A hard rain is about to fall on a small town in Southern China.
In a desperate attempt to find money to save his fiancée’s failed plastic surgery, Xiao Zhang, a mere driver, steals a bag containing 1 million from his boss.
News of the robbery spreads fast within the town and, over the course of one night, everyone starts looking for Xiao Zhang and his money…
Liu Jian delivers a whirlwind neo-noir, cementing his place as a pioneering force in independent Chinese animation.
Proceeds benefiting The Director’s List and their continued support of female filmmakers
PROGRAM
CALEB
Directed by Amanda Mesaikos & Susanne Aichele | 14 minutes, 40 seconds
To contend with the bullies at school, 9-year-old Caleb decides to 3D print himself. Back home there’s confusion, discord and reshuffled schedules…But maybe this is just what his family needs? With humor at its heart, CALEB is a fundamentally human story about family dynamics and the inevitability of moral dilemmas in the face of advancing technology.
YOYO
Directed by Nicole Delaney | 15 minutes
Caroline (Sophie von Haselberg) can’t stand that she is a virgin…and then the world ends. In post-apocalyptic LA, after a dust storm has wiped out the planet, she is convinced that Francis (Martin Starr) was sent as the man to pop her cherry. YOYO is a heartfelt, dark comedy about finding meaning in life, even when life ceases to exist.
BLOOD TIES
Directed by Simon Pannetrat, Marion Louw, Thomas Ricquier, and Sophie Kavouridis | 3 minutes, 34 seconds
Fears hit close to home as a young girl must find the strength to face the demon that haunts her.
SO YOU’VE GROWN ATTACHED
Directed by Kate Tsang | 15 minutes
An imaginary friend is forced to consider retirement when his creator starts to grow up.
THE GATE
Directed by Kellie Madison | 8 minutes, 33 seconds
As a spiritual war is brewing one woman must fight to save her sister’s soul.
STRANGE BEASTS
Directed by Magali Barbé | 5 minutes, 8 seconds
“Strange Beasts” is an augmented reality game. It allows you to create and grow your own virtual pet. How far can it go?
THE SWEETENING
Directed by Grace Rowe | 13 minutes, 7 seconds
A lonely woman falls for an avatar in an augmented reality program and it completely upends
GENGHIS KHAN CONQUERS THE MOON
Directed by Kerry Yang | 14 minutes, 45 seconds
In Genghis Khan’s last days, an encounter with a Wizard sends him to the Moon. Just as the Mediaeval anti-hero thinks he’s made his greatest conquest, he finds himself on a spiritual quest, realizing the absurd clash between one man’s need and the silence of the Universe.
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DUST is the first multi-platform destination to experience stunning visions of the future from filmmakers of tomorrow. We feature the best sci-fi short films, series, and innovative content that cuts through the present to invite the future. With vivid special effects, complex characters, and captivating plots, prescient themes are explored and tantalizing questions asked. Whether it’s a utopia worth striving for, an apocalypse to avoid, or a truth about the ways technology is changing the human experience – we amplify the voices and visions that will shape the future through imagination.
Starring: Shinobu Terajima, Josh Hartnett, Kaho Minami, Shiori Kutsuna, Kōji Yakusho
OH LUCY! follows Setsuko, (Shinobu Terajima in an Independent Spirit Award-nominated performance), a single, emotionally unfulfilled woman, seemingly stuck with a drab, meaningless life in Tokyo. At least until she’s convinced by her niece, Mika (Shioli Kutsuna, Deadpool 2), to enroll in an unorthodox English class that requires her to wear a blonde wig and take on an American alter ego named “Lucy.” The new identity awakens something dormant in Setsuko, and she quickly develops romantic feelings for her American instructor, John (Josh Hartnett, Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful”). When John suddenly disappears from class, Setsuko travels halfway around the world in search of him, and in the outskirts of Southern California, family ties and past lives are tested as she struggles to preserve the dream and promise of “Lucy.”
Finaly, Bill Plympton’s long awaited new feature film Revengeance is coming out in New York City. For a year, it’s been touring the world in film festivals where it’s garnered awards and great press – now, for the US theatrical premiere we’re proud to introduce the film at the prestigious Nitehawk Cinema.
Mr. Plympton himself will be there to introduce the film; he’ll take questions and give sketches to everyone after the screening.
Revengeance is a co-production by Bill Plympton and L.A. based artist Jim Lujan. If Quentin Tarantino decided to become an animator this would be his film.
Starring: Julia Garner, Joseph Cross, C.S. Lee
A minimalist odyssey about a lonely man, his robothead companion, and a determined young woman hiking across a desert planet in search of a mythical lake. Winner of the Cinematography Award at the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival.
The sparkling, pitch perfect performances from Julia Garner (Netflix’s Ozark) and Joseph Cross (HBO’s Big Little Lies), the out of this world photography and the original score from Neon Indian’s Alan Palomo make this quirky, emotional adventure of connection and understanding a pure delight.
For the 13th consecutive year, Shorts HD and Magnolia Pictures present the Oscar-Nominated Short Films, opening on Feb. 9th. This is your annual chance to predict the winners (and have the edge in your Oscar pool)! A perennial hit with audiences around the country and the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place Sunday, March 4th.
Dear Basketball – Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant, USA, 5 minutes
Negative Space – Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata, France, 5 minutes
Lou – Dave Mullins and Dana Murray, USA, 7 minutes
Revolting Rhymes – Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer, UK, 29 minutes
Garden Party – Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon, France 7 minutes
Lost Property Office (additional film) – Daniel Agdag, Australia, 10 minutes
Weeds (additional film)
Producer: Isabel Castro
Nitehawk presents a special President’s Day screening of AMERICA UPRISING, a journalistic short documentary project that brings viewers inside U.S. movements and onto the front lines of conflict.
There is an unprecedented wave of social protest throughout the United States. Created by the team behind the AMERICA DIVIDED docuseries, AMERICA UPRISING is a journalistic documentary project that brings viewers inside these movements and onto the front lines of conflict, from living rooms to the state house to the streets.
PROGRAM
FARMWORKERS
There are over half a million undocumented immigrants in Florida. Many are farmworkers. Catalina Santiago, a farmworker and organizer with Movimiento Cosecha, is determined to fight for immigrant rights. She and others organize towards an immigrant labor strike.
WESTFIELD 20/20
In Westfield, New Jersey, a group of residents new to organizing pressure local politicians who support President Trump’s agenda. An early focus is Congressman Leonard Lance, and the fate of the Affordable Care Act.
THIS LAND I LOVE
A year after the historic native-led protest at Standing Rock, President Trump greenlights the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline his first week in office. Activist Judith LeBlanc and thousands of others bring the fight to the streets of Washington D.C.
MUSLIM BAN
One of President Trump’s first acts in office was to ban individuals travelling from majority Muslim countries from entering the United States. In New York, Yemeni activist Rabyaah Althaibani protests the so-called “Muslim Ban” and navigates the policy’s impact on her own family.
CLIMATE MARCH
Environmentalist Bill McKibbon discusses the implications of President Trump’s environmental policies on the planet, and participates in the Climate March in Washington D.C.
MARCH FOR BLACK WOMEN
The Women’s March brought millions of people into the streets in January, but organizers of the March For Black Women are determined to center the voices and experiences of black women – as they are too often marginalized in mainstream resistance movements. Activist and organizer Farah Tanis discusses how her family history led her to a life of activism.
SAFE HAVEN PT. 1 AND PT. 2
Ravi Ragbir is the executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition, and also one of 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Following President Trump’s election, many undocumented immigrants who had been deprioritized for deportation are being removed. Along with hundreds of his supporters, Ragbir shows up to an appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
CHARLOTTESVILLE
The “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia ended in bloodshed when a white supremacist drove his car into anti-racist demonstrators. Heather Heyer, a 32 year old paralegal, was killed, and more than a dozen others were injured. Charlottesville Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy recounts events that lead up to the day, and the battle over the removal of confederate monuments in the city – a fight he says is all about race, not heritage.
AFTER THE STORM
Hurricane María made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20th, devastating the island. In response to criticism of the slow federal response, President Trump lashed out, tweeting that Puerto Ricans “want everything to be done for them.” Activists on the ground, who began organizing relief brigades in the first days after the storm, tell a different story.
WOMEN’S MARCH
The Women’s March brought millions of people into the streets in January, but organizers of the March For Black Women are determined to center the voices and experiences of black women – as they are too often marginalized in mainstream resistance movements. Activist and organizer Farah Tanis discusses how her family history led her to a life of activism.
German expressionist director F.W. Murnau’s most beautiful silent era masterpiece and first Hollywood film “SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS” (1927) starring George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor and Margaret Livingston is the story of a naïve young farmer bewitched by an alluring city woman, driving him toward murder. Hailed as one of the best films of all time by many, the film and Janet Gaynor both won the Academy Award for “Unique and Artistic Picture” and “Best Actress In A Leading Role” at the first Academy Awards in 1929.
For the 13th consecutive year, Shorts HD and Magnolia Pictures present the Oscar-Nominated Short Films, opening on Feb. 9th. This is your annual chance to predict the winners (and have the edge in your Oscar pool)! A perennial hit with audiences around the country and the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place Sunday, March 4th.
DeKalb Elementary – Reed Van Dyk, USA, 20 minutes
The Silent Child – Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton, UK, 20 minutes
My Nephew Emmett – Kevin Wilson, Jr., USA, 20 minutes
The Eleven O’Clock – Derin Seale and Josh Lawson, Australia, 13 minutes
Watu Wote/All of Us – Katja Benrath and Tobias Rosen, Germany, 22 minutes
Starring: Bernd Daktari Lorenz, Beatrice Manowski, Harald Lundt
Jörg Buttgereit’s notorious West German exploitation film about Betty and Rob, a couple with a very particular set of kinks: making it with body parts and corpses. Rob works at a cleaning service that collects human remains after accidents and murders, a perfect gig for the dude, really. He sneaks off with human bits to satisfy his and Betty’s flesh fetish, but one day he strikes gold and brings home the ultimate prize: a full, rotted human corpse.
Banned in multiple countries for years, this hyper-low budget softcore splatter comedy boasts untold grotesqueries as well as themes that connect pleasure and death; abandonment and impotence; and personal freedom in the face of West German conservatism.
