Age Range: 18

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Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget Preview Screening

Followed by Q&A with director Sam Fell and Aardman co-founder Peter Lord The long-awaited sequel is finally here, and you can see it before it hits Netflix on December 15! Having pulled off a death-defying escape from Tweedy’s farm, Ginger has finally found her dream—a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock, far from the dangers of the human world. When she and Rocky hatch a little girl called Molly, Ginger’s happy ending seems complete. But back on the mainland the whole of chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat. For Ginger and her team, even if it means putting their own hard-won freedom at risk — this time, they’re breaking in!
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¡Hola Cine!

Our annual Spanish-language program delivers the best Latinx short films from around the world, transporting audiences to the chilly mountains of Argentina and reminding them of the power of family, perseverance, and believing in magic.
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Celebrating Black Stories

Celebrating Black Stories spotlights Black narratives that transcend national boundaries, culture, and language with films in English, French, Shona, and even ASL! Join a young astronomer during a lunar eclipse, a meaningful first visit to a barbershop, and witness the magic of a neighborhood castle all in one sitting with this immersive collection of films highlighting Black storytelling.
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Kid Flicks Two

Kid Flicks Two is full of challenges big and small: with obstacles like saving a beloved pet goat and navigating a lunar eclipse, this program is full of vibrancy and adventure.
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Kid Flicks One

Let your imagination take the wheel with Kid Flicks One. Whether dreaming up the fantastical, like a spider’s goal to capture the moon, or the practical, like a young animator’s future stardom, these shorts are sure to enchant and delight all audiences (but especially our youngest!)
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The Monkey King

The Monkey King is an action-packed family comedy that follows a rebellious and charismatic Monkey and his magical fighting Stick on an epic quest for victory over 100 demons, an eccentric Dragon King, and Monkey’s greatest foe of all —his own ego! Along the way, a young village girl challenges his self-centered attitude and shows him that even the smallest pebble can have a big effect on the world. — Netflix
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Kirikou and the Sorceress

The first feature from Azur & Asmar creator Michel Ocelot is one of the most stunningly beautiful, poetic, and entertaining films ever created for children and ushered in a modern renaissance in French feature animation. The film is an exquisitely ani­mated African tale of a small boy, Kirikou, with extraordinary abilities. When he discovers that his village is cursed by Karaba, a terrifying sorceress, Kirikou sets off on an adventure to rid the village of Karaba’s curse by understanding what has made her so angry. With an original soundtrack by Youssou N’Oour, Kirikou and the Sorceress is the winner of dozens of ani­mation awards, including the Grand Prix at Annecy, and has become an absolute classic of animated cinema. NYICFF first premiered Kirikou at the 2000 Festival, and Michel Ocelot is currently a member of the NYICFF jury.
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Stella

In this wonderfully tender, autobiographical corning-of-age story, a precocious young girl made wise beyond her years from a bohemian upbringing is forced to adjust when she enters a wealthy private school. Stella’s parents run a work­ing-class bar filled with a revolving mix of artists, vagrants, and drunks, so though she is flunking out of school, she has gained an alternate education in card games, cocktails, and pop music. Her world-weary attitude writes off most of her classmates as impossibly dull. The one exception is her new friend Gladys, who introduces Stella to Cocteau and Balzac, and awakens a desire to escape the dissolute home life that continually threatens to drag her down. The film features stun­ning cinematography, with an ethereal light that makes even the grimy bar floors and wood-paneled hotel rooms look like beautiful postcards from a bygone era, and is backed by a superb instrumental soundtrack infused with French disco hits. But the true standout is newcomer Léora Barbara, whose multi­faceted performance as the wryly philosophical Stella is both prickly and lovable, a charming outsider you desper­ately want to succeed.

Comment, Film includes strong language, some sexual suggestive scenes, violence, and adults frequently smoking and drinking.­
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Mai Mai Miracle

Shinko spends her days running barefoot among the endless green wheat fields in her small country village, imagining she is playing 1,000 years ago when the area was the local capi­tal and home to a beautiful young princess kept hidden from society. Shinko gets a new partner for her games when she befriends Kiiko, a shy transfer student from Tokyo whose nice clothes and modern luxuries immediately set her apart from the other kids. Together, the two girls spend their afternoons daydreaming, building dams, chasing animals, and living an otherwise simple and idyllic life—until looming adolescent responsibility and harsh grown-up truths begin to encroach on their make-believe world of princesses and castles, and it becomes increasingly difficult to disentangle fantasy from re­ality. Director Sunao Katabuchi worked with Hayao Miyazaki as assistant director on Kiki’s Delivery Service, and the influences show, from Mai Mai‘s stunning animation and exalting focus on nature, to the film’s nostalgia for the endless days of summer, and the tender portrayal of a young girl at the transition between childhood and adult.
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Little White Lies

Set in 1931 Germany, the gripping, beautifully-executed new feature from Marcus Rosenmüller, writer/director of NYICFF 2008 favorite Grave Decisions, foreshadows coming fascism through the microcosm of a school. Based on the novel by Anna Maria Joki, the film centers on Alexander, an A class student who accidentally spills ink on a book he borrowed from a friend in the B class. Taking the easy way out, Alexander destroys the evidence and denies everything. This seemingly innocent and harmless lie has devastating consequences, as it is used as the basis for a hate campaign against the B class, ultimately hinting at situations far more serious than schoolyard politics. Dreamlike, darkly atmospheric visuals straight out of the German Expressionist tradition, with gothic lighting, long, shadowy corridors, abandoned factories, and dusty shops create a fable-like feeling both timeless and foreboding in this thought-provoking and highly-engaging parable about how lies, big and small, can accumulate unexpected consequences.

Note: Some non-graphic violence and a brief, sexually suggestive scene.
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Oblivion Island

The creators of Ghost in the Shell mix exquisitely detailed 2D backgrounds with modern 3D character designs in a dazzling animated adventure that plays like Alice’s fall through the rabbit hole into a world of topsy-turvy, anime dream-logic. When Haruka misplaces a hand-mirror that was a keepsake from her mother, she stumbles upon a portal to the subter­ranean world of Oblivion Island, a place where strange masked creatures gather up all the childhood trinkets humans aban­don as they grow older and attend Dream Theaters where they can watch and feel the memories locked in these forgotten objects. The land is ruled by an evil overlord, The Baron, who craves the power created by the memories locked in Haruka’s cherished mirror—a power that will allow him to rise beyond his world of discards and take over the world of humans. Aided by Teo, a lowly junk collector, and Cotton, her old stuffed animal brought back to life, Haruka struggles to recapture the mirror from The Baron, and to rediscover the fleeting moments of childhood love and friendship that are among life’s most precious treasures.
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The Secret of Kells

Don’t miss this award-winning animated masterpiece from the producers of Kirikou and the Sorceress and Triplets of Belleville! The Secret of Kells has taken top prizes at festivals worldwide and has been nominated tor an Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature. Magic, fantasy, and Celtic mythology come together in a riot of color and detail that dazzle the eyes in a sweeping story about the power of imagination and faith to carry humanity through dark times. Young Brendan lives in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids. But a new life of adven­ture beckons when a celebrated master illuminator arrives from foreign lands carrying an ancient but unfinished book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers. To help complete the magical book, Brendan has to overcome his deepest fears and venture into the enchanted forest where mythical creatures hide. It is here that he meets the fairy Aisling, a mysterious young wolf-girl, who helps him fulfill his dangerous quest.
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Turtle: The Incredible Journey

This awe-inspiring nature film follows the personal story of a single loggerhead turtle, one of hundreds of adorable, vulnerable babies born in the sands of the Florida coast, as she grows into a strong-willed adult braving the six-thousand mile journey that has been the species’ perilous ritual for millions of years. Critically acclaimed for “visually resplendent” nature footage on par with Planet Earth or March of the Penguins, Turtle features sweeping aerial shots and vast, majestic underwater seascapes that underscore the epic scope of the journey with a survival adventure as tense as any Hollywood thriller.
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In the Attic

Legendary Czech stop-motion master Jiri Barta’s first feature in over 20 years is a diabolically inventive tale, four parts Toy Story and one part David Lynch, as a group of abandoned toys stage an ambitious rescue of their kidnapped friend. Set behind the doors of a dusty attic, an adorable doll named Buttercup lives in a steamer trunk and plays mom to a motley group of friends: the station master Teddy Bear; lumpy ball Schubert; and the Quixotic marionette knight, Sir Handsome, who attacks his enemies valiantly with a sharpened pencil. But in this enchanted world where every day is a birthday, evil is lurking. One day, a black cat appears, kidnaps Buttercup, and takes her to the Land of Evil ruled by the villainous Head, a maniacal Cold War military bust who commands an army of mechanical, mustachioed cockroaches and an all-seeing spying eye. Both a spooky children’s fairy tale and a Soviet-era allegory, In the Attic marks a career highpoint for Barta who, along with Jan Svankmajer and the Brothers Quay, made stop-motion animation an art form and paved the way for modern hits like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.
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Summer Wars

NYICFF 2010 opens with the scintillating new feature from emerging anime star Mamoru Hosoda. Kenji is a teenage math prodigy recruited by his secret crush Natsuki for the ultimate summer job—passing himself off as her boyfriend for four days during her grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration. But when Kenji solves a 2,056 digit math riddle sent to his cell phone, he unwittingly breaches the security barricade protecting Oz, a globe-spanning virtual world where millions of people and governments interact through their avatars. Now a malicious AI program called the Love Machine is hijacking Oz accounts, growing expontentially more powerful and sowing chaos and destruction in its wake. This “intriguingly intelligent” cyberpunk sci-fi story is a visual tour-de-force, with the amazing world of Oz as the highlight. Like the internet as conceived by pop artist Haruki Murakami, Oz is an hallucinatory pixel parade of cool avatar designs, kung fu jackrabbits, toothy bears, and a bursting rainbow of colors.
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Member Screening: Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

Sweet, awkward 16-year-old Ruby Gillman is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High, but she mostly just feels invisible. She’s math-tutoring her skater-boy crush, who only seems to admire her for her fractals, and she’s prevented from hanging out with the cool kids at the beach because her over-protective supermom has forbade Ruby from ever getting in the water. But when she breaks her mom’s #1 rule, Ruby will discover that she is a direct descendant of the warrior kraken queen and is destined to inherit the throne from her commanding grandmother, the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas. Featuring the voices of Lana Condor, Jaboukie Young-White, Toni Collette, and Jane Fonda!

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Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

Sweet, awkward 16-year-old Ruby Gillman is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High, but she mostly just feels invisible. She’s math-tutoring her skater-boy crush, who only seems to admire her for her fractals, and she’s prevented from hanging out with the cool kids at the beach because her over-protective supermom has forbade Ruby from ever getting in the water. But when she breaks her mom’s #1 rule, Ruby will discover that she is a direct descendant of the warrior kraken queen and is destined to inherit the throne from her commanding grandmother, the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas. Featuring the voices of Lana Condor, Jaboukie Young-White, Toni Collette, and Jane Fonda!

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Suzume

From the visionary director of worldwide phenomenon Your Name. (NYICFF 2017)! In the quiet town of Kyushu in southwestern Japan, Suzume encounters a young man who’s looking for a door. When she comes across a single, weathered door standing upright in the midst of ruins, she is drawn by its power. Suzume reaches for the knob… Doors begin to open one after another all across Japan, unleashing destruction upon any who are near. It’s up to Suzume to close the portals and prevent further disaster.
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Suzume

From the director of the acclaimed Your Name. (NYICFF 2017). On the other side of the door, was time in its entirety…As the skies turn red and the earth trembles, Japan stands on the brink of disaster. But one determined teenager, Suzume, sets out on a mission to save her country. Able to see the supernatural forces that others can’t, it’s up to her to close the mysterious doors spreading chaos across the land. A perilous journey awaits as the fate of the country rests on her shoulders.
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Mamá

A mother-son road trip in the swampy Florida Everglades veers off course, locking the passengers out of their car. They’ll have to figure out another way forward, on the road and in their relationship, to get back on solid ground.
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I Scream, You Scream

An ice cream man sets out to create a banger of a beat the world has ever seen in an attempt to rekindle a dream and reconnect with his son.
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Lonely Castle in the Mirror

Kokoro has had enough of the buzzing bells, shouting teachers, noisy hallways, and mean classmates at her middle school when she decides to just stay home. Bored and trapped, she finds a portal in her bedroom mirror that whisks her away to an enormous castle, where she’s greeted by the mysterious and gruff Wolf Queen—a wolf in girls’ clothing or the other way around, she’s not sure. Along with six other smart but world-weary students, she must follow all of the Queen’s rules, including a strict curfew. They are all in search of a magic key, hidden somewhere in the castle, that will grant whoever finds it any wish they want. As they conspire over strategy and share their stories, bonding in a place that’s free of fear and judgment and learning when to make (and sometimes break) their own rules in the name of friendship. Maybe the adults will begin to understand that it’s the circumstances, and not the kids, that need to change in this meaningful anime adapted from Tsujimura Mizuki’s popular YA novel.
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The Soloists

In a small village ruled by ridiculous laws, three singing sisters and their dog get a joyful reprieve by rehearsing for the Annual Autumn Festival. But an unexpected event will disrupt their plans.
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The Wood Thrush

An elusive bird’s song draws a girl into the forest, where an epiphany inspires her to seek a life at odds with her father’s own plans for her future. This film is supported by Science on Screen®. Science on Screen® is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
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The Originals

New York-bred Matty “Square” Ruggiero and his childhood friends think back on what it was like to grow up playing in the streets of South Brooklyn, with all its joys and hardships, in the 1970s.
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Tank Fairy

Ten-year-old Jojo, cast out by classmates and misunderstood by his stern, single mom, is inspired to live out loud by his fierce, propane-toting fairy godmother.
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Sierra

The story of a son so willing to make his racing-obsessed dad proud that he turns himself into a car tire.
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Home of the Heart

Omid, an Iranian immigrant now living in France, has a fateful encounter that takes his breath, and heart, away. Or maybe he left it behind in his beloved homeland.
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Trophy

Hyper-focused Dominique wants just one thing: to become the best hockey player in her league, and her father who trains her demands no less. But when she secures a coveted trophy, whose win is it?
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