QUEER (F)LICKS spotlights short films made by LGBTQIA+ filmmakers.
These unique films showcase narratives that explore, challenge, subvert, twist, and push the boundaries of independent cinema.
A portion of ticket sales from Queer (F)licks will go to the Centro Comunitario LGBT de Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria Relief Fund.
Starring: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O’Hagan, Alla Tumanian, James Ransone
To make an additional $10 donation to The Ali Forney Center, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen. Nitehawk will be matching all donations.
It’s Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn’t been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra, embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor. Their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through various subcultures of Los Angeles, including an Armenian family dealing with their own repercussions of infidelity.
The Nitehawk Shorts Festival MIDNITE screening, co-programmed with Sam Zimmerman (Shudder) features the very best in new horror voices. Expect to be frightened with these fun and poignant horror short films that feature being trapped in a Red Lobster commercial, unforeseen consequences of a one-night stand, and a board game gone wrong.
GREAT CHOICE
ROBIN COMISAR / USA / 2017 / 7 MINS
A woman gets stuck in a Red Lobster commercial.
ELEGY
CJ GARDELLA / USA / 2016 / 20 MINS
A film, in the wilderness gothic tradition, set in a crumbling estate, where strange visions and paranoia afflict its occupants.
UNDRESS ME
AMELIA MOSES / CANADA / 2017 / 13 MINS
A socially awkward college freshman begins to experience a mysterious and gruesome physical deterioration after a chance encounter at a frat party.
THE MUSIC LESSON
ADAM R. BROWN & KYLE I. KELLEY / USA / 2017 / 9 MINS
Marion, a jaded music teacher must deal with an unruly student at her soul sucking job.
VORE
LAUREN ERWIN / USA / 2017 / 13 MINS
When her younger lover announces his departure, a wealthy, sexually adventurous, yet unfulfilled woman finally realizes what she needs to be satisfied.
THE CALL GIRLS
JUICE / USA / 2017 / 10 MINS
Junk, a local sanitation worker, impulsively decides to employ the services of a underground escort agency.
YOUR DATE IS HERE
TODD SPENCE & ZAK WHITE / USA / 2017 / 6 MINS
After dusting off an old Mystery Date-style board game, a mother and daughter realize the game holds more evil than amusement.
CRESWICK
NATALIE ERIKA JAMES / AUSTRALIA / 2016 / 10 MINS
While a young woman helps her father pack up his house, they are both increasingly aware of the presence that they always knew was there.
Starring: Wyatt Cenac, Greta Lee, Maria Dizzia
A feature length comedy written and directed by Laura Terruso (Hello My Name is Doris) about a struggling young writer who can’t seem to escape his wife’s literary success. But when a road trip to a publisher’s housewarming party takes an unexpected turn, he has to face his own creative shortcomings and find a way to regain control of his life and work.
A violent, strange and oddly spiteful Christmas horror film, Don’t Open Till Christmas follows a serial killer who spends his nights prowling London and hacking up men and women dressed as Santa Claus. Here we have a film that exists solely to offend: cheap, low rent, bottom-shelf sleaze with no regard for its characters, its audience or its story. But, hey — you’ve got to respect a movie that derives so much joy out of punching Santa in the face until his eyeballs fall out.
Starring: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Alicia Silverstone
Dr. Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon presiding over a spotless household with his ophthalmologist wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) and their two exemplary children, 12-year-old Bob (Sunny Suljic) and 14-year-old Kim (Raffey Cassidy). Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin (Barry Keoghan), a fatherless teen who Steven has covertly taken under his wing. As Martin begins insinuating himself into the family’s life in ever-more unsettling displays, the full scope of his intent becomes menacingly clear when he confronts Steven with a long-forgotten transgression that will shatter the Murphy family’s domestic bliss.
Starring: Tommy Wiseau, Greg Sestero, Juliette Danielle
Johnny is a successful banker who lives happily in a San Francisco townhouse with his fiancée, Lisa. One day, inexplicably, she gets bored of him and decides to seduce Johnny’s best friend, Mark. From there, nothing will be the same again.
Starring: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Edward Asner, Mary Steenburgen, Zooey Deschanel
Elf is a mix between the misfit story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and the “believe in miracles” story of A Christmas Carol but with the added joy of Will Ferrell in an elf suit running around New York City. Starring as Buddy, one year he crawls into Santa’s toy bag as a baby and gets whisked off to the North Pole where he gets raised as an elf. Of course, he’s a tall fish out of water and eventually decides to head to his birthplace to meet his father. What he finds is a family and a city who have forgotten the meaning of Christmas so he sets out to save the holiday!
Starring: Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon, Ian Petrella
While Bob Clark holds a special place in our dark hearts for his inventive horror flicks like the scary treat Black Christmas, it’s his contribution to the American canon of holiday classics with A Christmas Story that solidifies him as one of our favorite directors. Quirky family dynamics, a leg lamp, a bunny suit, bullying, swear words and anorexia are all involved in one boy’s quest for a Red Ryder B.B. gun in the 1940s. With such sincerity and deep humor, make a switch from watching this on television this year and see it on the big screen with your Nitehawk family!
Starring: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson
When die hard New Yorker (and NYPD officer) John McClane’s visit to his estranged family in Los Angeles gets botched thanks to some German terrorists invading a holiday office party, he doesn’t hide under the tree… he saves the day! In bare feet and armed with a slew of wisecracks, McClane navigates the hostage-zone of Nakatomi Plaza like he owns the joint as he saves lives, kills bad guys, outsmarts the local authorities and shows Hans Gruber (along with his wife) who is boss. Never before has an East Coast/West Coast bond been so strong!
