In partnership with Nitehawk Cinema, The Gotham is proud to present its first ever Shorts-to-Features Showcase. Twelve short films will be shown in their entirety for Filmmakers, Industry and Film Lovers of all kinds. The slate includes Huella by Gabriela Ortega and Thirstygirl by Alexandra Qin, which both premiered at Sundance; Plaisir by Molly Gillis, which premiered at SXSW; Cramming by Dan Perlman (Flatbush Misdemeanors); and In an Orderly Fashion from producer Maria Altamirano (All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt).

Each of the two blocks will be followed by a brief Q&A with the filmmakers.

The Black Bart of Taco King #17 (Project Market Title: The Last Cowboy), Crime Thriller/Western – 12 mins
A suave larcenist searches for a new partner at a dive bar and finds the perfect Bonnie to his Clyde. He takes her to dinner to put her to the test, yet she has all the answers… and more.

72 (Project Market Title: 1972), Drama – 16 mins
It’s New York City 1972 and Cuban immigrant Gloria Cienfuegos’s life and New Year’s Eve party are upended when her 18-year-old daughter Viv announces that she’s being sworn in that week as an American citizen, creating a showdown between the two women.

Bruised Fruit Tastes Sweeter (Project Market Title: But We Slept Soundly), LGBTQ Drama – 10 mins
A bourgeois Brooklynite’s comfortable reality unravels when he begins to suspect his husband is responsible for a hit-and-run.

Cigarettes (Project Market Title: Diary of a Muslim Cynic), Coming of Age Drama – 17 mins
Desperate to escape her Midwest small town in the aftermath of a tragedy, a Muslim teen grapples with her pursuits of love, college, friendship, and understanding the uncanny weight of the universe.

Cramming, Coming of Age Dramedy – 14 mins
Close friends Alex and Yan Bo, eighth graders and first-generation Americans, cram for a test in a prestigious prep school. A cheating accusation threatens their friendship.

Plaisir, Queer Dramedy – 19 mins
An American stand-up comedian volunteers on a French artist commune in search of purpose and pleasure.

Starring: Billy Zane, William Sadler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Brenda Bakke, CCH Pounder, Dick Miller, Thomas Haden Church

Ex-soldier Frank Brayker (William Sadler) is the guardian of an ancient key that can unlock tremendous evil; the sinister but charming Collector (Billy Zane) is a demon who wants the key so he can initiate the apocalypse. On the run from wicked mercenaries for almost 90 years, Brayker finally stops in at a boarding house in New Mexico where — with the help of its quirky residents — he plans to face off against the Collector and his band of ghouls, preventing them from ever seizing the key.

Starring: James Badge Dale, Marin Ireland, Sasha Frolova, Samantha Logan, Evan Jonigkeit, Virginia Kull

On the trail of a missing girl, an ex-cop comes across a secretive group attempting to summon a terrifying supernatural entity.

Starring: Mays Mustafa, Mohammed Al Ammari, Roger Assaf, Hanane Hajj Ali, Sophia Moussa Fitch, Ahmad Kaabour

U.S. premiere

Young Najwa and the musician Mansour cross the Lebanese border and reach Beirut. They follow smugglers to join a woman on the other side of the sea. The old lighthouse keeper tries to repair his neighborhood’s electricity.

Starring: Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Satô

While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman (Nobuko Otowa) and her daughter-in-law (Jitsuko Yoshimura) survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi (Kei Satô). The mother disapproves and, when she can’t steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.

Starring: Guinevere Turner, V.S. Brodie, T. Wendy McMillan, Migdalia Melendez

Cinématographe merch available for sale before and after the Saturday show!

After leaving behind her girlfriend to attend college in Chicago, young lesbian Max West (Guinevere Turner) is introduced to Ely (V.S. Brodie), a slightly older woman with quirky habits. While Max and Ely quickly develop an attraction to each another, a poorly timed phone call from Max’s long-distance girlfriend, Kate, brings things to an abrupt halt. Meanwhile Max’s roommate, Kia (T. Wendy McMillan), helps her girlfriend, Evy (Migdalia Melendez), cope with some tough times at home.

Please join The Future of Film is Female for its second annual evening of short films at Nitehawk Cinema! These sixteen films across two programs span genre and style, capturing a unique look at our present moment – or a wild escape from it.

Both programs will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.

The Future of Film is Female is a non-profit organization whose mission is to amplify the work of all women and non-binary filmmakers through its Short Film Fund and exhibition programming. Short films are at the heart of what we do! To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

The Blue Diamond, 2024, dir. Sam Fox, 16 min.
After the death of her toxic mother, a cultish 80s apres ski club is the setting of a grieving daughter trying to find closure, but as usual with 80s ski clubs, nothing is as it seems (aliens).

Your Own Good, 2023, dir. Haroula Rose, 3 min.
“If you’d known what had happened, we weren’t sure you could continue…It was for your own good, he said. It was for my own good.” A meditation on memory.

Grace, 2022, dir. Johanna Makabi, 14 min.
Grace, 8 years old, hates her neighborhood, she hates cheerleading, and today she decided to join her father in space.

All of Them, 2024, dir. Sylvia Sichel, 12 min.
Cora rises above her frayed relationship with her mother when faced with a poignant final request.

Hundreds, 2024, dir. Sabina Friedman-Seitz and Neil Champagne, 10 min.
In the summer of 2021, best friends Sasha and Meg are ready for their usual post-breakup gossip sesh at their favorite Brooklyn Pilates class, until their routine is shattered by the arrival of a masked stranger who seems eerily familiar. As Sasha becomes increasingly obsessed with uncovering the stranger’s identity, their once peaceful sanctuary turns into a claustrophobic hellscape of anxiety and intrigue.

The Awakening, 2023, dir. Sumi Mathai, 14 min.
A young girl learns the rules of the game she’s destined to play in a patriarchal world.

Merci, Poppy, 2023, dir. Hanna Gray Organschi, 15 min.
A scrappy assistant reaches her breaking point when her charismatic filmmaker boss blows off her request for a promotion.

The Jam, 2024, dir. Sasha J. Manning, 12 min.
During a girls’ night out roller-skating, a young woman becomes distracted by her boyfriend’s looming presence and must decide whether to leave her abusive relationship.

Please join The Future of Film is Female for its second annual evening of short films at Nitehawk Cinema! These sixteen films across two programs span genre and style, capturing a unique look at our present moment – or a wild escape from it.

Both programs will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.

The Future of Film is Female is a non-profit organization whose mission is to amplify the work of all women and non-binary filmmakers through its Short Film Fund and exhibition programming. Short films are at the heart of what we do! To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

River Bank (Pō-Kehgeh), 2023, dir. Charine Pilar Gonzales, 13 min
A Tewa woman must listen to the spirit of the River in order to free herself.

Me & Aydarous, 2022, dir. Sara Balghonaim, 8 min
Jude coerces her disapproving driver, Aydarous, into taking her to meet a date. Set over the course of a night in 2005 Riyadh, Jude must find creative ways to get rid of Aydarous so that she can have an intimate moment with her boyfriend.

Loveland, 2024, dir. Sofia Bonami, 11 min
When a woman mysteriously disappears from the production of America’s favorite dating show LOVELAND, one contestant becomes obsessed with uncovering what happened to her — jeopardizing the one thing she came for: happily ever after.

Tender Thoughts, 2024, dir. Anndi Jinelle Liggett, 9 min
A whimsical, modern-day fable about a Black woman regaining her sense of self after years of being a corporate cog. Inspired by a Shel Silverstein illustration.

Contractions, 2024, dir. Lynne A. Sachs, 12 min
Forthright yet intimate confessions, paired with experimental choreography outside a women’s clinic in Memphis, Tennessee, offer a glimpse into post Roe v. Wade America, a place where a woman can no longer make decisions about her own body.

Golden Child, 2024, dir. Hannah Levin, 10 min
A young woman is reunited with her childhood friend at a pool party and reckons with the fact that he used to pee on her when they were kids.

Inner Demons, 2023, dir. Jasmine J. Johnson, 11 min
Mya’s world takes a harrowing twist when pills meant to alleviate depression unwittingly unleash a nightmarish entity that embodies her inner turmoil. Mya finds herself entangled in a relentless battle against her own psyche, fighting not just for her mental well-being but her very survival.

Make Me a Pizza, 2024, Talia Shea Levin, 12 min
BORED HOUSEWIFE seduces HOT PIZZA GUY for free pizza, but is desire worth $29.99?

Starring: Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen, Natasha Lyonne

From writer-director Azazel Jacobs (French Exit, The Lovers) comes this bittersweet and often funny story of an elderly patriarch and the three grown daughters who come to be with him in his final days. Katie (Carrie Coon) is a controlling Brooklyn mother dealing with a wayward teenage daughter; free-spirited Christina (Elizabeth Olsen) is a different kind of mom, separated from her offspring for the first time; and Rachel (Natasha Lyonne) is a sports-betting stoner who has never left her father’s apartment — much to the chagrin of her stepsisters, who share a different mother and worldview. Continuing his astute exploration of family dynamics in close-knit spaces, Jacobs follows the siblings over the course of three volatile days, as death looms, grievances erupt, and love seeps through the cracks of a fractured home.

Starring: John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu, Lukita Maxwell, David Dastmalchian, Keith Carradine

In AfrAId, Curtis (John Cho) and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant called AIA. Once the unit and all its sensors and cameras are installed in their home, AIA seems able to do it all. She learns the family’s behaviors and begins to anticipate their needs. And she can make sure nothing – and no one – gets in her family’s way.