NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival Announces Full Lineup

Screenings February 15 - 18, 2024

New York, NY – The NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival (NYCITFF), formerly a program of the New Ohio Theatre, announces the full film lineup for their 2024 film festival at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres (502 West 53^rd Street). The festival, led by Executive Director and Programmer Marc Weitz and Producer and Programmer Allyson Morgan, is now in its 8^th year.

NYCITFF presents work from independent theatre artists that are defying labels and branching out into digital media and film. Feature-length films, short films, filmmaker Q&As and panels with industry professionals will be presented.

Six new feature films will be showcased: ARROW OF TIME, THE KARAMAZOVS, THE MARTIN DECKER SHOW, NICE PEOPLE, RAMONA AT MIDLIFE and WAKE. In addition, 28 short films (over half directed by women and non-binary creators) will be presented across four programs. See relationships challenged in Drawn Together, Torn Apart, lean into overwhelming compulsions in Vices, experience experimental and nostalgic storytelling in Reflections, and for the first time, explore our horror and genre films in Shorts After Dark. Notable filmmakers include Brooke Berman, Don Castro, Matthew Modine, Daniel Rashid, and Ryan Spahn. Actors spotlighted include Catherine Curtin, Rosemary DeWitt, Santino Fontana, Gilbert Gottfried, Alysia Reiner, Josh Radnor and Sarah Stiles. All films will be available in person.

Co-Producer/Co-Programmer Allyson Morgan shared, “We’re so thrilled to gather again to present unique, challenging, vulnerable films from debut filmmakers that you won’t see anywhere else! I’m proud of our mission to continue uplifting emerging voices and presenting the showcase we’ve created for our artists. We continue to grow our community, and I can’t wait to share this year’s lineup to an audience in our new home at the Gural, which is a perfect fit.”

Marc Weitz, Executive Director of the NYCITFF, added, “You’ve seen many of the artists in this year’s festival on stages around the city and country. Now you get to see the films they’ve been creating, often wearing very different artistic hats. I’m just so impressed by these storytellers working in multiple spaces.”

In addition to film offerings, the NYCITFF will also present a panel on Saturday, February 17 at 2pm. Literary agents, including Beth Blickers (Independent Artist Group), Jamie Kaye-Phillips (Paradigm) and Lucy Powis (A3), will speak to the benefits and challenges of transitioning their theatre clients to film and tv and presenting tips and advice on how to break through. Following the panel will be a passholder-exclusive happy hour at 3:30pm at the Gural, sponsored by Bronx Brewery.

The NYCITFF runs February 15 – 18. All-Festival passes are $50, which provide access to all panels, films and events. Individual tickets are $15. Purchase passes and tickets at https://www.nycitff.org.

More information can be found on NYCITFF’s social media channels on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/nycitff and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/nycitff.

2024 NYC INDIE THEATRE FILM FESTIVAL LINEUP FEATURE FILM PROGRAM

OPENING NIGHT FILM: RAMONA AT MIDLIFE

Writer/Director: Brooke Berman

Featuring Catherine Curtin (Stranger Things), Joel de le Fuente (The Walking Dead), Rosemarie DeWitt (Little Fires Everywhere), April Matthis (Broadway’s The Piano Lesson), Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother), Alysia Reiner (Orange Is The New Black), Yvonne Woods (Broadway’s Riverdance)

RAMONA AT MIDLIFE, the directorial debut from esteemed playwright and screenwriter Brooke Berman, is a bittersweet comedy about a single mother and former Literary It Girl who discovers that she is the subject of a hot filmmaker’s newest project. As Ramona faces up to her disappointments and mends wrecked friendships, she finds true creative power and is finally ready to become her best self. The film is populated by veteran New York stage actors who bring their love for collaboration to this project.

ARROW OF TIME

Writers/Director: Allyson Dwyer

Featuring Abraham Goldfarb, Ben Holbrook, Susannah Perkins

In the near distant future, work is closer than family and we continue to never quite notice the true value of time. The years pass by, the secrets to their importance washed away by the immutable existence of entropy. By the time they’re old, what will the Arrow of Time reveal to Cheryl, Bob and Paul?

THE KARAMAZOVS

Fyodor Karamazov is ill and holed up in his oceanfront home with his loyal caretaker Liz, when his three estranged children return home. Their attempts at reconciliation are complicated further when Fyodor is found dead and they must finally face the truth about their past. Part murder mystery, part spiritual quest, THE KARAMAZOVS tells a subversive and contemporary American story about a family unraveling to be remade.

THE MARTIN DECKER SHOW

Writers/Director: Kevin Jones

Featuring Richard Ellis, Kev McCurdy, Francois Pandolfo, Elin Phillips, Keiron Self

YouTube and TikTok may seem like a younger person’s medium, but not for 50-something Martin Decker. He’s embarked on a brand-new career as an internet superstar. For the past year he has been making homemade TV shows in his bathroom. But despite his claims to have the full support of his family, his life falls apart. He is now the subject of a film that is part documentary, part surreal tragic comedy. With complete access to all his videos, fan and critic interviews, found footage and even animation, Martin’s motivations and creative urges are investigated. He has the need to make a connection but who is his real target audience – his fans or his family?

NICE PEOPLE

Director: Jeff Griecci | Writer: Ian Carlsen

Featuring Brent Askari, Grace Bauer, Tadin Jeongshin Brego, Titi de Baccarat, Lala Drew,

Maiya Koloski, William Paul Steele, Michael Thomas Toth, Marjolaine Whittlesey

Old lovers reunite, a friendship is betrayed, a pet is killed, a runaway discovered, and a co­worker comes back from the dead in these five interconnected tales about suffering from kindness. Shot over five-year’s worth of weekends featuring a massive cast and crew, this ambitious, feature-length, no-budget indie shows a side of Maine not seen anywhere else (no lobstermen here, sorry) and finds bleak comedy in a backwater state being dragged into a diverse and inclusive 21^st century. For fans of Aki Kaurismäki, Jim Jarmusch and J.D. Salinger.

WAKE

Director: Sam Dellert

Based on the play “WAKE” by Leon Ingulsrud, Brooke Shilling & One Year Lease Theater Co.

Like the double entendre of its title, “Wake” is one part of a two-spirited project, a film and a play. The film is a “day in the life” glimpse of a theatre company at work. As we peer into their artistic process, we learn that their work is centered on one theme: grief.

SHORT FILM PROGRAM

SHORTS PROGRAM 1: DRAWN TOGETHER, TORN APART

There are all kinds of relationships - watch our characters’ bonds be tested.

THE CHARLIE AND RYLEE SHOW

Director: Jess Cummings | Writers: Kiarra Hamagami Goldberg, Ben Weiss

Director: Micah Stuart | Writer: James Patrick Nelson

F*CK ME, RICHARD

Directors: Lucy McKendrick, Charles Polinger | Writer: Lucy McKendrick

HONEY & MILK

Director: Dash Donato | Writers: Jennifer “JP” Parkhill, Damian Joseph Quinn

THE LAST TIME YOU HAD SEX
Writer/Director: Gregory Abbey

THE OTHER JOHN

Writer/Director: Ryan Spahn

YOUR BLUE HEART

Writer/Director: Don Castro

SHORTS PROGRAM 2: REFLECTIONS

Embracing different ways of examining the world around us.

HENRY AT THE GOLDEN HOUR

Director: Maureen Towey | Writer: Karinne Keithley Syers

I AM WHAT YOU IMAGINE

Writer/Director: Matthew Modine

INTERMISSION

Writer/Director: Javier Antonio González

ONE WORLD IS WRITING
Director: Samantha deManbey

THE OTHER F WORD

Director: Barbara Kanowitz | Writer: Caytha Jentis

STILL.

Writer/Director: Ash Singer

UNLUCKY IN LOVE

Directors: Rachel Handler, Catriona Rubenis-Stevens | Writer: Rachel Handler

SHORTS PROGRAM 3: SHORTS AFTER DARK

A program for our “genre” film lovers - hang on tight for chills and thrills!

BLOODERCREAM

Writer/Director: Elise Valderrama

BROODING

Writer/Director: Michael Quinn

LATE SLEEPER

Writer/Director: Peter Hardy

MAKING A MONSTER: A FABLE
Writer/Director: Laura Lewis-Barr

MORGAN AND THE MEDIUM
Writer/Director: Morgan Everitt

NOT HIM

Writer/Director: Sarah Young

ROUTER

Writer/Director: Ryan Spahn

URSULA

Directors: Kwame Berry, Peter Samuel | Writer: Kwame Berry

SHORTS PROGRAM 4: VICES

Indulge your obsessions.

BRENDA AND BILLY (AND THE POTHOS PLANT)
Writer/Director: Dave Solomon

CHAUNCEY

Writers/Directors: Reilly Anspaugh, Daniel Rashid

OVERDUE

Director: Melissa Skirboll | Writers: Penny B. Jackson, Melissa Skirboll

PLACEMAT

Directors: Lindsey Hope Pearlman, Sean Jason Welski | Writer: Lindsey Hope Pearlman

TILT

Director: Nick Massouh | Writer: Ben Moroski

YOUR SILENT FACE

Writer/Director: Anna Capunay

ABOUT THE NYC INDIE THEATRE FILM FESTIVAL

Illuminating theatre artists with film, the NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival, founded by Marc Weitz and co-produced and programmed by Allyson Morgan, presents work from independent theatre artists defying labels and branching out into film, TV and digital media. Founded in 2017 as a program of New Ohio Theatre, the NYCITFF screens narratives, documentaries, shorts, features, dance, experimental, webisodes and everything in between. For their 8^th year, following the closing of the beloved New Ohio, they are moving uptown to the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres. They’re excited for their new home and to share work from both returning and new theatre artists from across the globe! For more info visit https://www.nycitff.org.