Starring: Desmond Askew, Katie Holmes, Sarah Polley, Taye Diggs, Scott Wolf, Jay Mohr

Eighteen-year-old Ronna, accompanied by reluctant partner-in-crime and fellow supermarket checkout clerk Claire, is desperately looking to score some rent money before she’s evicted. Simon, an impulsive Brit, is driving a stolen car with buddy Marcus during a wild night of partying on the Las Vegas strip. Adam and Zack, a pair of TV stars, find themselves in the middle of a real-life drug sting-and a very creepy Christmas dinner. Where are we? Who are these people? Welcome to the edgy comedy Go, in which the outrageous misadventures of a group of young people collide in Los Angeles’ raucous underground scene.

Starring: Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, Stephen Spinella, David Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Jeremy Davies

Captain John Boyd receives a promotion after defeating the enemy command in a battle of the Mexican-American War, but because the general realizes it was an act of cowardice that got him there, he is given a backhanded promotion to Fort Spencer, where he is third in command. The others at the fort are two Indians, George and his sister, Martha, who came with the place, Chaplain Toffler, Reich, the soldier; Cleaves, a drugged-up cook; and Knox, who is frequently drunk.

When a Scottish stranger named Colquhoun appears and recovers from frostbite almost instantly after being bathed, he tells a story about his party leader, Ives, eating members of the party to survive. As part of their duty, they must go up to the cave where this occurred to see if any have survived. Only Martha, Knox, and Cleaves stay behind. George warns that since Colquhoun admits to eating human flesh, he must be a Windigo, a ravenous cannibalistic creature.

For number 19, we’re honing in and around relationships, in their various forms, break-ups between ex-lovers, complicated friendships. We’re holding steady with our appetite for dark character studies (see Bucko! and Good Girl Jane) while dialing back slightly on the absurd comedy front (though Turyn Goes to the Club, will keep your satiated). Perhaps the idea of an orbit, as loosely touched on in Space, is an appropriate thematic connector. In each film, characters are trying to escape one, or get back in, or simply trying to exist in their designated path. We have four U.S. premieres, and four more N.Y. premieres, and all directors will be present for a post film Q&A and Afterparty.

NoBudge is an online platform spotlighting the best in no-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 helping audiences find their new favorite movies and filmmakers.

The movies:

Bucko!
Director Deni Cheng present.
U.S. Premiere. Gloria plans to catch the bus from Chinatown back home to her native Virginia, but along the way, she runs into old friends and bad habits.
(13 minutes).

Two or Three Women
Director Zoe Bullock present.
U.S. Premiere. Two “actors” give a Q&A; when does the performance begin and does it end?
(7 minutes)

Beginning to End
Director Paul Johnston present.
U.S. Premiere. On a cold beach amongst a series of art installation pieces, a young man struggles to redeem himself by making a film about his father’s work.
(10 minutes)

Bonfire
Director Kevin A. Brooks present.
N.Y. Premiere. After experiencing a painful breakup, a young man struggles to move on.
(8 minutes)

Yours
Director Maggie Brennan present.
Billie, an elderly woman with a glamorous past, gets swept up in an online dating service.
(4 minutes)

Turyn Goes to the Club
Director Lauren Ireland present.
A guileless woman named Turyn is taken for a surrealist ride to visit “The Club.”
(4 minutes)

White Girl in Paris
Director Tajayona present.
U.S. Premiere. An expatriate flees to Paris and relinquishes her blackness in pursuit of personal freedom.
(2 minutes)

Partners
A slump in Kate and Leigh’s sex life forces them to reconsider their relationship.
(6 minutes)

Space
Director Jesse Thurston present.
N.Y. Premiere. Unfolding over one night in a Brooklyn apartment, Space is an intimate portrait of three friends in orbit around each other.
(16 minutes)

Good Girl Jane
Director Sarah Elizabeth Mintz present.
N.Y. Premiere. Jane faces the reality of an apparent relapse after waking up half naked in the backseat of a car.
(14 minutes)

Damage
Director Matt Porter present.
N.Y. Premiere. A breakup is interrupted.
(7 minutes)

Part film, part baptism, in Black Mother director Khalik Allah brings us on a spiritual exploration through Jamaica. Soaking up its bustling metropolises and tranquil countryside, Allah introduces us to a succession of vividly rendered souls who call this island home. Their candid testimonies create a polyphonic symphony, set against a visual prayer of indelible portraiture. Immersed into the sacred, the profane, and everything in-between, Black Mother channels rebellion and reverence into a deeply personal ode informed by Jamaica’s turbulent history but existing in the urgent present.

Starring: John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gorney, Donna Pescow, Barry Miller, Joseph Cali, Paul Pape

The soundtrack, the dancing, the chin – Saturday Night Fever is THE cultural touchstone of the disco era. This seemingly fluff disco depiction we’ve all grown to love houses a deep dark tale, one that shows a desperation to succeed, the desire to move onto better things, and the fear of failure. In his defining role John Travolta, with his polyester pants and thrusting hips, deals with the harsh reality of trying to make it big when you come from so little. But he’ll make it happen across the bridge in New York City but, whatever you do, don’t touch the hair!

Starring: Rodney Dangerfield, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, Keith Gordon, Robert Downey, Jr.

Respect comes due on The Deuce for Father’s Day, when Rodney Dangerfield goes BACK TO SCHOOL – teaching those dummies at Times Square’s Selwyn Theatre a thing or three!

Self-made big-bucks billionaire daddy Dangerfield doesn’t want his milquetoast kid to drop out of college – so enrolls himself in to show the punk how it’s done! Soon the bug-eyed bozo is the crazy-king of the campus – putting the jocks, preps, and frat-boys to shame and wooing Sally Kellerman’s brainy/sexy Lit teacher in the bargain – all while his schlep of a son – Keith Gordon – bums around with the resident socialist rabble-rouser – Robert Downey, Jr!

One-liners and double-entendres fly! Dangerfield does some Olympics-level diving!??! Kurt Vonnegut shows up?!!? Sam Kinison screams (duh)… Oingo Boingo!! But it’s all Rodney’s show – the forever sad-sack at the top of his hilarious game – loud, obnoxious, outré – and ultimately lovable… the classic “clown” with the patina of pathos and bathos..

“What’s a bath without bubbles? Bubbles, get over here!” Come bathe in the bonkers brilliance that was Rodney Dangerfield for our Father’s Day Deuce… and shed a tear… or two…

Starring: Jill Clayburgh, Matthew Barry, Veronica Lazar

The Deuce does Mother’s Day this May with gusto when Bernardo Bertolucci’s gutsy virtuoso melodrama LUNA lights up the darkness of our lives – just as it once lit up the dank environs of 42nd street’s Apollo Theater – after opening the 17th New York Film Festival on September 28, 1979!

Recently widowed opera super-diva ditches Brooklyn for Italy with teen-aged son in tow – only to discover that her semi-self-absorbed “life-style” has led him to a semi-hidden heroin addiction… and she will do all a mother can to bring him back to her bosom! Soufflé’s and disco-dancin! Skateboarding and Un Ballo in Maschera! A fever-dream of Freudian tom-foolery and outré Oedipal desires!

Slyly self-referential to Bertolucci’s own previous work and rife with rampant shifts in tone – at turns hilarious and horrifying – as tear-jerking as it is squirm-inducing – deliriously surreal and painfully real… a tour-de-force of music, mystery, and a mother-lode of emotion – exploding with light and color from Vittorio Storaro’s lens… an operatic feast for all the senses!

With a near career-killer of a role for Jill Clayburgh in possibly her best performance ever… LUNA is a much maligned but masterful film from one of the Masters of Cinema… and on The Deuce!! Bring your mom if you have one!

Starring: Judd Nelson, Robert Loggia, Leo Rossi, Meg Foster

This April, our favorite big-time Deuce-Buddy – Bill Lustig – is back to rock the house with his roller-coaster suspense-shocker RELENTLESS – just like it did when it rolled into Times Square’s Cine 42!

Lackadaisical LA veteran detective, Robert Loggia, gets riled up by Leo Rossi’s Brooklyn-bred “rookie” newcomer into nabbing sicko psycho serial murderer, Judd Nelson… The ex-Breakfast Clubber has Daddy issues with a capital “D” – causing him to do dastardly deeds – like picking people with his own name from the phone-book to provoke into… murdering THEMSELVES!?!

Lustig’s borderline ludicrous foray into “mainstream” movie-making makes the most of its familiar-feeling plot with wild style, weirdo details, and all around wacked-out acting… with a deliriously down-beat and devilishly creepy-crawly performance by the former Brat-Packer! Unsettling!! Uncomfortable!! A sharp and slick action-packed late 80s surprise – a whirlwind of wanton revenge and vengeance… it’s RELENTLESS!

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Ving Rhames, Harvey Keitel

The ultimate post-modern film! Weaving together separate yet interrelated tales of violence, revenge and affection, Tarantino’s seminal Pulp Fiction broke all the rules to become one of the most memorable movies of the 20th century. The film’s intelligent dialogue, non-linear storytelling, pop-cultural meta-ness, and stylized violence captivated audiences in desperate need of something fresh. Today, Pulp Fiction delivers smart entertainment that stands the test of time with its now iconic introspective hitman, washed up boxer, and a mobster’s wife. All these years later though, we still don’t know what’s in that damn briefcase.

Starring: Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Trey Wilson, Robert Wuhl, Jenny Robertson

Former minor leaguer Ron Shelton hit a grand slam with his directorial debut, one of the most revered sports movies of all time. Durham Bulls devotee Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon)—who every year takes a new player under her wing (and into her bed)—has singled out the loose-cannon pitching prospect Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins), a big-league talent with a rock-bottom maturity level. But she’s unable to shake Crash Davis (Kevin Costner), the veteran catcher brought in to give Nuke some on-the-field seasoning. A breakthrough film for all three of its stars and an Oscar nominee for Shelton’s highly quotable screenplay, Bull Durham is a freewheeling hymn to wisdom, experience, and America’s pastime, tipping its cap to all those who grind it out for love of the game.