Starring: Dorothy Mackaill, Donald Cook, Ralf Harolde, Victor Varconi, Ivan F. Simpson
Co-hosted by filmmaker/programmer Caroline Golum
In this wild pre-code from director William A. Wellman, Gilda (Dorothy Mackaill) flees to an island after thinking she has killed a former client when she knocks him out with a bottle and accidentally sets the place ablaze. The island is a haven for criminals, and Gilda is intent on behaving for the sake of her sailor fiancé who has forgiven her of all past indiscretions. But when boredom creeps in she joins the reprobates for smokes and drinks, all the while dodging their advances. Sleazy Mr. Bruno, a corrupt local lawman, proves harder to deflect, so when he corners her with an ultimatum, she makes a bold choice.
35mm print courtesy Library of Congress
Starring: Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Chang Chen
Lai (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and his boyfriend, Ho (Leslie Cheung), arrive in Argentina from Hong Kong, seeking a better life. Their highly contentious relationship turns abusive and results in numerous break-ups and reconciliations. When Lai befriends another man, Chang (Chen Chang), he sees the futility of continuing with the promiscuous Ho. Chang, however, is on his own personal journey and, ultimately, both Lai and Ho find themselves far from home and desperately lonely.
Starring: Leon Lai Ming, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Charlie Young, Michelle Reis, Karen Mok
Lost souls reach out for human connection amidst the glimmering night world of Hong Kong in Wong Kar Wai’s hallucinatory, neon-soaked nocturne. Originally conceived as a segment of Chungking Express only to spin off on its own woozy axis, this hyper-cool head rush plays like the dark, moody flip side to Wong’s breakout feature as it charts the subtly interlacing fates of a handful of urban loners, including a coolly detached hitman (Leon Lai) looking to go straight, his business partner (Michelle Reis) who secretly yearns for him, and a mute delinquent (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who wreaks mischief by night. Swinging between hardboiled noir and slapstick lunacy with giddy abandon, Fallen Angels is both a dizzying, dazzling city symphony and a poignant meditation on love, loss, and longing in a metropolis that never sleeps.
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach
While filing for a divorce, beautiful ex-stripper Roslyn Taber (Marilyn Monroe) ends up meeting aging cowboy-turned-gambler Gay Langland (Clark Gable) and former World War II aviator Guido Racanelli (Eli Wallach). The two men instantly become infatuated with Roslyn and, on a whim, the three decide to move into Guido’s half-finished desert home together. When grizzled ex-rodeo rider Perce Howland (Montgomery Clift) arrives, the unlikely foursome strike up a business capturing wild horses.
Starring: Chuck Handy, Terri Heater, Larry Frampton, Les Rigwood, Steve Overbay
After a chance encounter with a female bodybuilder – who is also an alien – loner and reluctant hero Percy “Spider” Leibowitz falls madly in love. She soon goes missing, and he turns to his military pal to find her and battle the army of deadly, intergalactic trash cans who he thinks are responsible – trashcans that also happen to be hell bent on taking over earth.
This wildly obscure, never-released homemade sci-fi opus from Oregon’s Chuck Handy is stunningly hypnotizing in its simplicity and weirdness, dropping you into a lo-res otherworld from the first frame and leaving you there to marinate in the thick, hazy syrup of a one-of-a-kind consumer grade VHS universe.
Hosted by Matt Desiderio of Horror Boobs with free giveaways of Blu-rays, DVDs and collectibles. Followed by an after party in Lo-Res where Desiderio will DJ an all-vinyl set.
Starring: Todd Michael Smith, John Polonia, Mark Polonia, Marion Costly, Jeff Seedon
A pair of twins are sent off to spend time at their aunt’s farm, but they have stepped into a nightmare as the farm’s handyman turns out to be a sadistic serial killer who’s been slaughtering locals and keeping a collection of body parts out in the barn.
Made by teenage twin brothers Mark and John Polonia in rural Pennsylvania, Splatter Farm is a 1980s’ shot-on-video fan favorite and a gore-drenched testament to the DIY spirit that has endured over time and led the brothers to a decades-long career in filmmaking that is still thriving today.
Hosted by Matt Desiderio of Horror Boobs with free giveaways of Blu-rays, DVDs and collectibles. Followed by an after party in Lo-Res where Desiderio will DJ an all-vinyl set.
Starring: Romain Duris, Bérénice Bejo, Grégory Gadebois, Finnegan Oldfield, Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz
Special midnite sneak preview!
Oscar winner Michel Hazanavicius’ remake of Shin’ichirô Ueda’s cult hit One Cut of the Dead follows a director (Romain Duris, L’Auberge Espagnole) charged with making a live, single-take, low-budget zombie flick in which the cast and crew, one by one, actually turn into zombies. Featuring hysterically unhinged performances from Oscar nominee Bérénice Bejo (The Artist), Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz (Revenge), and Finnegan Oldfield (Corsage), Final Cut is a sly love letter to the art of filmmaking and a blood-soaked, hilarious genre farce with a meta-to- the-max premise.
Starring: Annie Parisse, Gus Birney, Constance Shulman, Paul Sparks
After having her identity stolen online, Diana Dent leaves her family and goes on a road trip with her son’s pregnant girlfriend to track down the perpetrators. The mismatched travel companions form an unexpected bond as they concede to the hardships of their own lives, and their hunt for answers becomes a surreal journey of self-discovery and empowerment.
Before Giving Birth to a Butterfly, we’ll screen Theodore Schaefer’s short “I Fell in Love with the World,” which was part of Nitehawk Shorts Fest 2023.
A Fandor Exclusive.
Check out more at fandor.com
Starring: John Abbott, Noah Hathaway, David Comfort
A child has only an 8 day life-span to complete a mysterious journey from the dim cave-dwelling society where he is born to a final gateway, the object of folklore. The abstract learning-games taught to the child bear an eerie resemblance to mammoth tasks and obstacles that hinder him in his journey. Can he complete the quest before his 8 days are up, and what lies at the end of this arcane sunless world? The gray, stagnating civilization place all their hope in a future they cannot comprehend and learned tasks whose meaning they no longer understand.
A psychedelic new-age short about what a spiritual human being might find after death.
