Starring: John Goodman, JP Karliak, Rihanna, Natasha Lyonne, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Kurt Russell, Billie Lourd, Amy Sedaris, Octavia Spencer, Sandra Oh, Dan Levy, Nick Kroll, James Corden, Alex Winter

When Papa Smurf (John Goodman) is mysteriously taken by evil wizards, Razamel and Gargamel, Smurfette (Rihanna) leads the Smurfs on a mission into the real world to save him. With the help of new friends, the Smurfs must discover what defines their destiny to save the universe.

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti

Bob is a washed-up revolutionary who lives in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited and self-reliant daughter, Willa. When his evil nemesis resurfaces and Willa goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her as both father and daughter battle the consequences of their pasts.

Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, Sharon Stone, Colin Hanks, Michael Ironside

Workaholic assassin Hutch Mansell takes his family on a much-needed vacation to the small tourist town of Plummerville. However, he soon finds himself in the crosshairs of a corrupt theme-park operator, a shady sheriff, and a bloodthirsty crime boss.

Starring: Rady Gamal, Ahmed Abdelhafiz, Osama Abdallah, Adel Abdulsalam, Dana Abed

Beshay – a man cured of leprosy – has never left the leper colony in the Egyptian desert where he has lived since childhood. Following the death of his wife, he finally decides to go in search of his roots. With his meagre possessions strapped to a donkey cart, he sets out. Quickly joined by Obama, the Nubian orphan he has taken under his wing, Beshay will cross Egypt and confront the world with all its sorrows, its hardships and moments of grace, in his quest for a family, a place to belong, a little humanity…

Starring: Sayu Suzukawa, Akari Takaishi, Taisei Kido, Yui Aragaki

Totsuko is a high school student with the ability to see the ‘colors’ of others. Colors of bliss, excitement, and serenity, plus a color she treasures as her favorite. Kimi, a classmate at her school, gives off the most beautiful color of all. Although she doesn’t play an instrument, Totsuko forms a band with Kimi and Rui, a quiet music enthusiast they meet at a used bookstore in a far corner of town. As they practice at an old church on a remote island, music brings them together, forming friendships and stirring affections. Will they discover their true ‘colors’?

Featuring the Anime After Dark Raffle, one lucky guest will win a pair of Friday passes to AnimeNYC 2025

Starring: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett, Eugene Cherry, Jack Drummond

4K restoration

Charles Burnett’s cinematic masterpiece Killer of Sheep, magnificently restored in 4K with sparkling picture and sound, is one of the crown jewels of the Black indie filmmaking movement known as the L.A. Rebellion. The film evokes the everyday trials, fragile pleasures, and tenacious humor of blue-collar African Americans living in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles in the 1970s. Burnett made it on a minuscule budget with a mostly nonprofessional cast, combining keen on-the-street observation with a carefully crafted script.

The story centers on Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders), a slaughterhouse worker battling exhaustion and disconnected from his wife, his children, and himself. Stan and his neighbors struggle just to get by, let alone get ahead. Only the kids, leaping from roof to roof, seem to achieve a mobility that eludes their elders. Burnett’s film focuses on everyday life in Black communities in a manner rarely seen in American cinema – combining lyrical elements with a starkly neorealist, documentary-style approach that combines deep nuance with riveting simplicity. Burnett once said of the film, “[Stan’s] real problems lie within the family, trying to make that work and be a human being. You don’t necessarily win battles; you survive.”

Starring: Tawny Kitaen, Brent Huff, Zabou Breitman, Bernadette Lafont, Jean Rougerie, Roland Amstutz

Ever wondered what it would look like if the director of Emmanuelle made an Indiana Jones movie? Look no further than Gwendoline, a sexy adventure movie starring Tawny Kitaen (pre-Whitesnake music videos) as the titular heroine who gets swept up in an unpredictable journey. Captured and sold into slavery, she is rescued by the burly Willard (a hunky Brent Huff) only to continue to face tribulations including treacherous terrain, bizarre rituals, and an all-female warrior clan ruled by a cruel queen (Bernadette Lafont). Based on a BDSM-themed comic, Gwendoline has incredible costumes and settings, and plays like a horny version of classic serial adventure films.

NoBudge is happy to present a program of ten short films from a group of emerging indie filmmakers mostly based in New York. A mix of comedy, drama, and experimental filmmaking, the lineup explores extreme behavior within unconventional narratives. An eclectic mix of tones and textures, the lineup delivers rebellious spirit and incisive commentary in one-of-a-kind visions. Eight of the films are NYC or Brooklyn premieres and all filmmakers will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A and Afterparty.

NoBudge is an online platform spotlighting the best in low-budget indie filmmaking. “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.

Ender
New York Premiere
Director Rhodri Beynon in person.
Shot entirely on mini DV tape, this film follows a skater grappling with his mental health, documented through the lens of his best friend’s camera.
(7 min)

Difficult Woman
New York Premiere
Director Summer Benowitz in person.
In this dreamlike and surreal micro short, a woman is accused of over-narrativizing her life and makes that accusation into a narrative.
(3 min)

Dolphin Boy
New York Premiere
Directors Arielle Bordow and Tyler Zonies in person.
While wallowing at the beach, DB finds a girl washed up on the shore.
(11 min)

Living Reality
Director Philip Thompson in person.
A tonal shift occurs inside the world of an American sitcom resulting in the disruption of the show’s rhythm.
(16 min)

Life in the Cage
New York Premiere
Director David Cardoza in person.
A quiet and cool box-office employee deals with a hot-tempered patron who’ll do anything to try and get into the movies without a ticket.
(4 min)

Brain Job: Perception
New York Premiere
Director Clare Ruddy in person.
A satirical parody of psychology edutainment programs.
(11 min)

Sweet Sorghum
New York Premiere
Director Brendan Lee Hickey in person.
Three young men escape city life for the serenity of the woods but something is amiss.
(10 min)

Pillow Talk
Writers and actors, Elizabeth O’Donnell and Annalisa Plumb, in person.
Two unnerving experiences with “good guys” highlight the ways that Margot and Cami react to the gray areas within sex and desire. 
(16 min)

Shithead
New York Premiere
Director Riley Donigan in person
A man with shit for brains struggles to cope with his strange condition.
(8 min)

A Joyful Process
New York Premiere
Producer Graham Mason in person.
Two old-timey fellas meet up by the pond to do some fishing and determine what’s normal.
(11 min)

Cast: John Earl Jelks, Michelle A. Banks, Nirvana Cobb, Kevin L. Davis, Christopher Smith

4K restoration

The Future of Film is Female continues its year-long celebration of 90s cinema with a screening of the newly-restored COMPENSATION. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

“As a word, Compensation evokes labor. In the director Zeinabu irene Davis’s beautifully woven drama of the same name, work does get its close-ups. But it is the loves, labors and vulnerabilities two couples in two different eras experience that make this black-and-white film from 1999 such an elegant and presciently inventive work. … Davis pays homage to the work of at least two of her predecessors from the University of California, Los Angeles: Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep and Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust. The U.C.L.A. movement was tagged the “L.A. Rebellion.” The arrival of this restored beauty — which was entered into the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry last year) proves that Davis knows how to rebel in her own distinctive way.” — Lisa Kennedy, The New York Times, Feb. 20, 2025

Starring: Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, Gaby Hoffmann, Ashleigh Aston Moore, Melanie Griffith, Demi Moore, Rosie O’Donnell, Rita Wilson

The Future of Film is Female continues its year-long celebration of 90s cinema with the cult-classic coming-of-age NOW AND THEN. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

Under appreciated by critics but beloved by young people upon its initial release, NOW AND THEN has become a cultural touchstone for its exploration of childhood female friendships, irresistible soundtrack, and its dizzyingly stacked cast. Set in the summer of 1970—a summer that changes everything for these four young friends—the film treats the woes of their twelve-year old lives with an aching tenderness.