Two unpopular queer high school students start a fight club to have sex before graduation.

A Close Up screening of Bad Press with directors Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler and star Angel Gates, The Muscogee Nation was one of the only Native American tribes with a free and independent press…until its news outlet was suddenly beholden to the tribal government. One journalist refused to accept this change. Now, in this suspenseful documentary, we see how the urgent battle for freedom of press affects the entire nation. (Dir. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler, U.S, 2023, 98 min) “Has the giddy ‘are you seeing what I’m seeing?’ tenor of a classic muckraking narrative like All the President’s Men.” - Variety Co-presented by Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck

A CLOSE UP series event In his first documentary in 18 years, legendary filmmaker Ralph Arlyck reflects on friends, family, and experiences that have become the fabric of his life. The film embraces the changes that come with age and the wonder of fulfillment during time that remains. (dir. Ralph Arlyck, U.S, 2022, 88 m) “A nostalgic love letter for the irreversible passing of time by one of the key figures in American independent documentary.” - Modern Times

National Magazine Award finalist Evan Hughes’ book Pain Hustlers tells the true story about a group of upstart pharma companies who made millions selling pain meds…until the whole thing blew up. Now a major motion picture with Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Andy Garcia, and Catherine O’Hara. “A feat of rigorous sleuthing and deft storytelling that unfolds with the velocity and verve of a Scorsese film… A tour de force.” Patrick Radden Keefe “Filled with odd and scintillating details, [the book] plots the winding way one drug company and its associated doctors helped to beget the latest wave in our ongoing opioid crisis.” Errol Morris Co-presented by Oblong Books. Moderated by Michelle Montalbano from Starr Library

A composer with an unfinished opera, a spiritually conflicted psychiatrist, and a free-spirited tugboat captain collide on an unpredictable voyage into uncharted waters in writer-director Rebecca Miller’s enchanting romantic comedy.

An unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund pushes a young couple’s relationship to the brink, threatening to unravel far more than their recent engagement.

A CLOSE UP series event Over a period of 35 years between 1984 and 2019, Lynne Sachs filmed her father, Ira Sachs Sr., a bon vivant and pioneering businessman from Park City, Utah. Film About a Father Who is her raw and eye-opening attempt to understand the web that connects a child to her parent and a sister to her siblings. Sachs' cinematic exploration of her father offers simultaneous, sometimes contradictory, views of one seemingly unknowable man. As the startling facts mount, she discovers more about her father than she had ever hoped to reveal. "[A] brisk, prismatic and richly psychodramatic family portrait." - Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times “Extraordinary … Their human bodies, their environments, the sounds around them, and the sutra merge into a single expression unfolding before and within us … It is, for us, a transformative experience.” –Tricycle

Screenwriter Dixon Steele, faced with the odious task of scripting a trashy bestseller, has hat-check girl Mildred Atkinson tell him the story in her own words. Later that night, Mildred is murdered and Steele is a prime suspect; his record of belligerence when angry and his macabre sense of humor tell against him. Fortunately, lovely neighbor Laurel Gray gives him an alibi. Laurel proves to be just what Steele needed, and their friendship ripens into love. Will suspicion, doubt, and Steele's inner demons come between them?

A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses and duplicitous dames.

Introverted and unqualified, Eva is unexpectedly tasked with foleying the sound for a commercial featuring a horse. As she slowly acclimates to the new job, her obsession with creating the perfect equine sounds grows into something more tangible. Eva harnesses this new physicality, becoming more confident and empowered, and lures an unassuming botanist into an intriguing game of submission. Shot on lush 16mm, PIAFFE is a visceral journey into control, gender, and artifice.

A composer with an unfinished opera, a spiritually conflicted psychiatrist, and a free-spirited tugboat captain collide on an unpredictable voyage into uncharted waters in writer-director Rebecca Miller’s enchanting romantic comedy.

***Thursday, September 28 -Talking Heads cover band I Get Wild will do a set from 6:45 pm-7:15 pm, film will follow. ONLY For The Community Theatre show in Catskill. Newly restored in 4K to coincide with its 40th anniversary, the 1984 film was directed by renowned filmmaker Jonathan Demme and is considered by critics as the greatest concert film of all time. Stop Making Sense stars core band members David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison along with Bernie Worrell, Alex Weir, Steve Scales, Lynn Mabry and Edna Holt. The live performance was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December of 1983 and features Talking Heads' most memorable songs.

The cultural phenomenon continues on the big screen! Immerse yourself in this once-in-a-lifetime concert film experience with a breathtaking, cinematic view of the history-making tour. Taylor Swift Eras attire and friendship bracelets are strongly encouraged!

Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love.

A look into the New York City parole system reveals its limitations and prejudices. Followed by 90-min. conversation moderated by Brandon Holmes from NYCLU with Leigh Taylor, Parole Preparation Project. Hosted by ENJAN (End the New Jim Crow Action Network), Starr Library. Co-sponsored by RAPP (Releasing Aging People from Prison) and the People's Campaign for Parole Justice.

Americans Hanna and Liv are best friends backpacking in Australia. After they run out of money, Liv, looking for an adventure, convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called 'The Royal Hotel' in a remote Outback mining town. Bar owner Billy and a host of locals give the girls a riotous introduction to Down Under drinking culture but soon Hannah and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.