The 51st New York Film Festival is going on right now, but why go above 14th Streetwhen we have four film festivals right here in our hood?
The Manhattan Short Film Festival
From September 27 through October 6 the Manhattan Short Film Festival will be screening in over 300 cities on six continents to over 100,000 people. The actual Manhattan screening will be on Thursday at Sunshine Cinema in the LES. Feel the rumble of the subway beneath you as you watch and prepare to vote for your favorite of the ten shorts.
Sunshine Cinema, 143 E Houston St, Lower East Side; 4 & 7 p.m.; $12.50
Bushwick Film Festival
From Thursday through Sunday make yourself comfortable for a series of panels, Q&As, screenings and partying. Panels include “NY Women in Film” and “Building a Better Bushwick,” while features include Roxie and Una Noche (presented by Spike Lee). Plus a ton of shorts for those of us born into the ADD generation.
LightSpace Studios, 1115 Flushing Ave., Bushwick; $10-$75
18th Annual Genart Festival
The Genart Festival celebrates its 18th year with screenings in the East Village from Thursday to Sunday. The unique thing about Genart is that each program focuses on only one film with events tailored to making that one film the star of the show. The weekend features some of the best North American filmmakers competing for various awards and a step up to the next level. Past participants include Adrian Grenier, Adrian Brody, Krysten Ritter and more.
AMC Loews Village 7, 66 3rd Ave, East Village; $20-$120
Irish Screening Series
From Friday to Sunday six critically acclaimed Irish films and filmmakers are in NY presenting their movies to the US market. Films include When Ali Came to Ireland, about Muhammad Ali, and Made in Belfast , about a reclusive novelist who gains success through writing about his friend’s private lives and deepest secrets.
NYU Cantor Film Center, 36 East Eighth St., Greenwich Village; $10-$12
If festivals aren’t really your cup of tea, here are some cartoons, Halloween horror treats and amazing documentaries we’re reel psyched about:
MONDAY
The Tom Stathes Cartoon Carnival: SCHOOL BELLS. ALL 16mm FILM SHOW!
Tom Stathes, a “Cartoon Cryptozoologist,” undoubtedly has the largest collection of old, out of print and rare cartoons. He presents some of the strangest, wackiest, and funniest 16-mm ‘toons and educational shorts from his collection. The all-classroom collection dates from 1910 through the 1940s.
Nitehawk Cinema, 136 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg; 7:30 p.m.; $11
To Wong Foo & Ghost double feature
It’s the final night of Huckleberry’s Patrick Swayze month and they want to know how you prefer your Swayze- dressed in drag? Or as a ghost?
Huckleberry Bar, 588 Grand St, Williamsburg; 9 p.m.; Free
TUESDAY
All Day Movie Series at Videology
It’s October and Halloween is looming, which means all we want to do is watch scary movies. It’s a good thing Videology has a plan in place — a plan that not only involves watching movies all day and night for free, but also drinking booze and eating popcorn. Each day of the week they’ll be playing a different genre of horror from open to close: Thursday will be Vampire movies; Friday, Werewolf; Saturday, Zombie, etc. Check the calendar for the complete schedule.
Videology, 308 Bedford Ave., Williamsburg; open-close; Free
FRIDAY
A.K.A. Doc Pomus + Q & A with director Peter Miller & Doc’s daughter Sharyn Felder
You may not know his name but you definitely know his songs: “A Teenager in Love,” “This Magic Moment,” “Viva Las Vegas.” Doc Pomus was born in Brooklyn and paralyzed with polio as a child. Despite his condition he went on to be one of the most accomplished songwriters of his day, helping shape rock n’ roll in the ’50s. The documentary includes interviews with Lou Reed, B.B. King, Penny Arcade and more of Pomus’s friends.
Cinema Village, 22 E. 12th St., Greenwich Village; 7 p.m.; $11
Walter
Hunter Weeks and his fiancé meet Walter Breuning, the world’s oldest man, and decide to travel all over, meeting as many of the world’s oldest people as they can. The minimum age is 110 and their goal is to meet people who were alive in the 1800s and get their stories and the stories of their families.
IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave., West Village; $13.50
FRIDAY – SATURDAY
Bloodsucking Freaks
A Troma grindhouse film that’s perfect to satisfy that Halloween horror movie craving. Also called The Incredible Torture Show, Sardu and his crew of sickos perform a torture “act” that audiences perceive to be just that, an act. But the shows are real and the performances are beyond demented. It’s hard to watch but also hard to look away from.
Nitehawk Cinema, 136 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg; midnight; $11