College student Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) returns home after his father has a stroke. When he discovers a severed ear in an abandoned field, Beaumont teams up with detective's daughter Sandy Williams (Laura Dern) to solve the mystery. They believe beautiful lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) may be connected with the case, and Beaumont finds himself becoming drawn into her dark, twisted world, where he encounters sexually depraved psychopath Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper).

Our evening with the Found Footage Festival continues with this 2022 documentary about the duo's legally controversial comic exploits. Childhood friends turned professional comedians Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett book their gag-strongman routine on unsuspecting morning news shows. When their pranks go viral, they land in federal court with a vengeful media conglomerate. The stress of the lawsuit and pressure to continue their pranks threaten their livelihood and tests their lifelong friendship. "Chop & Steele plays like one act of artistic defiance after another in celebration of Pickett and Prueher’s love of obscure content, much of which was never cleared for public consumption." - The Film Stage Note: This documentary screening with special guests Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett will be presented as the second half of a double bill event also featuring the duo's live Found Footage Festival 20th Anniversary Show. This ticketing link is for the standalone screening of CHOP & STEELE.

The crew of young cinephiles behind Knoxville-based podcast Cinematary have been treasured Central Cinema supporters and collaborators since we opened in 2018, and we're thrilled to help celebrate a huge milestone as they record their 500th (!) episode live on stage following a screening of Wes Anderson's 2014 pinnacle THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL. In the 1930s, the Grand Budapest Hotel is a popular European ski resort, presided over by concierge Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes). Junior lobby boy Zero (Tony Revolori) becomes Gustave's friend and protege. Gustave prides himself on providing first-class service to the hotel's guests, including satisfying the sexual needs of the many elderly women who stay there. When one of Gustave's lovers dies mysteriously, Gustave finds himself the recipient of a priceless painting and the chief suspect in her murder.

In a fading Midwestern town, the local legend of Frendo the clown becomes all too real as teenagers start to go missing one by one, before meeting spectacularly sticky ends. With chills, memorable set pieces and messy mayhem aplenty, CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD will be sure to electrify both young horror audiences and fans of the classic slasher movies.

One screening only: Frankencon presents CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD author Adam Cesare In a fading Midwestern town, the local legend of Frendo the clown becomes all too real as teenagers start to go missing one by one, before meeting spectacularly sticky ends. With chills, memorable set pieces and messy mayhem aplenty, CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD will be sure to electrify both young horror audiences and fans of the classic slasher movies.

Nominated for the 2004 Best Foreign Language Oscar, DOWNFALL takes you into Hitler’s bunker during the brutal last days of the Third Reich. Presented on the 80th anniversary of Hitler's suicide. Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (THE EXPERIMENT) and featuring an indelible Hitler by the late Bruno Ganz (WINGS OF DESIRE), DOWNFALL gives gripping insight into the madness and desperation of a tyrant’s final hours. In 1942, young Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara) lands her dream job -- secretary to Adolf Hitler (Bruno Ganz) at the peak of his power. Three years later, Hitler's empire is now his underground bunker. The real-life Traudl narrates Hitler's final days as he rages against imagined betrayers and barks orders to phantom armies, while his mistress, Eva Braun (Juliane Köhler), clucks over his emotional distance, and other infamous Nazis prepare for the end.

On a faraway planet where blue giants rule, oppressed humanoids rebel against their machine-like leaders.

host a cherry-picked program of uproarious home video stunners. Joe Pickett (The Onion) and Nick Prueher (Late Show) have over 14,000 VHS tapes in their collection and have been taking viewers on a guided tour through their latest and greatest finds since 2004. To celebrate two decades of this VHS nonsense, Joe & Nick will serve up their all-time greatest finds including the dumbest exercise videos, the craziest public access shows and updates with the most wonderful weirdos they’ve met along the way. Note: This 20th anniversary program will be presented as the first half of a double bill event, followed by the FFF-related documentary CHOP & STEELE. This ticketing link is for the standalone live show.

A young punk rock band find themselves trapped in a secluded venue after stumbling upon a horrific act of violence.

Join us for a special event screening of this independent sci-fi romance, featuring a live music preshow and a post-screening Q&A with director Jordan Noel, writer/producer Hudson Phillips, and Knoxville-based score composer William Wright. (Along with standard $12 admission, the filmmakers are also offering VIP tickets that include an enamel pin and hand-numbered screenprinted poster.) Following a painful separation, a heartbroken woman turns to an experimental technology that allows her to revisit and manipulate her memories as a way to heal. But as she immerses herself in the past, the line between memory and reality blurs—forcing her to confront the memories she’s been avoiding before she loses herself entirely. GUACAMOLE YESTERDAYS is a grounded sci-fi romance in the tradition of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Her, starring Randy Havens (Stranger Things), Sophie Edwards (This World Alone) and Adetinpo Thomas (Hawkeye).

When the son of a gun-wielding woman is murdered by neo-Nazi surf punks in the post-apocalyptic future, his Mama hunts them down for some bloodthirsty revenge.

This film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank's Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.

A collection of skateboarding videos old and new.

By 2017, the global economy has collapsed and U.S. society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting a number of game shows in which convicted criminals fight for their lives, including the gladiator-style The Running Man, hosted by the ruthless Damon Killian, where “runners” attempt to evade “stalkers” and certain death for a chance to be pardoned and set free.

Karsh, an innovative businessman and grieving widower, builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud.