VIRTUAL CINEMA SCREENINGS
Although the Downing Film Center remains closed, film distributors are partnering with us to provide online access to their films, so you can indulge your love of cinema from home. In addition, you’ll be supporting the Downing because a portion of each ticket purchase will go to the film center!
Scroll down for information about the films currently available for streaming. Be aware that to support the Downing, you must use the purchasing links in our eNews or on this website. Click here for additional information about this virtual cinema program.
Fri, June 11–Thu, July 1
French Shorts 2021
NR | 2h 15m | In French with English Subtitles Drama/Comedy | Watch Trailer Here
Click or tap on the poster for details, including pricing, a trailer, and a link to purchase a virtual ticket
Back by popular demand! This annual showcase of some of the most exciting new cinematic voices from France includes the Oscar-nominated animated short Genius Loci and César Award winners And Then the Bear and So What If the Goats Die? Boasting festival favorites from Cannes, Sundance, Berlinale, and beyond, this feature-length program of delightful, funny, charming, and provocative French shorts is sure to fill you with joie de vivre.
—Kino Lorber Films
Fri, June 11–Thu, July 1
Slow Machine
NR | 1h 12m | In English | Drama | Watch Trailer Here
Click or tap on the poster for details, including pricing, a trailer, and a link to purchase a virtual ticket
Stephanie, a restless and vibrant actress, meets Gerard, an NYPD counter-terrorism specialist who’s an aficionado of experimental theater (and maybe out of his mind). Flirtation ensues, ends disastrously, and forces Stephanie to the ramshackle upstate home of musician Eleanor Friedberger, yet this supposed escape is infected by violent memories of her past life. Directed by Paul Felten and Joe DeNardo, and starring Stephanie Hayes, Chloë Sevigny, Scott Shepherd and Eleanor Friedberger, Slow Machine is a miniature epic of paranoia, espionage, subterfuge, music, and performance
—Grasshopper Films
Fri, June 11–Thu, July 1
Who Will Start Another Fire
NR | 2h 10m | Varied with English Subtitles Drama/Comedy | Watch Trailer Here
Click or tap on the poster for details, including pricing, a trailer, and a link to purchase a virtual ticket
Who Will Start Another Fire is a collection of nine films by emerging filmmakers from underrepresented communities around the world, presented by the new distribution initiative Dedza Films. Each of these stories is personal and distinctly told, but unified by themes of rebirth and growth. These films reject the idea of art for art’s sake and do not exist in self-designed aesthetic vacuums. Their creation represents a necessary reckoning for their makers and so perhaps, too, their viewers. These are growing films by growing filmmakers, made for the future and the past, presented for you to experience for the first time now and again and again afterwards. The title Who Will Start Another Fire alludes to Malawian poet Jack Mapanje’s Before Chilembwe Tree (1981), in which he asks, “Who will start another fire?” By omitting the question mark and retaining his language, we propose an answer to his question.
—Kino Lorber/Dedza films
Fri, June 4–Thu, June 24
City of Ali
NR | 1h 21m | In English | Documentary | Watch Trailer Here
Click or tap on the poster for details, including pricing, a trailer, and a link to purchase a virtual ticket
City of Ali is a feature-length documentary that tells the story of how the death of Muhammad Ali brought the people of his Kentucky hometown—and the world—together for one unforgettable week. Ali’s passing on June 3, 2016, came in the context of a bitter U.S. presidential election, a proposed Muslim ban and the global expansion of the Black Lives Matter movement. Yet on the day of Ali’s funeral procession, more than 100,000 people lined the streets of Louisville to celebrate his life, and an estimated one billion people worldwide watched events like Ali’s memorial, held in the packed KFC Yum! Center as stories of the Louisville Lip’s wit, generosity, swagger and commitment to justice were retold by President Bill Clinton, Billy Crystal, Lonnie Ali, and many others. City of Ali explores Ali’s lifelong relationship with his hometown through candid interviews with friends and relatives whose history with The Champ dates back to his childhood at 3302 Grand Avenue, and who share stories even devoted Ali fans have never heard.
—Abramorama Films
Fri, June 4–Thu, June 24
Drunk Bus
NR | 1h 20m | In English | Comedy/Drama | Watch Trailer Here
Click or tap on the poster for details, including pricing, a trailer, and a link to purchase a virtual ticket
Michael (Charlie Tahan, Ozark) is a recent graduate whose post-college plan is derailed when his girlfriend leaves him for a job in New York City. When the bus service hires a security guard to watch over the night shift, Michael comes face to tattooed face with Pineapple, a 300-pound punk rock Samoan.
—Film Rise
Fri, June 4–Thu, June 24
Monuments
NR | 1h 34m | In English | Drama | Watch Trailer Here
Click or tap on the poster for details, including pricing, a trailer, and a link to purchase a virtual ticket
A young widower sidesteps grief, loss, and familial dysfunction when he steals his wife’s ashes and sets off on an impulsive odyssey through America’s heartland to find something he’d lost long before her death.
—Row House Cinema
Tech support for this film is available here or by email at tech@rowhouse.online.
Fri, June 4–Thu, June 24
Super Frenchie
NR | 1h 17m | In English | Documentary | Watch Trailer Here
Click or tap on the poster for details, including pricing, a trailer, and a link to purchase a virtual ticket
Super Frenchie provides an intimate look at the life of professional skier and BASE jumper Matthias Giraud, who stops at nothing to pursue his passion for adventure. The film follows Matthias as he dares ever more dangerous stunts while simultaneously falling in love and starting a family. The story takes a turn when Matthias suffers a catastrophic crash just days before the birth of his first child.
—Greenwich Entertainment
Fri, May 28–Thu, June 18
Moby Doc
NR | 1h 32m | In English | Documentary/Music |Watch Trailer Here
Click or tap on the poster for details, including pricing, a trailer, and a link to purchase a virtual ticket
Moby Doc is a surrealist biographical documentary narrated by Moby as he reflects on his turbulent personal life and iconic music from underground punk bands to chart-topping solo artist, and from struggling addict to vegan activist. Featuring interviews with David Lynch and David Bowie, along with extraordinary concert footage, utilizing a unique blend of re-enactments, interviews, and archival footage, audiences will be treated to an insightful, unvarnished look at an artist who has sold more than 20 million albums, an activist who has long championed animal rights, and a man whose traumatic childhood shaped him in profound ways. This introspective journey sets out to answer existential questions of purpose and meaning by examining a life of extreme highs and lows, joy, tragedy, success and failure.
—Greenwich Entertainment
Fri, May 28–Thu, June 18
Silent Night
NR | 1h 38m | In English | Comedy/Thriller | Watch Trailer Here
Click or tap on the poster for details, including pricing, a trailer, and a link to purchase a virtual ticket
Recently released from prison, Mark (Bradley Taylor) attempts to reconnect with his daughter and hopes to give her a Christmas to remember. Struggling to find work, he meets Alan (Cary Crankson), his former cell-mate, who encourages him to return to a life of crime. A decision made easier when Caddy (Frank Harper), a ruthless crime boss, blackmails him into doing one last job.
—Samuel Goldwyn Films
Fri, May 28–Thu, June 18
There Is No Evil
NR | 2h 30m | In Persian and German with English Subtitles | Drama | Watch Trailer Here
Click or tap on the poster for details, including pricing, a trailer, and a link to purchase a virtual ticket
Shot in secret and smuggled out of Iran, There is No Evil is an anthology film comprising four moral tales about men faced with a simple yet unthinkable choice—to follow orders to enforce the death penalty, or resist and risk everything. Whatever they decide, it will directly or indirectly affect their lives, their relationships, and their consciences. Says director Mohammad Rasoulof: “As responsible citizens, do we have a choice when enforcing the inhumane orders of despots? As human beings, to what extent are we to be held responsible for carrying out those orders? Where does the duality of love and moral responsibility leave us?” Suspenseful, mysterious, and shot through with a sense of urgency, Rasoulof’s film is an incisive look at the moral strength and inner humanity of its protagonists.
—Kino Lorber
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Who Are We
The Downing Film Center is 501(c)(3) member-supported nonprofit arts organization dedicated to presenting quality films, not always available locally, and providing cinematic programming from around the world in collaboration with and for the benefit of the Hudson Valley’s diverse communities. The Downing is a free-speech theater that neither censors nor endorses.
Where Are We
The Downing is located at 19 Front Street in Newburgh, New York, on the bottom floor of the former Yellow Bird Gallery building. Our entrance is directly across Front Street from Billy Joe’s Ribworks. Free parking is available in the Newburgh–Beacon Ferry lot, on Water Street, and in the lot behind the theater (access via Carpenter Street). On weekdays, you may find a spot on Front Street.
Seating
Although purchasing an advance ticket guarantees you a seat, it doesn’t guarantee you a particular seat or group of seats—seating is first-come first-served.
The Downing has only 55 seats, so arrive early for the best selection. The screening room opens 30 minutes before showtime. Please don’t save seats for members of your party who have not yet purchased a ticket.
Accessibility
The Downing Film Center is handicapped accessible. If you need our lift and elevator, please let us know in advance. We also ask that you arrive 35–40 minutes before showtime so that we can assist you before the theater gets busy.
We also have assistive listening technology (headphones and closed captioning glasses). Please see our FAQ for details.