New York Surf Film Festival presents a screening of Abyss, friction free finless – musical notes whilst surfing, and A Hundred Miles to the End…

Abyss (2013) directed by Jay Grant, starring Creed McTaggart (10 minutes)
Take a dark and psychedelic voyage with Creed McTaggart as he messes with the hostile waters of Western Australia’s Indian ocean, set to one mind bending 10 minute track by Sleepy Sun. Abyss sends you back in time as it unveils and transforms a grip of differing shapes, sounds and personalities.

friction free finless – musical notes whilst surfing (2012) directed by Chris Duczynski, Starring: Derek Hynd, Ryan Burch, Taylor Miller and the Avalon crew (10 minutes)
All music performed by The Australian Chamber Orchestra in conjunction with Steve Pigram on vocals/guitar and Mark Atkins on didgeridoo.

Finless exponent Derek Hynd, Californian young gun Ryan Burch and Rusty Millers free-surfing daughter Taylor, take on a Western Australian desert reef on finless boards. They are accompanied by members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra led by artistic director Richard Tognetti and indigenous musicians Steve Pigram and Mark Atkins. Over two weeks they compose music, surf finless boards and shoot footage for a live performance project called The Reef, which would tour all around Australia. This is the story behind “The Reef”.

A Hundred Miles to the End (2013) directed by John Beattie, starring Balaram Stack, TJ Gumillea, Will Skudin, Leif Engstrom, Mikey DeTemple, Bruce Bailey, Josh Goetz and a host of others. (52 minutes)
Follow a lifelong Surfer as he re-visits the places he used to surf over his 48 years of surfing on Long Island. Starting at Long Beach in Western Long Island and heading East to Montauk “The End”.

Surfers are amazing creature, no matter what life throws their way, the are characteristically unfazed by setbacks and never give up.

Long Island native John Beattie was a lifelong surfer up until 2007 when he suffered a stroke. Beattie had to retire his surfboard. Instead, he picked up his camera and began to document his irrevocable love for surfing “As a way to remain connected to the sport I love so much I began to film others surfing,” Beattie said. “I decided that I wanted to give something back to the Long Island surfing community for all the good times and all the people I met and places I’ve been over the years.” From Long Beach to Montauk, Beattie set out on a journey to recount some of his favorite surf spots, hence the film’s title, A Hundred Miles to The End.

New York Surf Film Festival presents a screening of Sunyata Lapse, What to Wear, and Waverider…

Sunyata Lapse (2013) directed by Yarir Abou, starring Ibon Muguerza (23 minutes)
Ibon is a young basque guy that bring us a  message and a  reflexion about life…The state of mind he gets when he is focussed in NOW, The Sunyata, an illuminated void, this little lapse without reality, without time and without pain….just happiness…

What to Wear (2013) directed by Jennie Rutz (30 seconds)
A surfer girl wakes up in the morning and makes the not so difficult choice of what to wear. Music by Rosie and Me.

Jennie Rutz is an illustrator and animator from Canada, now living in Italy. She started surfing in 2012 in Sicily although she dreamed about blue waves all her life while growing up on the yellow plains of Alberta. She loves working with music and movement and exploring life from a girl’s perspective. She recently opened her first solo exhibition of original paintings in Palermo, Sicily entitled “Boys & Girls, Girls, Girls” which included surfing and the sea as it’s prominent theme.

Waverider  (2013) directed by Karl Lear, starring Isei Tokovou, Kelly Slater, Travis Logie, Jordy Smith, Mitch Coleborn, Patrick Gudauskas, CJ Hobgood, Joel Parkinson and Chad Campbell (62 minutes)
In the early 90?s, a photograph of a young boy dropping in on a huge unknown wave made the cover of Surfing Life. The photograph became iconic. 20 years later, the Fijian surfer the world had never heard of, earned the chance to compete against the best surfer the world has ever seen. This is his story.

At Cloudbreak, now rated by many as the best wave in the World, local boatman, Isei Tokovou won a wildcard entry into the Volcom Fiji Pro World Championship, with more than $400,000 in prize money. Surfing his home-­?break with hand-­?me-­?down boards and without a trainer or support team, Isei carries the hopes of a nation into competition.

New York Surf Film Festival presents a screening of Step N’ Soul, Cactus Wagon, and The North Canyon: Nazaré Calling…

Step N’ Soul  (2012) directed by Toma Jablon, starring Sam Bleakley (5 minutes)
Step N Soul is a short film that explores the synergy between jazz, surfing, dance and improvisation by capturing a series of surfing performances choreographed and synchronised to Wynton Marsalis Sunflowers track. It features English pro surfer Sam Bleakley who uses an mp3 waterproof player and surfs his longboard while listening to Marsalis track.

This is a unique approach to surf film making and surfing itself. The goal is to explore more of the potential the music brings to our experiences through action sport and life in general.

Cactus Wagon  (2012) directed by Denny Aaberg, starring Jan-Michael Vincent and Denny Aaberg (10 minutes)
When Big Wednesday went south, so did its star, Jan-Michael Vincent. He hauled the film’s screenwriter, Denny Aaberg, with him. Turns out Denny had a Super-8 Camera. Across the border and into the hills they went. To the ag towns and bracero buses of the Valle de San Quintin. Through the sage-to-Sonoran transition zone of Roasario de Arriba. Past the charismatic mega flora of the Valle de los Cirios. Onward through the featureless Vizcaino. And finally – finally! To San Juanicio. Rattlesnake Point. Punta Pequena. Scorpion Bay.

In this short film you’ll see Scorpion one year after the trans-peninsula highway was opened. No streets, no services, no Gringo Hill. Hardscrabble, empty, and perfect. Aaberg and Vincent surfed, drank, and licked their wounds. As the film’s Matt Barlow, Jan-Michael, said, “I surf just ’cause it’s good to ride with your friends.” Here’s Jan – and Denny – doing just that.

The North Canyon: Nazaré Calling (2011) with Garrett McNamara directed by Garrett McNamara, Polvo Concepts, Paulo Caldeira, Gustavo Neves, starring Garrett McNamara, Nicole Macias, Cj Macias, Andrew Cotton, Al Mennie (60 minutes)
In October 2011 Garrett McNamara returned to explore the giant waves formed by the Nazaré Canyon. This is the story of one month leading up to an incredible ride, told by a group of people who helped to shine light on one of the biggest wave spots in the world.

Coming back to Nitehawk on Friday, October 25! A re-imagining of the 2010 Mexican film of the same name, director Jim Mickle paints a gripping portrait of an introverted family struggling to keep their macabre traditions alive.

In WE ARE WHAT WE ARE, a seemingly wholesome and benevolent family, the Parkers have always kept to themselves, and for good reason. Behind closed doors, patriarch Frank (Bill Sage, BOARDWALK EMPIRE) rules his family with a rigorous fervor, determined to keep his ancestral customs intact at any cost. As a torrential rainstorm moves into the area, tragedy strikes and his daughters Iris (Ambyr Childers, THE MASTER) and Rose (Julia Garner, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR) are forced to assume responsibilities that extend beyond those of a typical family. As the unrelenting downpour continues to flood their small town, the local authorities begin to uncover clues that bring them closer to the secret that the Parkers have held closely for so many years.

Danny Trejo returns as ex-Federale agent MACHETE in Robert Rodriguez’s MACHETE KILLS! 

Machete Kills is an action-packed thrill ride about the adventures of legendary secret agent Machete Cortez (Danny Trejo). In his latest mission, Machete is recruited by the U.S. President (Carlos Estevez) to stop a crazed global terrorist (Mel Gibson) from starting a nuclear war. With a bounty on his head, Machete faces death at every turn from an all-star cast of deadly assassins. Breaking all the rules, visionary director Robert Rodriguez leads this star-studded ensemble on one of the wildest adventures to save the world ever captured on film!

A documentary that celebrates Rick Hall, the founder of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and the signature sound he developed in songs such as “I’ll Take You There”, “Brown Sugar”, and “When a Man Loves a Woman”.

Muscle Shoals a place filled with magic and music, legend and folklore, where the river is inhabited by a Native American spirit who has lured some of the greatest Rock and Roll and Soul legends of all time, and drawn from them some of the most uplifting, defiant, and important music ever created. In Muscle Shoals, Alabama, music runs through the hills, the river, and the spirit of the people. It is a place where, even before the Civil Rights Movement really took shape, the color of your skin didn’t matter inside the studio.

Long lost but now found – An American Hippie in Israel in 35mm! 

American hippie-soldier Mike (Asher Tzarfati) travels to Israel shortly after his involvement in the Vietnam War. He gets to know three Israelis — stage actress Elizabeth (Lily Avidan), a female hippie friend (Tzila Karney), and her Hebrew-speaking boyfriend Komo (Shmuel Wolf). They join a bigger group of hippies and barely survive when a duo of stalking mimes gun down the crowd. The quartet flee to an uninhabited island along with a goat. They settle down and wake up the following sunrise to find that their boat and goat have vanished. The shark-infested waters make it impossible for them to swim to the mainland. Suddenly, they turn from friends to fiends as they attempt to kill each other.

Nitehawk’s annual Halloween nite Live Sound Cinema event returns this year with a presentation of Phantom of the Opera featuring a live score by Black Lodge!

Ghosts! Deaths! Romance! The man of a thousand faces, Lon Chaney, stars in this 1925 classic American silent film in which a mad, disfigured composer seeks love with a lovely young opera singer. Adapted from Gaston Leroux’s novel of the same name, the Phantom haunts the Paris Opera House, murdering those who stand in the way of the women he loves becoming a star. The movie remains most famous for Chaney’s intentionally horrific, self-applied make-up, which was kept a studio secret until the film’s premiere. Just like every other year, there’s no better way to kick off your Halloween nite than with Nitehawk and our spooky silent films!

Black Lodge, lead by guitarist/composer Geoff Gersh, is a collective of black metal inspired musicians who re-score films then perform live to the film.

MASSACRE VIDEO PRESENTS: Nitehawk’s ONE NITE ONLY presentation of the re-released Black Devil Doll from Hell includes a Q&A with Director Chester N. Turner, moderated by Matt Desaderio from Horror Boobs.

Helen, a God fearing and good Christian woman is surrounded by a world obsessed with sex while she still believes sex should only occur between a married couple, no matter what her desires tell her. After stopping by a strange store, Helen finds herself drawn to an unusual doll that supposedly has the ability to make a person’s desires come true. When Helen takes the doll home, she finds out that there is truth to that promise and there is a price that comes with it.

This October The Deuce dispels your doldrums and delivers with a 35mm screening of Abel Ferrara’s THE DRILLER KILLER in the Times Square Theater at Nitehawk Cinema!

Followed by a Q&A with very special guest, cinematographer Ken Kelsch!

With Times Square Theater history, prizes, surprises, music by DJ BONES, and drink special at the after-party! Hosted and presented by ‘The Deuce Boys’: Jeff, Andy, and Joe. Seating begins approximately around 9pm.

NYC circa the late seventies – making it here can be MURDER! Director Abel Ferrara delineates the Hell of trying to hack it in the heart of this decrepit core-rotten Big Apple. Equal parts Art-house and Exploitation – loud and lucid, acute and cutting to the quick – THE DRILLER KILLER tells an almost all-too-understandable tale of madness in a maddening city. Looming eviction, overdue bills, oblivious roommates, the cacophony of noisy neighbors and the pressure-cooker of the “art” world, all spiral head-first into a hallucination of homicide and horror! No-Wave Punks, Pop-Art and power drills! Bums and bombast! A portrait of the artist pushed too far until…There are those who kill violently!

Shot over the two years of 1977/78 in and around Ferrara’s own Union Square apartment with many the same people he would work with for years to come – THE DRILLER KILLER quickly becomes less your standard slasher/horror and more a personal and pointed look at subcultures and fringe-dwellers in a city impossibly riddled with a readiness to squelch those values it professes to embrace.. Sold and promoted as grindhouse-gore-fest (even to the point of being banned on video in the U.K.) – Ferrara’s ferocious fable found its way from the downtown 8th Street Playhouse to fester like a tumor for years on 42nd Street. Burrowing into the brains of Deuce denizens on December 14, 1979 at the area’s namesake movie-house – The Times Square Theater – this month the skull THE DRILLER KILLER cracks may be your own!

Abel Ferrara, director and star of THE DRILLER KILLER, is the world renowned NYC-based filmmaker of modern classics like BAD LIEUTENANT, KING OF NEW YORK, MS. 45, FEAR CITY, and 4:44 LAST DAY ON EARTH.