A Note from The Eyeslicer co-creator Dan Schoenbrun:

“This past December I started work on A SELF-INDUCED HALLUCINATION, my first feature documentary as a director. It was a project I had been obsessing over for years, and finally, the time had come for it to leave my brain. So in a manic burst of creative energy that lasted the seemingly endless New York winter, I transformed it from a dream into a film.

I’m still tinkering with the cut, but I’ve decided to give myself a deadline and world-premiere A SELF-INDUCED HALLUCINATION this June at Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Cinema. I’ve also decided to keep basically everything about the film a secret until the moment the lights go down in the theater. I like the idea of premiering my first film as a complete mystery to the world. I like the idea of an audience having no clue what they’re about to see as something I’ve spent countless hours working on plays for the first time. Maybe that’s all pretty silly and ill-advised, but it feels like a fun experiment to me and I hope you’ll come be a part of it.

All I’ll share about A SELF-INDUCED HALLUCINATION is this: it’s about the internet, and it’s quite strange.

I’ve invited Chris Osborn from D E E P to open the show with a program of experimental shorts about the internet. If you’re not familiar with D E E P, it’s an amazing series that collects the best experimental shorts, web videos, and art pieces unearthed from the darker side of the internet. So – come out on June 13th to see some incredible D E E P shorts about the internet, and then stay for my strange “mystery” first feature, also about the internet.

I hope to see you there.
Dan”

Starring: Laurie Simmons, Lena Dunham, Robert Clohessy, John Rothman, Josh Safdie, Parker Posey, Blair Brown, Barbara Sukowa

Ellie Shine (Laurie Simmons) is a single artist living in New York City. Ellie has a good life: a stable teaching job, successful friends, and a loyal, aging dog named Bing. As her decades-old dream of a respectable place in the art world becomes more elusive, her frustration with her lack of recognition feels alarmingly urgent.

When she is offered the summer house and studio of a famous friend she seizes the opportunity to hit the reset button on her life and work. She unwittingly finds inspiration in two out-of-work actors who maintain the gardens at her summer retreat: Frank (Robert Clohessy), a recent widower trying to reassemble his life by turning his back on a mediocre acting career, and Tom (Josh Safdie), a young, hungry actor whose wife (Parker Posey) has a less ambitious vision for their idyllic country life. Joining them is John (John Rothman), a thrice-divorced, disillusioned lawyer looking for a summer distraction. This unlikely trio helps Ellie reinvent her artistic identity by participating in her DIY art videos—improbable recreations of old Hollywood films. They accompany Ellie on an odd and unexpected journey toward finding her late-blooming artistic momentum.

Starring: Samantha Robinson, Gian Keys, Laura Waddell, Jeffrey Vincent Parise

Elaine, a beautiful young witch, is determined to find a man to love her. In her gothic Victorian apartment she makes spells and potions, and then picks up men and seduces them. However, her spells work too well, leaving her with a string of hapless victims. When she finally meets the man of her dreams, her desperation to be loved will drive her to the brink of insanity and murder. With a visual style that pays tribute to Technicolor thrillers of the ‘60s, The Love Witch explores female fantasy and the repercussions of pathological narcissism.

“Where on Earth to begin? THE BOXER’S OMEN — easily the most notorious film in the entire Shaw Brothers catalogue — is THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, ALTERED STATES and ROCKY all rolled into one. It’s the Wizard Battle movie to end all Wizard Battle movies. It’s all of ’70s gonzo kickass cinema compressed into an insane little ball and blasted through a garishly-colored ’80s Hong Kong filter. It’s one of the craziest damned things you’ll ever witness in a movie theater. This hexadelical, truly incredible piece of cinematic black magic is a guaranteed mug-melter or your money back.

We could tell you the plot, but honestly, you could see the film multiple times and still not know what happens in it.” – American Genre Film Archive

Starring: Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Danny Mills, Edith Massey

With the title of “Filthiest Person Alive” at stake, Babs Johnson, her degenerate son and dim-bulb mother face stiff competition from the vile Marble clan in an unbridled assault on every taboo in the book. Incest, drug trafficking, bestiality and an egg fetish are merely the tip of the iceberg in this controversial ultra-black comedy from renegade filmmaker John Waters.

NoBudge is a movies club that presents a hand-picked selection of new indie movies daily. “One of the best places to sample what’s happening in low-budget cinema worldwide,” says Glenn Kenny of The New York Times. Its mission is to provide a supportive home for emerging indie filmmakers working with limited resources and without major industry connections, and to be a trusted discovery platform helping audiences find their new favorite movies and filmmakers.

The Movies

Tampon
Director Alexandra Neuman present.
A young woman copes with the messiness of womanhood by learning how to use a tampon.
(1 minute)

The Apocalypse Will Blossom
Director Courtney Jines present.
After the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a young woman moves across the country to Washington D.C., to start what she hopes will be the next American revolution.
(5 minutes)

Little Brother
Directed by Dominique van Olm.
On the edge of adolescence, Dexter visits his sister for the first time.
(12 minutes)

Pak Anggir
Director Ashleigh Goh present.
Underneath the facade of opulence created by the influx of white, rich tourists, the modest Balinese people exist, detached from this constructed tourist experience.
(10 minutes) 

Two Parts Black
Director Cleon Arrey present.
An exploration of blackness in America.
(6 minutes)

Avocado
Director Lorelei Ramirez present.
A film about a person’s inability to cut an Avocado.
(7 minutes) 

Catlady
Director Max Roux present.
A delusional young woman mourning the loss of her cat receives an unexpected visitor.
(8 minutes)

Cinema Brut
Creators Dustin Waldman, Nicholas Nazmi and Bennett Clarkson present.
Setting out to “make a movie” on the streets of NYC, a man recruits strangers to act alongside him in “movie scenes.”
(12 minutes)

Observatory Blues
Directors Eric Paschal Johnson and Conor Dooley present.
The life story of Fernando Music, a writer born with no hands that becomes famous for a series of books about space and sex.
(20 minutes)

Starring: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Donny Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian

Deep in the heart of Jakarta’s slums lies an impenetrable safe house for the world’s most dangerous killers and gangsters. Until now, the run-down apartment block has been considered untouchable to even the bravest of police. Cloaked under the cover of pre-dawn darkness and silence, an elite swat team is tasked with raiding the safe house in order to take down the notorious drug lord that runs it.

When a chance encounter with a spotter blows their cover and news of their assault reaches the drug lord, the building’s lights are cut and all the exits blocked. Stranded on the sixth floor with no way out, the unit must fight their way through the city’s worst to survive their mission.

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Paul Brannigan

A voluptuous woman of unknown origin combs the highway in search of isolated or forsaken men, luring a succession of lost souls into an otherworldly lair. They are seduced, stripped of their humanity, and never heard from again. Based on the novel by Michael Faber, Under the Skin examines human experience from the perspective of an unforgettable heroine who grows too comfortable in her borrowed skin, until she is abducted into humanity with devastating results.

Starring: Peter Fonda, Susan Strasberg, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper, Salli Sachse

Paul (Peter Fonda), a director saddened by his failed marriage and unsatisfied with his work, is looking to start over. His friend, the cool, sage-like John (Bruce Dern), suggests that an LSD trip is exactly what Paul needs to get out of his rut. Paul decides to indulge, and experiences visions that are alternately beautiful and terrifying. His hallucinations, which include a carnival populated by dwarfs, bizarrely erotic encounters and even his own death, radically reshape his consciousness.

Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong, Ashley Palmer

After a young, middle class couple moves into a suburban ‘starter’ tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be somehow demonic but is certainly most active in the middle of the night. Especially when they sleep. Or try to.