Advanced search

Francisco, a middle-aged Cuban exile working at a holding house for illegal immigrants, crosses paths with Cecilia, a 10-year-old Mexican girl who has crossed the border without her family.

"Littlerock" is a powerfully intimate drama that captures the fears and desires of a young Japanese woman lost in America.

"What else am I? What else can I say? I'm a troublemaker," says Cory, one of the three protagonists, directly into the camera. The other protagonists are Anna, an illegal immigrant from Japan who is selling her body to make money to get back home, and Jeff, Cory's homophobic brother, a former soldier who now lives day-to-day. In the style of New Wave filmmakers, the director draws on sensitive moments from actors' lives (meeting your father for the first time, a grandmother sick on another continent), so it's never clear whether we are watching reconstructed reality or the director's vision. Ott warns that his film is about the abandoned youth in America's small towns and the fallacy of the American Dream, and--most importantly--the truth that lies somewhere in that porous threshold between fact and fiction.

Eighteen year-old Leigh lives in a trailer park on the outskirts of Los Angeles, he goes to community college, has no real friends, no girlfriend, and works part time at The Home Depot. With an obsession for Steven Spielberg and enrolled in a film production class at his local small-town college, he is sure all his misery can change, so he sets out to make his cinematic masterpiece, "Enslavence". He hopes this film is his ticket out of a mundane life and into a world of women, popularity, money, and success. And he may actually be on his way, if he doesn't self-destruct first.

The Cinema Club aims to broaden the discourse of classic and contemporary works of cinema by applying new forms of criticism to the language of cinematic expression.

A group of actors reflect on their most traumatic experiences and take turns trying to act out each others trauma.

Two brothers team up to search through the dive bars of a Wisconsin town for their estranged father.

Two actors struggle to woo the same girl with their knowledge of Brecht and Scorsese.

A portrait of love in the California desert.

An in-depth discussion of the lack of diversity in the Russo Brothers' Captain America: Civil War (2016), then the club hits a boiling point when the boys butt heads on the complexities of Federico Fellini's classic 8½ (1963).

A heated critique of Call Me by Your Name (2017) ensues when Cory tears into the film for having too much swimming. Then the club gets lost in confusion when trying to figure out the difference between Ozu's Printemps précoce (1956) and Printemps tardif (1949).

The club gets political when diving into the Middle East controversy surrounding Jenkins' Wonder Woman (2017). Then heats up again when the boys debate sexism and how that's reflected in Tarkovsky's haunting masterpiece Stalker (1979).

The club implodes when tempers flare while debating Black Panther (2018) and Les amours d'une blonde (1965). Patrick calls out Cory for too much partying and Cory fires back on Patty's dedication to the club. Can the boys mend the bridge in the name of cinema? Special guest cinematographer Mike Gioulakis makes an appearance.

The season finale is a special episode focused entirely on Cory's work featuring The Guy From Neptune (2014) and Littlerock (2010). But the tension between the boys finally comes to a head and tough decisions must be made to keep the club alive.

The first episode of season two dives deep into feminism and sexual cinema with Cinquante nuances de Grey (2015) and Bertolucci's controversial Le Dernier Tango à Paris (1972). And with Patrick fired Cory makes a big move and brings on a new co-host.

A special episode on Cory's good friend Mike Gioulakis' cinematography work featuring It Follows (2014) and Jordan Peele's Us (2019). Mike Gioulakis makes a guest appearance.