Starring: Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Zola, Adrienne Servantie, Lucien Frégis

Monsieur Hulot’s brother-in-law is the manager of a factory where plastics are manufactured. His nephew grows up in a house where everything is fully automated and the boy is raised in a similar fashion. To take away the influence of the uncle on his son, his brother-in-law gets Hulot a job in his factory.

Starring: Philippe Nahon, Blandine Lenoir, Frankie Pain

A horse meat butcher’s life and mind begin to breakdown as he lashes out against various factions of society while attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

Starring: Vincent Cassel, Tchéky Karyo, Monica Bellucci

The charismatic criminal Dobermann, who received his first gun at his christening, leads a gang of brutal robbers. After a complex and brutal bank robbery, they are being hunted by the Paris police. The hunt is led by the sadistic cop Christini, who only has one goal: catch Dobermann at any cost.

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli

Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre. When her lovestruck friend Henri mentions a secretive high-class brothel run by Madame Anais, Séverine begins to work there during the day under the name Belle de Jour. But when one of her clients grows possessive, she must try to go back to her normal life.

Minsky’s Burlesque-cum-Wringling Bros, THE GIRLIE SHOW happened only 39 times in 12 countries, yet had a record-breaking box office gross of $170 million (in 2018 dollars). Conceived as a “sex circus” blending “rock, fashion, carnival and cabaret,” this iconic, unforgettable spectacle featured the Queen of Pop as underground dominatrix, disco diva, and androgynous Master of Ceremonies… Her My Fair Lady-meets-Edward Gorey encore of “Justify My Love” remains the most sophisticated and elegantly enigmatic stage production of all time.

THE GIRLIE SHOW: LIVE DOWN UNDER – shot during M’s November 19 performance at the Sydney Cricket Ground – premiered the next night on HBO and became the premium cable channel’s most watched event of the year.

Now – and for one night only – Nitehawk Cinema celebrates Madonna’s 60th birthday with a very special screening of THE GIRLIE SHOW, re-mastered in glorious DCP.

From the stacks of Strand to the screen at Nitehawk, we invite you to join us for a night of literary adaptations. These stories have lived on shelves at Strand Book Store for 91 years, and we’re excited to see them come to life in 10 original short films.

Enjoy the films and hang around for the award ceremony and conversation hour. Thanks to our judges, all those who submitted, Nitehawk Cinema and book lovers everywhere who made our first ever film festival possible!

PROGRAM

REMBRANDT’S ETCHING
Directed by Thomas Grascoeur | 2018 | 3 min
After losing his eyesight, a collector decides to give his daughter visiting the family home his most precious possession.

Director in attendance.

A BELIEVER
Directed by Kenta Crisà | 2017 | 1 min
A gallery, a painting, two men, or maybe only one.

RAMBLE
Directed by Andreas Ramm | 2015 | 6 min 30 sec
Based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Osterspaziergang”, Ramble takes us on a romantic journey through nature. But sometimes we crave paradise so much that we lose track of reality. The light of the sun is not always beautiful, it can also blind us.

BEARD ENVY
Directed by John Tomkins | 2018 | 5 min 30 sec
Join Dan A Beard on his very surreal journey in search to find the perfect Beard in the film adaption of poem by Robert Garnham from his book “Nice”.

REALITY HAMLET
Directed by Film Workshop for Children & Adolescents by David Valverde | 2018 | 4 min
Reality Hamlet is an experimental version of Shakespeare’s play where fiction and reality are mixed, with humor, by the students of David Valverde’s Film Workshop for Children and Adolescents.

THRESHOLD
Directed by Michelle Cheripka | 2018 | 4 min
Focusing on the oft-unspoken dialogue between father and son, Michelle Cheripka’s Threshold explores the evolution of relationships, as well as the retrospection that comes with age.

Director in attendance.

WAIT IN VAIN
Directed by Indigo Bates | 2018 | 3 min 14 sec
A woman waits for a phone call from her lover, as she becomes increasingly manic alone in the house. Based on “A Telephone Call” by Dorothy Parker.

Shot in Brooklyn with cast and crew from the UK, USA, France and Australia. Director, cinematographer Fred Foret and producer Nile Berry in attendance.

THE ART OF BOOK REVIEWING
Directed by Temenuga Trifonova | 2017 | 10 min
A book reviewer discovers a new genre of literary criticism — ‘fictional criticism.’

Director in attendance.

BROOKLYN LEAR
Directed by Devin Burnam | 2018 | 8 min
Shakespeare’s timeless tale of treachery, insanity, and desperation plays out once more in the red hot Williamsburg hipster housing market.

Director in attendance.

SHAKESPEARE REPUBLIC: THOMAS MORE
Directed by Sally McLean | 2016 | 7 min
Meet Shakespeare Republic’s “Thomas More”, played by Christopher Kirby, as he tries to convince a group of parliamentary peers the errors of their ways. Shakespeare Republic: celebrating the brilliance of the Bard.

BARTLEBY
Directed by Laura Naylor and Kristen Kee | 2017 | 10 min
An unassuming Wall Street lawyer finds himself beset by a new employee, Bartleby, who refuses to work—in an ongoing act of passive refusal, he simply “prefers not to.” A quiet, dogged battle of wills ensues in this stop-motion reimagining of a Melville classic.

Director in attendance.

PILGRIMS
Directed by Jonathan Guggenheim | 2016 | 9 min
Set in the punk scene of Greenville, SC, 16-year-old Terry Webber struggles to navigate a new reality following a tragedy involving his girlfriend. Adapted from NY Times Bestselling author, Brad Land’s novel “Pilgrims Upon The Earth”.

Comedian Kevin Maher hosts a two-hour video variety show celebrating the work of David Cronenberg (Videodrome, A History of Violence, The Fly). The evening includes a close look at his early films, his television directing, his work as an actor and much more. It’s a night of body horror, transhumanist biomech and film footage that’s bold and bizarre. Long live the new flesh!

with special guests:

Amber Dextrous (from Kevin Geeks Out About Famous Monsters)

Matt Glasson (editor, filmmaker)

Bill Scurry (filmmaker and Podcaster)

Caroline Symons (writer, SUSAN VAGINAHANDS: ATTORNEY AT LAW)

Camila Jones (Mistress of Ceremonies)

Marcus Pinn (creator of Pinnland Empire website and co-host of the ZEBRAS IN AMERICA podcast)

plus John Cribbs & Christopher Funderburg (creators of the website ThePinkSmoke.com)

See why BestNewYorkComedy.com called the show “ONE OF THE BEST SHOWS IN NYC” and SyFy.com called Kevin an “insane genius.”

Starring: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace

It’s the early 1970s, a time of great social upheaval as the struggle for civil rights rages on. Ron Stallworth becomes the first African-American detective on the Colorado Springs Police Department, but his arrival is greeted with skepticism and open hostility by the department’s rank and file. Undaunted, Stallworth resolves to make a name for himself and a difference in his community. He bravely sets out on a dangerous mission: infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan.

Posing as a racist extremist, Stallworth contacts the group and soon finds himself invited into its inner circle. He even cultivates a relationship with the Klan’s Grand Wizard, David Duke, who praises Ron’s commitment to the advancement of White America. With the undercover investigation growing ever more complex, Stallworth’s colleague, Flip Zimmerman, poses as Ron in face-to-face meetings with members of hate group, gaining insider’s knowledge of a deadly plot. Together, Stallworth and Zimmerman team up to take down the organization whose real aim is to sanitize its violent rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream.

Starring: Leo Morimoto, Mitsuki Yayoi, Aya Murata, Kazuyuki Sogabe, Minoru Uchida