Starring: Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, Martha MacIsaac, Emma Stone
Introduced by author Jeremy Gordon, whose new book, See Friendship (Harper Perennial, 2025) will be available for sale at the screening
It’s so confusing to be a boy—especially when George W. Bush is president, and you’re waiting for life to get interesting. Superbad is nominally about two best friends, Evan (Michael Cera) and Seth (Jonah Hill), who are desperate to have the perfect end-of-high school night out where all liquor is consumed and all crushes are consummated. But it’s also a movie about the transition into adulthood, when once-important friendships become a little less idealized and still-forming personalities step into the beliefs they will carry for years to come. Evan and Seth are close with each other because they are, literally, close to each other—but what will happen when that’s no longer the case? And what do they need to figure out while there’s still time to do it face-to-face?
NITEHAWK SHORTS FESTIVAL SELECTS is a curated 91-minute theatrical program featuring seven short films from the 2016 Nitehawk Shorts Festival. For the past five years this annual festival has championed new voices in independent short filmmaking to audiences in New York with our sold out screenings and filmmaker talks. Though short in length, all films are under 20-minutes, these shorts encompass styles from documentary to thriller and, as a whole program, represents the diversity, inclusiveness, and power of succinct storytelling.
The program includes shorts like Saj Pothiawala’s Vegas (Festival Jury Award) about an awkward young man and his encounter with an eccentric prostitute and Marysia Makowska’s Dahlia (Festival Jury Award Runner-Up) about two bored young girls who deal with unintended consequences after breaking into a stranger’s house in Cape Town. Documentaries about the first gay country album in These C*cksucking Tears by Dan Taberski (Huffington Post Impact Award) and a rural community’s preparation for prom in The Send-Off by Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan are included alongside the feminist horror short about a young woman’s fiercest self in Catherine Fordham’s Consomme, a woman’s self-discovery through vaping in the haze of Los Angeles in Doron Max Hagay’s Vape (Cinematography Award), and a couple’s journey to the truth in Grace Rex’s Be Good (Audience Award).
Beaches aren’t ready for this one!
Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon (Dwayne Johnson) and a brash new recruit (Zac Efron) uncover a criminal plot that threatens the future of the bay. Cue running in slow motion…
Recently dumped by his fiancee, and with a stagnating stand-up routine, aspiring comedian–copywriter Paul is stuck. The manager of the club where he performs suggests that he take some time off to update his comedy material. When he sees his childhood friend Jason Black, an acclaimed folk-rock musician about to embark on a solo acoustic tour of the East Coast, Jason convinces Paul to go on tour with him and be the opening act for his shows.
Nitehawk Cinema presents Make Love Not War! Erotic Animation from the Heart. Join curator Willy Hartland and his sexually liberated friends, for this raunchy and historic program of animation.
PROGRAM
1. George Griffin’s “The Club,” 1975 (4 min)
2. Michaela Pavlátová’s “Carnival of Animals,” 2006 (9 min)
3. Lisa Craft’s “Desire Pie,” 1976 (5 min)
4. Signe Baumane’s “ Five Fucking Fables,” 2002 (7 min)
5. Willy Hartland’s “Mister Smoothy,” 1998 (2 min)
6. Bill Plympton “How to Make Love to a Woman,” 1996 (5 min)
7. Leah Shore’s “Boobatry,” 2010 (3 min)
8.) Mike Sullivan’s “Sex Life of Robots” trailer, 2006 (2 min)
9.) Pez’s “Roofsex,” 2002 (1:30 min)
10.) Jun Cen’s “Mutual Tunnels,” 2013 (5 min)
11.) Brett thompson’s “One Minute Fluidtoons on Paper Four,” 2013 (1:30 min)
12.) Laurence Arcadias & Juliette Marchand’s “Tempest in the Bedroom,” 2011 (11:30 min)
With his mother dead and his father, Hal Osborne (Dabney Coleman), busy working, 11-year-old Davey (Henry Thomas) spends his time immersed in video games, often dreaming up espionage stories featuring imaginary spy Jack Flack (also Coleman). When Davey sees the murder of an FBI agent, the dying man hands him an Atari video game cartridge with military secrets. No one believes his story, and Davey is forced to go on the run, escaping from attempts on his life with Flack’s guidance.
American diplomat Robert (Gregory Peck) adopts Damien (Harvey Stephens) when his wife, Katherine (Lee Remick), delivers a stillborn child. After Damien’s first nanny hangs herself, Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton) warns Robert that Damien will kill Katherine’s unborn child. Shortly thereafter, Brennan dies and Katherine miscarries when Damien pushes her off a balcony. As more people around Damien die, Robert investigates Damien’s background and realizes his adopted son may be the Antichrist.
Please note the change in format for this screening. The Omen will be playing on DCP, not a 35mm print. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Based on the real-life courtship between Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, THE BIG SICK tells the story of Pakistan-born aspiring comedian Kumail (Nanjiani), who connects with grad student Emily (Kazan) after one of his standup sets. However, what they thought would be just a one-night stand blossoms into the real thing, which complicates the life that is expected of Kumail by his traditional Muslim parents. When Emily is beset with a mystery illness, it forces Kumail to navigate the medical crisis with her parents, Beth and Terry (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano) who he’s never met, while dealing with the emotional tug-of-war between his family and his heart.
Newly restored for the first time since its debut, Jonathan Demme’s COUSIN BOBBY is ripe for rediscovery.
Jonathan Demme’s stirring 1992 documentary introduced audiences to his cousin Robert Castle, a fiercely political Episcopalian minister who fights tirelessly to improve the lives of people of color both in his Harlem parish and around the country. Though one might not expect an aging white man from New Jersey to be so deeply concerned with Black and Brown lives, Castle’s life took a turn when he formed long-lasting friendships with pivotal Black Panther Party leaders who helped wake him up to the deep racial injustices that have endured throughout in the history of the USA. As Demme documents Castle leading protests, ministering to his flock, and visiting locals in the community who have been the victim of inequality, a portrait develops of an inspiring role model for anyone who wants to stand up for racial injustice in the age of Black Lives Matter, Donald Trump, Standing Rock and more.
Starring: Tamara De Treaux, Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Peter Coyote
After a gentle alien becomes stranded on Earth, the being is discovered and befriended by a young boy named Elliott (Henry Thomas). Bringing the extraterrestrial into his suburban California house, Elliott introduces E.T., as the alien is dubbed, to his brother and his little sister, Gertie (Drew Barrymore), and the children decide to keep its existence a secret. Soon, however, E.T. falls ill, resulting in government intervention and a dire situation for both Elliott and the alien.
