Rural Ireland. 1981. Cáit is a nine-year-old girl from an over-crowded, dysfunctional and impoverished family. Quietly struggling at school and at … [Read more...]
Movies with Drama
EO
After being removed from a traveling circus, which is the only life he’s ever known, a gray donkey named EO begins a trek across the Polish and Italian … [Read more...]
A NEW YORK STORY
In the tumultuous summer of 2020, four entwined New Yorkers tell stories of how their lives have been shaped by the protests, the pandemic, and the unforeseen consequences of both. USA, 2021, 49 minutes "The events of 2020, in particular the explosive summer, had a profound affect on me. The … [Read more...]
THE SEASONS: Four Love Stories
Over the course of a year, four sets of intertwined characters are faced with turning points in their romantic lives. Each chapter takes place in a different season, with the central … [Read more...]
PERSONAL PROBLEMS, streaming 2/17 through 2/23
Operating in defiance of the racially exclusive Hollywood studio system, novelist Ishmael Reed, Rockland County based director Bill Gunn and a renegade group of artists banded together to film a “meta soap opera” about the struggles of a working class African American couple in New York City in … [Read more...]
AFTERSUN
At a fading vacation resort, an 11-year-old treasures rare time together with her loving and idealistic father. As a world of adolescence creeps into view, beyond her eye her father struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood. Twenty years later, Sophie's tender recollections of joy and … [Read more...]
SHADES OF GRAY: An Evening of Short Films by John Gray
A seventy-minute compilation of supernatural mysteries and psychological puzzles that includes two dramas, a comedy, a spy thriller, a science fiction short, and a horror film, all by local resident John Gray. It is doubtful that anyone in our county has more experience writing and directing … [Read more...]
HELEN HAYES ON FILM: WHEN THE FIRST LADY OF BROADWAY CONQUERED HOLLYWOOD
An evening of film clips and discussion presented by film historian John DiLeo. Event sponsor: Wright Bros. Realty. In a movie career bookended by Academy Awards—Best Actress for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931), Best Supporting Actress for Airport (1970)—stage legend Helen Hayes forged a unique … [Read more...]
MURINA, screening at The Nyack Center
On a remote island along Croatia’s Adriatic coast, 17-year-old Julija spends her days diving for eel with her domineering father Ante and watching other teens party on a nearby yacht. Julija bristles at Ante’s heavy handed cruelty and resents her mother Nela’s passivity. She longs for independence … [Read more...]
HIT THE ROAD
Hit the Road takes the tradition of the Iranian road-trip movie and adds some unexpected twists and turns. A family of four – two middle-aged parents and their sons, one a taciturn adult, the other a ebullient six-year-old – drive across the Iranian countryside. Over the course of the trip, they … [Read more...]
PLAYGROUND, streaming from April 15
The everyday reality of grade school is seen from a child's-eye-view as an obstacle course of degradation and abuse. Following 7-year-old Nora and her big brother Abel, we see Nora struggling to fit in before finding her place on the schoolyard. One day, she notices Abel being bullied by other kids, … [Read more...]
THE MACALUSO SISTERS
It is 1985 and the Macaluso sisters (Maria, Pinuccia, Lia, Katia and Antonella) are five young, orphaned siblings who live in and work from a shabby rooftop apartment in Palermo, Sicily. They make a living by renting doves out for ceremonies of all manner. Following each gig, the doves return home … [Read more...]
OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT ANIMATED, LIVE ACTION, AND DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Rivertown Film is pleased to bring the Oscar-Nominated Short Films to our audience in 2021. Streaming will begin on April 2. For the 16th consecutive year, ShortsTV and Magnolia Pictures present the Oscar-Nominated Short Films. With all three categories offered in separately purchased programs – … [Read more...]
GANJA & HESS
Directed by Bill Gunn, with Duane Jones, Marlene Clark, Bill Gunn, Sam Waymon. USA, 1973, 110 minutes, rated R for sex, nudity, and blood. All tickets: $8.00. Sign up to be alerted when tickets go on sale by sending an email to film@jameschingroup.com. Flirting with the conventions of … [Read more...]
LOSING GROUND and THE CRUZ BROTHERS AND MISS MALLOY, two films by Kathleen Collins
Piermont based writer and director Kathleen Collins (1942 – 1988) made two groundbreaking films, both available for streaming: The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy (50 minutes; 1980) and the feature film, Losing Ground (1982), which was just selected for the prestigious National Film Registry for their … [Read more...]
THE UNIVERSITY, presented by Rivertown Film and the Center for Safety and Change
This premier screening is free, but registration is required in order to receive a link to the film and to the discussion with the filmmaker. Abbey is a college freshman with hopes of starting a life away from home, traveling the world, and falling in love. Within the first few months of being on … [Read more...]
TAPE, presented online by Rivertown Film and Center for Safety and Change
Based on true events, TAPE is the story of two aspiring actresses who cross paths with the darker side of the entertainment industry. In order to inspire her own courage, Rosa pierces her tongue, cuts her wrists, and shaves her head, as a ritualistic homage to Shakespeare’s Lavinia from Titus … [Read more...]
SORRY WE MISSED YOU
A former laborer and his home-attendant wife—who lost their home in the 2008 financial crash—are desperate to get out of their financial distress. When a job comes up as a delivery driver they sell their only asset, a car, to buy a van and the dream of someday owning a delivery franchise. Instead, … [Read more...]
CLEMENCY – CANCELED
CANCELED. An absorbing character study that pulls us into the various ways in which people facing impossible ethical circumstances strive to achieve some state of grace. This is a dense, emotional film crafted with restraint and precision, drawing performances that illuminate the internal … [Read more...]
THE FAREWELL
A woman born in China but raised in the U.S. returns for a visit, to find that the beloved matriarch of the family has only a few weeks left to live. Not wanting to upset the elderly woman, the entire family has agreed to keep this a secret from her. To explain why family members are gathering they … [Read more...]
