“…witty, wise, and warm character study.” – Indiewire
“Watts finds another rich vein of emotion to dramatize with delicacy, humor and intelligent vulnerability.” – LA Times
“The work Watts and Murray do […] is both emotionally raw and acutely thoughtful, rife with specificity. It’s career-high stuff.” – RogerEbert.com
83% on Rotten Tomatoes Writer and teacher Iris (Naomi Watts) finds her comfortable, solitary New York life thrown into disarray after her closest friend and mentor (Bill Murray) dies suddenly and bequeaths her his beloved 150 lb. Great Dane. The regal yet intractable beast, named Apollo, immediately creates practical problems for Iris, from furniture destruction to eviction notices, as well as more existential ones, his looming presence constantly reminding her of her friend’s problematic choices in both life and death. Yet, as Iris finds herself unexpectedly bonding with the animal, she begins to come to terms with her past, her lost friend, and her own creative inner life.NYT Critics Pick – a “funny, elegiac feature directorial debut” from Carson Lund.
“Carson Lund treats the power of a shared interest with profound, elegiac empathy.” – Slant Magazine
100% on Rotten Tomatoes As an imminent construction project looms over their beloved small-town baseball field, a pair of New England Sunday league teams face off for the last time over the course of a day. Tensions flare up and ceremonial laughs are shared as an era of camaraderie and escapism fades into an uncertain future.“Nyoni and cinematographer David Gallego conjure up dreams and drama with equal ease and effectiveness.” – RogerEbert.com
“Nyoni’s embrace of the absurd, as well as her seamless use of symbolic references and the depiction of traditional rituals, showcase her impressive storytelling talent.” – Boston Globe
“…vital film with a distinct personality and playfulness that enriches the material.” – Deep Focus Review
100% on Rotten Tomatoes From A24, the studio behind MOONLIGHT, LADY BIRD, EX MACHINA, THE WITCH, EIGHTH GRADE, HEREDITARY and more. On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family, in filmmaker Rungano Nyoni’s surreal and vibrant reckoning with the lies we tell ourselves.“One red square can change your entire perception of the world.” – Science.org
In his new documentary, OBSERVER, filmmaker Ian Cheney (THE ARC OF OBLIVION, KING CORN, THE SEARCH FOR GENERAL TSO, THE CITY DARK) embarks on an experiment in which he brings a series of keen eyed observers – scientists, artists, a hunter – to a range of locations around the world, often without telling them where they are going, and asks them simply to describe what they see.
What unfolds is a deep exploration and celebration of the power of observation: What happens when you find new ways to sense and perceive the world around you?
With customary whimsy and a small painted red square that Cheney brings on every journey, the film is an invitation for viewers to find beauty and meaning in even the most quotidian of locales.
— You’re invited to join us on Sunday, April 27, 12:30 pm for a one-of-a-kind screening and experience. We will host the screening in our cinema, and Trinity College Professor Susan Masino will lead an outdoor activity after the movie. Event toolkits will be provided for ticket holders who purchased the full experience package. A bus will transport the group to an offsite location near the UConn School of Law campus. Real Art Ways is one of several select theaters participating in this screening and event series nationwide. We are thrilled to offer this experience, especially as it coincides with the 2025 City Nature Challenge!
We are proudly presenting this screening as part of Science on Screen, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science on Screen® is a film series that features “creative pairings of classic, cult, and documentary films with lively introductions by notable figures from the world of science, technology, and medicine.”
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ABOUT IAN CHENEY (DIRECTOR) Ian Cheney received bachelor’s & master’s degrees from Yale and an MFA in filmmaking from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. His twelve feature-length films prior to Observer (2025) include King Corn (2007), The City Dark (2010), The Search for General Tso (2014), The Most Unknown (2018), Picture a Scientist (2020), The Arc of Oblivion (2023), and Shelf Life (2024). He has helmed Wicked Delicate Films since 2003. A former MacDowell Fellow & Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, he has taught at Yale College and the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy, but is not a very focused teacher. He lives in Maine. IAN CHENEY FILMOGRAPHY King Corn (2007), The Greening of Southie (2008), Big River (2009), Truck Farm (2010), The City Dark (2011), World Fair (2012), The Melungeons (2013), The Search for General Tso (2014), Moon Mirrors (2015), Bluespace (2015), The Smog of the Sea (2016), The Measure of a Fog (2017), The Most Unknown (2018), The Emoji Story (2019), Thirteen Ways (2019), Picture a Scientist (2020), The Long Coast (2020), The Arc of Oblivion (2023), Shelf Life (2024), Observer (2025) — Learn more about Observer: https://www.observerfilm.org/ Meet the Observers “For my money, one of the best things you can do this season is to run to see the French director Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance while it is still playing on the big screen.” – The New Yorker
“Extraordinary… This is daring and stylish.” – FilmWeek (KPCC/NPR Los Angeles)
“Demi Moore seizes the role of her lifetime as a movie star turned fitness guru who gets axed for committing the cardinal sin of aging. You’ve never seen anything like the body horrors in Coralie Fargeat’s gory and glorious takedown of youth obsession.” – ABC News
Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? You, only better in every way. You should try this new product, it’s called The Substance. IT CHANGED MY LIFE. With The Substance, you can generate another you: younger, more beautiful, more perfect. You just have to share time — one week for one, one week for the other. A perfect balance of seven days each… Easy right? If you respect the balance… What could possibly go wrong?
One of 2024’s most decorated documentaries. “It won dozens of awards from critics, juries and audiences on several continents; most of the major international film festivals programmed it; and, now it’s an Oscar nominee for best documentary feature. Its subject — the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — couldn’t be more consequential, and its approach, which includes a directorial team of two Israelis and two Palestinians, feels genuinely daring and bold.” – NYT
“Film distributors who care about the future of the medium, not to mention the world, would do well to display a fraction of the bravery shown by this collective of young activist filmmakers.” – Slate
““No Other Land” is a piece of resistance but also humanization.” – Associated Press
100% on Rotten Tomatoes Best Documentary Feature Winner at the 97th Academy Awards — You’re invited to watch a pre-recorded Q&A with the filmmakers after select screenings of No Other Land – it will be screened in our Video Gallery after the movie. — Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, has been fighting his community’s mass expulsion by the Israeli occupation since childhood. Basel documents the gradual erasure of Masafer Yatta, as soldiers destroy the homes of families – the largest single act of forced transfer ever carried out in the occupied West Bank. He crosses paths with Yuval, an Israeli journalist who joins his struggle. For over half a decade, they fight against the expulsion while growing closer. The extreme inequality between them haunts their complex bond: Basel, living under a brutal military occupation, and Yuval, unrestricted and free. This film, by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists, was co-created during the darkest, most terrifying times in the region as an act of creative resistance to Apartheid and a search for a path toward equality and justice. (In Arabic & Hebrew with subtitles) Read more about the film here.“It’s one measure of Latin America’s arduous history that it has spawned so many books and movies about dictatorship… What they share is the awareness that history hurts. Few films have shown this with more delicate intelligence than I’m Still Here.” – NPR
“Torres’s performance here is a marvel of expressive restraint, every glance merging horrified disbelief and meticulous self-control.” – The New Yorker
““I’m Still Here” is one of the best films I’ve ever seen about the power of family.” – Chicago Sun-Times
97% on Rotten Tomatoes Winner of Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards — The real-life story of Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres), whose terrifying experience of sequestration and loss during Brazil’s military dictatorship transformed her into an activist, lawyer, and hero. Based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s memoir, I’m Still Here transports us to Rio de Janeiro in the early 1970s when Brazil’s dictatorship sought to exert its authority through detentions and disappearances. The latest from Walter Salles, director of the Oscar-nominated Central Station and the Oscar-winning The Motorcycle Diaries, focuses on Eunice Paiva, whose terrifying experiences transformed her into a national hero.This screening is part of the Phyllis Hoffman Hartford Jewish Film Festival.
Post-screening, there will be a “Reel Talk” with Elan Golod (Director/Editor), Rachel Spiegel Gerstein (Wadsworth Art Historian and Director of Jewish Arts & Culture Research Project), and Rhonda Heisler (Mosaic Fine Artist and Phyllis Hoffman Hartford Jewish Film Festival Committee Member).
Sunday, March 9 I 3:00 PM
$15 General Admission (not including fees)
Please purchase your tickets through the Mandell JCC of Greater Hartford website. Advance tickets: https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/mandelljcc/2172/event/1408572 This event is sponsored by the Wadsworth and Hartford Marriot Downtown. 
— Synopsis: At the end of World War II, Nathan Hilu, the son of Syrian Jewish immigrants to New York, received a life-changing assignment from the U.S. Army: to guard the top Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials. This experience fueled a lifetime of artistic inspiration for Nathan, a virtually unknown “outsider artist,” who spent the next 70 years obsessively creating a visual narrative from his memories. But what happens when those memories take on a life of their own? “Nathan-ism” explores Nathan’s relationship with his own stories and his compulsion to share them with a world that doesn’t always listen.
— Synopsis: At the end of World War II, Nathan Hilu, the son of Syrian Jewish immigrants to New York, received a life-changing assignment from the U.S. Army: to guard the top Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials. This experience fueled a lifetime of artistic inspiration for Nathan, a virtually unknown “outsider artist,” who spent the next 70 years obsessively creating a visual narrative from his memories. But what happens when those memories take on a life of their own? “Nathan-ism” explores Nathan’s relationship with his own stories and his compulsion to share them with a world that doesn’t always listen. “If you’re someone who treasures the music of Led Zeppelin more than you’re interested in the legend—or the gossip, or the dirt, or whatever you want to call it—of Led Zeppelin, this movie is absolutely for you.” – RogerEbert.com
Interviews, performances and never-before-seen footage provide insight into the origins of Led Zeppelin and their meteoric rise to musical stardom.For the 20th consecutive year, ShortsTV presents the Oscar-Nominated Short Films!
With all three categories – Animated, Live Action and Documentary – this is your chance to predict the winners and have the edge in your Oscar pool)! An annual hit with audiences around the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 2nd. Mark your calendar to watch and see who wins! —2025 DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM
Instruments of a Beating Heart
Dir. Ema Ryan Yamazaki / Japan / 23 min / in Japanese with English subtitles A New York Times Op-Docs, first graders in a Tokyo public elementary school are presented with a challenge for the final semester: to form an orchestra and perform “Ode to Joy” at a school ceremony.
Incident
Dir. Bill Morrison / USA / 30 min Through a montage of surveillance and police body-camera footage, a reconstruction of a deadly shooting by a Chicago police officer becomes an investigation into how a narrative begins to take shape in the aftermath.
I Am Ready, Warden
Dir. Smriti Mundhra / USA / 37 min John Henry Ramirez is convicted of murder and sentenced to death in the state of Texas. During his incarceration, Ramirez tries to reach out to his victim’s son while also preparing to say goodbye to his family.
The Only Girl in the Orchestra
Dir. Molly O’Brien / USA / 34 min Trailblazing double bassist Orin O’Brien was never one to seek the spotlight, but when Leonard Bernstein hired her in 1966 as the first female musician in the New York Philharmonic, she inevitably became the focus of media attention and, ultimately, one of the most renowned musicians of a generation.
Death By Numbers
Dir. Kim A. Snyder / USA / 33 min Four years after being shot with an AR-15 in her high school, Samantha Fuentes reckons with existential questions of hatred and justice as she prepares to confront her shooter.For the 20th consecutive year, ShortsTV presents the Oscar-Nominated Short Films!
With all three categories – Animated, Live Action and Documentary – this is your chance to predict the winners and have the edge in your Oscar pool)! An annual hit with audiences around the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 2nd. Mark your calendar to watch and see who wins! —2025 ANIMATED PROGRAM
Magic Candies
Dir. Daisuke Nishio / Japan / 21 min / in Japanese with English subtitles The other kids at the park never ask Dong-Dong to play. But he’s fine just playing marbles on his own. One day he goes out in search of new marbles, but ends up buying a bag of colorful, marble-shaped candies instead. But the first time he pops one of them into his mouth, he’s astonished to hear his old sofa start talking to him! For the next few minutes, until the candy melts away, he has the most unexpected and amazing conversation of his life. Realizing that these are no ordinary candies, Dong- Dong looks at the rest of colorful sweets. Who else will he be able to talk to, and what else will he learn, through these magic candies?
In the Shadow of the Cypress
Dirs. Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi / Iran / 20 min Living in a house by the sea with his daughter, a former captain who has post-traumatic stress disorder leads a tough and secluded life.
Yuck!
Dirs. Loïc Espuche / France / 13 min / in French with English subtitles Yuck! Adults kiss each other on the mouth, and children find it disgusting! What’s more, you can see it from afar: when people are about to kiss, their lips become all pink and shiny. Little Léo makes jokes about it, as do the other kids at the summer camp. But he has a secret he won’t tell his friends: his own mouth has actually begun glistening. And, in reality, Léo desperately wants to give kissing a try. Please Note: The following films include nudity, and may not be appropriate for audiences under 14 years old.
Wander to Wonder
Dir. Nina Gantz / Netherlands, Belgium, France, & United Kingdom / 14 min Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton are three tiny humans who star in a kids’ TV Series called “Wander to Wonder”. After the creator dies, they are left alone in the studio. Struggling to find enough to eat, they continue to make increasingly strange episodes for their fans.
Beautiful Men
Dir. Nicolas Keppens / Belgium, France, & Netherlands / 18 min / in Flemish, Dutch, Turkish, and English with English subtitles Three balding brothers travel to Istanbul to get a hair transplant. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair.For the 20th consecutive year, ShortsTV presents the Oscar-Nominated Short Films!
With all three categories – Animated, Live Action and Documentary – this is your chance to predict the winners and have the edge in your Oscar pool)! An annual hit with audiences around the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 2nd. Mark your calendar to watch and see who wins! —2025 LIVE ACTION PROGRAM
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
Dir. Nebojsa Slijepcevic / Croatia / 14 min / in Croatian with English subtitles 1993, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a passenger train is stopped by paramilitary forces in an ethnic cleansing operation. As they haul off innocent civilians, only one man out of 500 passengers dares to stand up to them.
Anuja
Dir. Adam J. Graves / USA / 22 min / in Hindi with English subtitles Anuja tells the story of a gifted nine-year-old girl who, alongside her sister Palak, faces a life-changing opportunity that tests their bond and mirrors the struggles of girls worldwide.
I’m Not a Robot
Dir. Victoria Warmerdam / Belgium & Netherlands / 22 min / in Dutch with English subtitles After repeatedly failing Captcha tests, music producer Lara spirals into obsession, haunted by the disturbing question of whether she might be a robot.
A Lien
Dirs. David Cutler-Kreutz & Sam Cutler-Kreutz / USA / 15 min A young couple face up to and deal with a dangerous immigration process.
The Last Ranger
Dir. Cindy Lee / South Africa / 28 min / in Xhosa with English subtitles When young Litha is introduced to the magic of a game reserve by the last remaining ranger, they are ambushed by poachers. In the ensuing battle to save the rhinos, Litha discovers a terrible secret. Elwood Curtis’s college dream shatters alongside a two-lane Florida highway. Bearing the brunt of an innocent misstep, he’s sentenced to the netherworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory sunk deep in the Jim Crow South. He encounters another ward, the seen-it-all Turner. The two Black teens strike up an alliance: Turner dispensing fundamental tips for survival, Elwood clinging to his optimistic worldview. Backdropped by the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, Elwood and Turner’s existence appears worlds away from Rev. Martin Luther King’s burnished oratory. Despite Nickel’s brutality, Elwood strives to hold onto his humanity, awakening a new vision for Turner.
“A thrillingly ambitious, 3 1/2-hour (including a 15-minute intermission) character study and portrait of mid-century America that leaves an indelible impression.” – Houston Chronicle
93% on Rotten Tomatoes Nominated in 10 categories for 2025 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Cinematography and more. Escaping post-war Europe, visionary architect László Toth arrives in America to rebuild his life, work, and marriage to his wife Erzsébet after being forced apart during wartime by shifting borders and regimes. On his own in a strange new country, László settles in Pennsylvania, where the wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren recognizes his talent for building. But power and legacy come at a heavy cost…“There are a million stories in the naked city, and Kapadia is about to show you three of them in the most delicate, moving way possible. She’s also about to mount a quiet, sneak attack on your soul.” – Rolling Stone
“It’s shockingly beautiful. “All We Imagine as Light” is a drama about life’s fragility, but it’s also about nurturance.” – NYT
“It is both dreamlike and like waking up from a dream. This is a glorious film.” – Guardian
100% on Rotten Tomatoes The light, the lives, and the textures of contemporary, working-class Mumbai are explored and celebrated by writer/director Payal Kapadia, who won the Grand Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for her revelatory fiction feature debut. Centering on two roommates who also work together in a city hospital–head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and recent hire Anu (Divya Prabha)–plus their coworker, cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), Kapadia’s film alights on moments of connection and heartache, hope and disappointment. Prabha, her husband from an arranged marriage living in faraway Germany, is courted by a doctor at her hospital; Anu carries on a romance with a Muslim man, which she must keep a secret from her strict Hindu family; Parvaty finds herself dealing with a sudden eviction from her apartment. Kapadia captures the bustle of the metropolis and the open-air tranquility of a seaside village with equal radiance, articulated by her superb actresses and the camera with a lyrical naturalism that occasionally drifts into dreamlike incandescence. All We Imagine as Light is a soulful study of the transformative power of friendship and sisterhood in all its complexities and richness.
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, you are invited to experience a day of curated film programming and community building. This event is free to the public! Come for one film or stay all day. Feel free to drop in at any time! — 11 AM MIGHTY TIMES: THE LEGACY OF ROSA PARKS (40 min.) A 2002 short documentary directed by Robert Houston and produced by Robert Hudson about the 1955/1956 Montgomery bus boycott led by Rosa Parks. Thousands of students have viewed this film during our Film Field Trips Program. Children and families are welcome. 11:45 AM Guided Discussion led by Film Facilitator Derek Hall 12:15 PM Lunch / Hands-On Art-Making Activity led by our Learning & Engagement Manager, Miller 1:00 PM SING SING (1hr 47 min. Rated R) A theater group escapes the reality of incarceration through the creativity of staging a play. This film features a cast that includes actors who have been incarcerated. 3:00 PM Guided Discussion led by Film Facilitator Derek Hall Bagged lunch will be available for purchase (a $5 donation is recommended). You may also bring your own! — About Derek Hall:
Derek Hall is a dynamic anti-racist intergroup dialogue facilitator, public speaker, and activist committed to challenging beliefs and institutional culture rooted in systemic racism and other forms of oppression. Derek has worked in the diversity, equity, and inclusion field for over fifteen years, partnering with public and private school systems and for-profit and non-profit organizations locally and nationally. His passion for decolonized education, human connection, and implementation of racial equity strategies has inspired sustainable change at the internal, interpersonal, and institutional levels within the organizations he works with. Derek uses his gifts of facilitation, storytelling, and community building to increase the racial & social consciousness of individuals and organizations.
“Provoking a bit of confusion is the point. Covert power relies on misdirection, and it is only by looking back that we can sometimes make sense of what happened. That’s why “Soundtrack” lands on a coda.” – NYT
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” succeeds as an intense piece of reclamation and rejuvenation, giving breath to Lumumba’s spirit by sporting the same kind of defiance the political leader espoused.” – RogerEbert.com
“What Grimonprez creates here is a mind-blowingly rich tapestry of research, music, and the jazziest history lesson imaginable, with freewheeling beats and riffs echoing into today with urgent purpose.”- Harper’s Bazaar
98% on Rotten Tomatoes
United Nations, 1960: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, jazz musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe, and the U.S. State Department swings into action, sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to Congo to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup. Director Johan Grimonprez captures the moment when African politics and American jazz collided in this magnificent essay film. This riveting historical rollercoaster illuminates the political machinations behind the 1961 assassination of Congo’s leader, Patrice Lumumba. Richly illustrated by eyewitness accounts, official government memos, testimonies from mercenaries and CIA operatives, speeches from Lumumba himself, and a veritable canon of jazz icons, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat interrogates colonial history to tell an urgent and timely story of precedent that resonates more than ever in today’s geopolitical climate.
“The cinematography (by Pat Scola) does its own cagey and elegant work, giving “Sing Sing” an undercurrent shine while evoking the rougher intimacy of a documentary. The movie’s casting — more than 85 percent of the cast participated in Sing Sing’s Rehabilitation Through Acting program — achieves something similar.” – NYT
“Colman Domingo does award-worthy work as an unjustly imprisoned man dedicated to helping others at Sing Sing express themselves.” – Chicago Sun Times
“Sing Sing fights the good fight, but it’s more than just an important social issue film. Thanks to its incredible performances and deeply felt depiction of life in prison, it’s a powerful drama that will stick with you.” – Observer
97% on Rotten Tomatoes
Divine G (Colman Domingo), imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men, including a wary newcomer (Clarence Maclin), in this stirring true story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art, starring an unforgettable ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors.Content expanded.
UPDATE: We are now at capacity for all screenings on 2/1! You’re more than welcome to try the standby line if you arrive on Saturday and do not have a ticket, however we cannot guarantee a seat for you if you have not registered.
—Join us Saturday, Feb 1, for our first Hartford Film Showcase! Presented by The Hartford Film Company, in partnership with Real Art Ways. The Hartford Film Showcase is an all-day event highlighting Hartford’s filmmaking talent!
SUBMISSIONS
Filmmakers interested in showcasing a feature film, series, or short film at the showcase can submit their work for free using the online form.
Selected short films or series will receive a $250 screening fee, and feature films will receive a $750 screening fee. There will also be a short screenplay competition – a panel of judges will select one script to receive $500 towards production.
The deadline for submissions has passed.
EVENT
Hartford Film Company presents short films, narratives, and a documentary spanning styles and genres – all made here in Hartford, by Hartford filmmakers. Stay for the panels to learn how these films were made and get to know some of the creative talent in this region.
From New Yorker’s top movies of 2024, “The Featherweight,” to the #1 streaming movie on Starz last month, “Midas” (also the #1 movie seen at Real Art Ways in 2024!) to a tribute for a beloved hockey team, “The Whalers” – there is something for everyone.
This showcase is made possible by the generous support of the Greater Hartford Arts Council
Admission is free, but tickets should be reserved in advance. Get the full schedule and RSVP for your spot at: https://www.hartfordfilm.com/showcase
Read the full story at the Hartford Courant:
