Feeling constrained by the rigors of the Walt Disney Company, animator Don Bluth led a team of colleagues away from the House of Mouse to form their own production company: Don Bluth Productions. After a string of successful shorts, the team successfully broke into features with THE SECRET OF NIMH, an adaptation of Robert C. O’Brien’s dark children’s fantasy Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – a story once pitched to Disney but denied.
The film follows a widowed field mouse named Mrs. Brisby (changed to not have to deal with Frisbee™), whose youngest son falls ill just before the start of the farmer’s annual plow. Unable to move her son from harm’s way, Mrs. Brisby seeks help from the mysterious Rats of NIMH, a clannish and strife-laden bunch, who possess technology that could save her family.
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wallace Wolodarsky, Eric Chase Anderson, Willem Dafoe
A dream-team of twee icons Roald Dahl and Wes Anderson, Anderson’s stop-motion adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox follows the titular Mr. Fox as he balances his responsibilities as a father (he’s a bad one) with his compulsive need to chicken thieve. Breaking a promise to his wife not to return to his poultry plucking ways, Mr. Fox leads a raid on the property of three ornery farmers, endangering the entire animal community in the process.
Starring: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney, Julianne Nicholson, Paul Walter Hauser, Bobby Cannavale
Based on the unbelievable but true events, I, TONYA is a darkly comedic tale of American figure skater, Tonya Harding, and one of the most sensational scandals in sports history. Though Harding was the first American woman to complete a triple axel in competition, her legacy was forever defined by her association with an infamous, ill-conceived, and even more poorly executed attack on fellow Olympic competitor Nancy Kerrigan.
Featuring an iconic turn by Margot Robbie as the fiery Harding, a mustachioed Sebastian Stan as her impetuous ex-husband Jeff Gillooly, a tour-de-force performance from Allison Janney as her acid-tongued mother, LaVona Golden, and an original screenplay by Steven Rogers, Craig Gillespie’s I, TONYA is an absurd, irreverent, and piercing portrayal of Harding’s life and career in all of its unchecked––and checkered––glory.
Trouble No More showcases Dylan’s creative and spiritual mindset during his gospel era, which encompassed three LPs: 1979’s Slow Train Coming, 1980’s Saved and 1981’s Shot of Love. For the performances included in the film, the folk-rock icon’s backing band included keyboardists Spooner Oldham and Terry Young, Little Feat guitarist Fred Tackett, bassist Tim Drummond, drummer Jim Keltner and vocalists Clydie King, Gwen Evans, Mona Lisa Young, Regina McCrary and Mary Elizabeth Bridges.
QUEER (F)LICKS spotlights short films made by LGBTQIA+ filmmakers.
These unique films showcase narratives that explore, challenge, subvert, twist, and push the boundaries of independent cinema.
A portion of ticket sales from Queer (F)licks will go to the Centro Comunitario LGBT de Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria Relief Fund.
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Starring: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O’Hagan, Alla Tumanian, James Ransone
To make an additional $10 donation to The Ali Forney Center, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen. Nitehawk will be matching all donations.
It’s Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn’t been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra, embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor. Their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through various subcultures of Los Angeles, including an Armenian family dealing with their own repercussions of infidelity.
The Nitehawk Shorts Festival MIDNITE screening, co-programmed with Sam Zimmerman (Shudder) features the very best in new horror voices. Expect to be frightened with these fun and poignant horror short films that feature being trapped in a Red Lobster commercial, unforeseen consequences of a one-night stand, and a board game gone wrong.
GREAT CHOICE
ROBIN COMISAR / USA / 2017 / 7 MINS
A woman gets stuck in a Red Lobster commercial.
ELEGY
CJ GARDELLA / USA / 2016 / 20 MINS
A film, in the wilderness gothic tradition, set in a crumbling estate, where strange visions and paranoia afflict its occupants.
UNDRESS ME
AMELIA MOSES / CANADA / 2017 / 13 MINS
A socially awkward college freshman begins to experience a mysterious and gruesome physical deterioration after a chance encounter at a frat party.
THE MUSIC LESSON
ADAM R. BROWN & KYLE I. KELLEY / USA / 2017 / 9 MINS
Marion, a jaded music teacher must deal with an unruly student at her soul sucking job.
VORE
LAUREN ERWIN / USA / 2017 / 13 MINS
When her younger lover announces his departure, a wealthy, sexually adventurous, yet unfulfilled woman finally realizes what she needs to be satisfied.
THE CALL GIRLS
JUICE / USA / 2017 / 10 MINS
Junk, a local sanitation worker, impulsively decides to employ the services of a underground escort agency.
YOUR DATE IS HERE
TODD SPENCE & ZAK WHITE / USA / 2017 / 6 MINS
After dusting off an old Mystery Date-style board game, a mother and daughter realize the game holds more evil than amusement.
CRESWICK
NATALIE ERIKA JAMES / AUSTRALIA / 2016 / 10 MINS
While a young woman helps her father pack up his house, they are both increasingly aware of the presence that they always knew was there.
Starring: Wyatt Cenac, Greta Lee, Maria Dizzia
A feature length comedy written and directed by Laura Terruso (Hello My Name is Doris) about a struggling young writer who can’t seem to escape his wife’s literary success. But when a road trip to a publisher’s housewarming party takes an unexpected turn, he has to face his own creative shortcomings and find a way to regain control of his life and work.
A violent, strange and oddly spiteful Christmas horror film, Don’t Open Till Christmas follows a serial killer who spends his nights prowling London and hacking up men and women dressed as Santa Claus. Here we have a film that exists solely to offend: cheap, low rent, bottom-shelf sleaze with no regard for its characters, its audience or its story. But, hey — you’ve got to respect a movie that derives so much joy out of punching Santa in the face until his eyeballs fall out.
Starring: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Alicia Silverstone
Dr. Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon presiding over a spotless household with his ophthalmologist wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) and their two exemplary children, 12-year-old Bob (Sunny Suljic) and 14-year-old Kim (Raffey Cassidy). Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin (Barry Keoghan), a fatherless teen who Steven has covertly taken under his wing. As Martin begins insinuating himself into the family’s life in ever-more unsettling displays, the full scope of his intent becomes menacingly clear when he confronts Steven with a long-forgotten transgression that will shatter the Murphy family’s domestic bliss.
