-year-old Alice has always been a good Catholic, but when an innocent AOL chat turns unexpectedly racy, she finds herself suddenly obsessed with masturbating.