The Nitehawk Shorts Festival’s MATINEE TWO screening includes eight films that imbue life and death as explored in stories about finite mortality, complex relationships, and exceeding expectations in an oppressive world. Q&A with filmmakers.

ODE TO JOY
MICHAEL KOSHKIN / U.S.A. / 2018 / DOCUMENTARY / 12 MINS / NEW YORK PREMIERE
The elderly residents of a Houston retirement home make the best of their remaining days by playing in a kazoo band.

I WAS IN YOUR BLOOD
JOSEPH SACKETT / U.S.A. / 2017 / DRAMA / 7 1/2 MINS
A young boy falls in love with his babysitter.

AMAZING BAGEL
DARA KATZ AND BETSY KENNEY / U.S.A. / 2018 / COMEDY / 15 MINS / WORLD PREMIERE
When Devin, a single, 30-year-old woman learns—unbeknownst to her—she’s had a miscarriage, like everything else in her life, she’s not sure how to feel about it.

KENT STAYS IN THE WOODS
JACKSON DEVEREUX / AUSTRALIA, U.S.A. / 2018 / DOCUMENTARY / 1 1/2 MINS
A portrait of a life in rural America following an amiable cab driver in Central Maine who lives alone in a trailer in the woods.

SOTHEA
KATE-MARIE ENGBERG / CAMBODIA / 2017 / DRAMA / 15 MINS / NEW YORK PREMIERE
When Sothea witnesses corruption at work, she has to decide morally and financially how to proceed.

A GIRL
C. CRAIG PATTERSON / U.S.A. / 2018 / DRAMA / 7 MINS
The Carroll brothers are at odds. Their father wants to get to the bottom of it.

LOLA: GIRL GOT A GUN
EMILY ELIZABETH THOMAS / U.S.A. / 2017 / DRAMA / 15 MINS
A young girl searches for purpose and belonging in a conservative West Texas household.

THE GOSPEL
A.V. ROCKWELL / U.S.A. / 2016 / DRAMA / 20 MINS
A music-driven short film presented as a visual prelude to Alicia Keys’ sixth studio album, HERE.