Starring: Erin Miller, Kate McGarrigle, Amanda Flowers, Abraham Sparrow, Dylan Mars Greenberg, Debbie Rochon, Zoe Geltman, Zac Amico, Monique Dupree, Catherine Corcoran, Lloyd Kaufman
The Opioid Epidemic is destroying America. Legendary director Lloyd Kaufman celebrates Troma’s 45th and his 50th year making movies, by taking on Big Pharma, addiction and the intolerance of social media in Shakespeare’s Shitstorm. This irreverent musical adaptation of “The Tempest” is ripe with bawdy couplets, Hieronymus Boschian images of excess and unrefined iambic pentameter.
Shakespeare’s Shitstorm marks the most ambitious project in Troma’s 45 year history. Working with one of Hollywood’s best special effects companies, Troma brings a whole new experience to their stylized brand. Having a bigger budget also brought about larger scale on-location filming in Albania (a first for narrative feature films in the country) as well as a celestial orchestral score from Portugal and a little help from the Bard. Shakespeare has never been this raw and unfiltered.
Starring: Maxwell Caulfield, Michelle Pfeiffer, Pamela Adlon, Didi Conn, Eve Arden, Sid Caesar
Stephanie Zinone (Michelle Pfeiffer) is the leader of Rydell High School’s Pink Ladies, a gang of girls who are counterparts of the school’s group of greasers called the T-Birds. Stephanie is tired of her relationship with top T-Bird Johnny Nogerelli (Adrian Zmed), so she breaks up with him and quickly catches the eye of English exchange student Michael Carrington (Maxwell Caulfield). Hoping to win her over, Michael tries to overcome his nerdy ways while holding off the jealous Johnny.
Starring: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Michael Murphy
To make an additional $10 donation to F2L Network, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen. F2L Network is a community effort working to end the incarceration of Black, Indigenous and/or people of color who are queer, trans and Two-Spirit in NY.
The monstrous Penguin (Danny DeVito), who lives in the sewers beneath Gotham, joins up with wicked shock-headed businessman Max Shreck (Christopher Walken) to topple the Batman (Michael Keaton) once and for all. But when Shreck’s timid assistant, Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer), finds out, and Shreck tries to kill her, she is transformed into the sexy Catwoman. She teams up with the Penguin and Shreck to destroy Batman, but sparks fly unexpectedly when she confronts the caped crusader.
Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Patricia Arquette, Craig Wasson, Laurence Fishburne, Priscilla Pointer, Robert Englund
During a hallucinatory incident, young Kristen Parker (Patricia Arquette) has her wrists slashed by dream-stalking monster Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). Her mother, mistaking the wounds for a suicide attempt, sends Kristen to a psychiatric ward, where she joins a group of similarly troubled teens. One of the doctors there is Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), who had battled Freddy some years before. Nancy senses a potential in Kristen to rid the world of Freddy once and for all.
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett
The sequel to the Golden Globe-nominated and AFI Award-winning The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers follows the continuing quest of Frodo (Elijah Wood) and the Fellowship to destroy the One Ring. Frodo and Sam (Sean Astin) discover they are being followed by the mysterious Gollum. Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the Elf archer Legolas and Gimli the Dwarf encounter the besieged Rohan kingdom, whose once great King Theoden has fallen under Saruman’s deadly spell.
Starring: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas, John Cleese
After returning from their honeymoon and showing home movies to their friends, Shrek and Fiona learn that her parents have heard that she has married her true love and wish to invite him to their kingdom, called Far Far Away. The catch is: Fiona’s parents are unaware of the curse that struck their daughter and have assumed she married Prince Charming, not a 700-pound ogre with horrible hygiene and a talking donkey pal.
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Gary Sinise, John Heard, Carla Gugino, Stan Shaw, Kevin Dunn
Detective Rick Santoro (Nicolas Cage) has never played by the rules. When he attends a high-profile boxing match with his friend Navy Cmdr. Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise), as well as Defense Secretary Kirkland (Joel Fabiani), he witnesses a terrorist assassinate Kirkland. Despite a lockdown on the arena, key witness Julia Costello (Carla Gugino) escapes — and Santoro begins to suspect Kirkland’s death is part of a much larger conspiracy that involves boxing rivals and a beautiful stranger.
Warning: Images are not from the movies we’re showing. Trust us, you can’t imagine what we’re showing!
This month landing on Easter Sunday, Subway Cinema takes over the Nitehawk to unleash an action classic from the golden days of Hong Kong movies. We’re not telling you the title until it appears onscreen because it’s more fun that way but, trust us, we’re celebrating the biggest stars of the ‘80s and ‘90s in their best movies, all presented in glorious 35mm.
This Sunday’s movie is going to shred the poor Nitehawk screen because it’s a wild wu xia ride exploding with flying swordswomen, whips decapitating chumps, arms and legs flying through the air, and a whole slew of supernatural kung fu creeps. The wu xia wave hit Hong Kong hard in the early ‘90s, dishing out special effects-stuffed movies about supernaturally talented martial artists who wield berserk weapons and can fly, and today’s flick is an under-rated, underseen, raw, rowdy, pulp-tastic wu xia head-spinner from that era starring an actress so iconic her stare is capable of making the blood freeze in your veins. Oh, and did we mention it’s a musical? And by “musical” we mean the entire movie centers around a magical musical instrument that can make people explode.
These are the films that stood out for our programming team and jury, including overall Jury Winner, Runner Up, Music Driven, Midnite and New Filmmaker, plus a few of programmer-selected favorites.
BURROS (Favorite of Programmer John Woods)
Jefferson Stein / U.S. / 2021 / 15 min
A young Indigenous girl discovers a Hispanic migrant her age who has been separated from her father in the beautiful but dangerous Sonoran desert.
COUSINS (Jury Prize runner up)
Mandy Marcus / U.S. / 2021 / 13 min
A Brooklyn teenager reunites with her Guyanese cousin for the funeral of a relative. On the last day of the wake the girls venture out into the city alone.
HELLO FROM TAIWAN (Favorite of Programmer Desmond Thorne)
Tiffany Frances / U.S. / 2019 / 16 min
A Taiwanese American family struggles to reunite across language and cultural barriers, set in the late 1980s and told from a child’s perspective.
IN LOVING MEMORY (OF WHO WE USED TO BE) (New Filmmaker Award)
Vicky Lee / U.S. / 2021 / 8 min
IN LOVING MEMORY (OF WHO WE USED TO BE) is reminiscent of the growing pains and awkward tween years of a Chinese-American girl.
MERCY (Music Driven winner)
Nalani Williams / U.S. / 2021 / 4 min
Layering stop-motion and hand-drawn animation, this experimental piece created for the song “Mercy” by musician Domino Kirke, illuminates—through ethereal landscapes and painterly figures—the grief and loss of miscarriage as metaphor for the shared universal cycle of hope and despair.
ATROPHY (Favorite of Programmer Cristina Cacioppo)
Nick Hartanto, Sam Roden / U.S. / 2020 / 15 min
A stroke victim descends into a nightmare after her husband unearths a mysterious object from their garage.
INHERITANCE (Midnite Winner)
Annalise Lockhart / U.S. / 2021 / 14 min
A Black family strives to shield their rural Vermont home from the gaze of the spirits that surround it.
NYC TIPS AND TRICKS (Jury Prize Winner)
Amber Schaefer / U.S. / 2021 / 11 min
A small time travel vlogger’s tour of Coney Island is interrupted by an unexpected call.
Audiences of each program screening had the chance to vote for their favorites, resulting in a killer mix of genres and styles.
THE SOLDIER
Sam Cullman, Trip Cullman / U.S. / 2020 / 17 min
Filmed while sheltering in place and made for no money other than Legos to pay one of our actors, THE SOLDIER is the story of 4 year old Sid, left to fend for himself after his family dies. A man shows up, having walked the barren road, and a simple and life sustaining truce is negotiated.
NUEVO RICO
Kristian Mercado / Puerto Rico, U.S. / 2020 / 16 min
A brother and sister stumble upon a celestial secret that changes their lives forever and propels them into Reggaetón stardom, but they soon discover that their newfound fame comes at a deep price.
THE STRANGE MONSTER AT THE RIVERA HOUSE (EL EXTRAÑO EN LA CASA RIVERA) Esteban Bailey / Puerto Rico, U.S. / 2021 / 11 min
Aida and her daughter Aidita are struggling to survive the ravages of a hurricane that has devastated the island of Puerto Rico, when they suddenly find a strange creature living in their backyard.
THREADS OF DESIRE
Bianca Di Marco / Italy, U.S. / 2021 / 9 min
A farmer’s monotonous life in the Italian countryside is unsettled after she steals an elegant dress.
PLEASE ENJOY YOUR STAY
Tynan DeLong / U.S. / 2021 / 10 min
An anxious musician finds himself unable to leave his hotel room.
YOU AND ME THIS SUMMER
Emily Berge, Spencer Thielmann / U.S. / 2021 / 16 min
Set in the backwoods of rural Iowa, this is Regan and Addisyn’s last summer before college. As Addisyn tries to manage her mother’s addiction, Regan reckons with her Native culture and decision to leave their small hometown behind.
