Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett Smith

Six months after the events depicted in The Matrix, Neo has proved to be a good omen for the free humans, as more and more humans are being freed from the matrix and brought to Zion, the one and only stronghold of the Resistance. Neo himself has discovered his superpowers including super speed, ability to see the codes of the things inside the matrix and a certain degree of pre-cognition. But a nasty piece of news hits the human resistance: 250,000 machine sentinels are digging to Zion and would reach them in 72 hours. As Zion prepares for the ultimate war, Neo, Morpheus and Trinity are advised by the Oracle to find the Keymaker who would help them reach the Source. Meanwhile Neo’s recurrent dreams depicting Trinity’s death have got him worried and as if it was not enough, Agent Smith has somehow escaped deletion, has become more powerful than before and has fixed Neo as his next target.

Starring: Viveik Kalra, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Ganatra

1987. When music fanatic Javed discovers the illustrious back catalogue of The Boss, his world is turned upside down; already a creative soul his passion for music and writing is set alight by the songs of the working-class poet, whose lyrics feel all too familiar to the aspirational teenager. Yearning to escape his rundown hometown and the rules of his traditional Pakistani household, Javed finds himself caught in between two worlds and must discover if he too is Born to Run.

Playing before each screening of Blinded by the Light is the short film Pa’lante directed by Kristian Mercado (Music Driven Award Winner, 2018 Nitehawk Shorts Festival).

Pa’lante is the story of an estranged working class Puerto Rican family trying to reconnect in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Set both in New York and Puerto Rico, the film stars Mela Murder as Milagros, and Kareem Savinon as Manuel. Playing to the vocals of Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff. The film chronicles the Nuyorican and Puerto Rican experience and is a contemplation of family, love, and loss.

Starring: Marc Maron, Jillian Bell, Michaela Watkins, Jon Bass, Toby Huss, Dan Bakkedahl

When Cynthia & Mary (Jillian Bell & Michaela Watkins) show up to collect Cynthia’s inheritance from her deceased grandfather, the only item she’s received is an antique sword that was believed by her grandfather to be proof that the South won the Civil War. The two attempt to unload the object to a curmudgeonly pawnshop owner (Marc Maron) & his man-child sidekick Nathaniel (Jon Bass). When Mel and Nathaniel discover there’s a black market for the relic, the two pairs reluctantly join forces to sell this rarefied ‘prover item’ to the highest bidder. The adventure that ensues takes the four of them on a wild journey into the depths of conspiracy theory and Southern disillusionment.

Starring: Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters, Sophie Okonedo, Jamie Sives, James Harkness

Rose-Lynn Harlan (Jessie Buckley) has recently been released from jail. Forced to wear an ankle monitor and observe a strict curfew, she is unable to return to her job bringing down the house nightly as the lead singer at Glasgow’s own Grand Ole Opry. Resigned, she takes a gig as a house cleaner for the affluent Susannah (Sophie Okonedo), who immediately notices Harlan’s raw talent and authentic country music chops. Together they hatch a plan to get her to the big time in Nashville.

Starring: Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, Hugh O’Brian, Herb Butterfield

Carol Williams (Sally Forrest) is a beautiful young dancer whose body, and promising career, is suddenly crippled by polio. Carol’s dance partner and fiancé, Guy Richards (Keefe Brasselle), wants to see her through her illness, but the angry, self-pitying Carol prefers to go it alone. Her father (Herb Butterfield) takes her to the Kabat-Kaiser Institute for rehabilitation, where she meets fellow patients like Len Randall (Hugh O’Brian) on her tough road to recovery.

The second feature directed by Ida Lupino, who herself had been stricken with polio as an adolescent, Never Fear is a psychologically probing look at coping with chronic illness. Co-written and co-produced by Lupino and her partner Collier Young and wonderfully shot in black-and-white by Archie Stout.

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Helen Mirren, Vanessa Kirby, Eiza Gonzalez

Ever since hulking lawman Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), a loyal agent of America’s Diplomatic Security Service, and lawless outcast Shaw (Jason Statham), a former British military elite operative, first faced off in 2015’s Furious 7, the duo have swapped smack talk and body blows as they’ve tried to take each other down. But when cyber-genetically enhanced anarchist Brixton (Idris Elba) gains control of an insidious bio-threat that could alter humanity forever–and bests a brilliant and fearless rogue MI6 agent (Vanessa Kirby), who just happens to be Shaw’s sister–these two sworn enemies will have to partner up to bring down the only guy who might be badder than themselves.

NEUROTICA.
Directed by Laura Moss, Written by Nick Kocher | 2019 | 20 min
A comedic sci-fi anthology series exploring personal anxieties. In episode 1, eureka!, a chronic procrastinator (Karen Gillan) meets an otherworldly being responsible for giving humanity its great ideas.

On why they selected Brigsby Bear: “Brigsby Bear and neurotica. both depict (in very different ways) the trials and tribulations of bringing an idea to life. They examine the difficulty of knowing you’re making something flawed, something that might not measure up, but choosing to do it anyway. Brigbsy Bear also manages to create the perfect blend of absurd humor and grounded drama, with heartwarming moments and ironic commentary. It’s unique, it takes risks, and at the end of the day…it’s just really really good.”

BRIGSBY BEAR
Superfan James is obsessed with the clever if quaintly goofy kids’ show Brigsby Bear to the point of religiosity. A bright, sensitive young adult still living at home, he has grown up with this fantasy series, and the program has grown with him as well — getting more complex over the years. But to say James’ intensely protective parents have kept their son a bit sheltered is an understatement.

One dramatic night, James’ insular world is upended. Through the disorienting but sporadically hilarious transition to a new life that follows, Brigsby remains James’ security blanket and, upon learning the series has been cancelled, he adopts the old adage that the show must go on. Family members and authority figures fret over James’ fixation, but by becoming Brigsby Bear’s new creator instead of just a viewer in the dark, he finally accesses all the meaningful connections his life has lacked. By telling his story, James repairs it — producing in the process an inventively offbeat and profoundly uplifting love letter to the redemptive power of creativity.

THE NEIGHBORS’ WINDOW
Directed by Marshall Curry | 2019 | 20 min
This short tells the true story of a middle aged woman (Maria Dizzia) with small children whose life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings (Juliana Canfield and Bret Lada) move in across the street.

Why he selected the film: Almost everyone who lives in New York has a “neighbors’ window” story, about the time they saw something in the apartment across the street that surprised, shocked, or captivated them. Our short film is very different in style and tone from the Hitchcock classic Rear Window, but it shares an interest in urban voyeurism and the strange way that city dwellers are given intimate — but incomplete — glimpses into each others’ lives.

REAR WINDOW
Directed by the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window is an edge-of-your-seat classic starring two of Hollywood’s most popular stars. A newspaper photographer with a broken leg passes time recuperating by observing his neighbors through his window. He sees what he believes to be a murder, and decides to solve the crime himself. With the help of his nurse and girlfriend, he tries to catch the murderer without being killed himself.

TWIST
Directed by Aly Migliori | 2019 | 10 min
No choice but to walk home alone, Hannah (Helena Howard) sees an opportunity for a ride, but others see an opportunity in her.

On why she selected the film: “Straw Dogs and Twist both bathe in the internal chaos of harassment, and while they take different pathways to redemption, each give a clear and terrifying insight into unclear circumstances.”

STRAW DOGS
David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman), a mild-mannered academic from the United States, marries Amy (Susan George), an Englishwoman. In order to escape a hectic stateside lifestyle, David and his wife relocate to the small town in rural Cornwall where Amy was raised. There, David is ostracized by the brutish men of the village, including Amy’s old flame, Charlie (Del Henney). Eventually the taunts escalate, and two of the locals rape Amy. This sexual assault awakes a shockingly violent side of David.

Starring: David Hockney, Peter Schlesinger, Henry Geldzahler, Ossie Clark, Celia Birtwell

An intimate and innovative film about English-born, often California-based artist David Hockney and his work, honoring its subject through creative risk-taking. Hazan creates an improvisatory narrative-nonfiction hybrid featuring Hockney, a wary participant, as well as his circle of friends, capturing the agonized end of the lingering affair between Hockney and his muse, an American named Peter Schlesinger. The result is at once a time capsule of hedonistic gay life in the 1970s, an honest-yet-tender depiction of gay male romance that dispenses with the then-current narratives of self-hatred and self-pity, an invaluable view of art history in action, and a record of artistic creation that is itself a work of art.