Lost Weekend XVI Film Festival
Schedule
Thu, 28 Sep, 2023 at 06:00 pm to Sun, 01 Oct, 2023 at 10:00 pm
Location
Alamo Drafthouse Winchester | Winchester, VA
FOUR DAYS OF INDEPENDENT FILMS, INTERNATIONAL AWARD WINNERS, AND DOCUMENTARIESFilm Club’s 16th LOST WEEKEND FILM FESTIVAL will celebrate the strength of creativity and the power of voice in today’s cinema at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema from Thursday, September 28th through Sunday, October 1st . FORTY-FIVE feature films and TWELVE short films from around the world will be featured, including TWENTY-FOUR advance screenings, SEVENTEEN films directed by women (38%), and SIX guests that will be joining us. Other weekend highlights will be special beers by Winchester’s very own Dividing Creek Beer Company (including a special Andy’s Ale), a pop-up shop by Blue Plate Books + Four Color Fantasies, Photo & Autograph events with our special guests, special limited edition festival merchandise, our first ever Lost Weekend scavenger hunt specially crafted by Christy Broy, a special menu, and a silent auction to benefit a local non-profit!
Weekend passes are available. Passes guarantee you a seat to twenty-three screenings for only $45.
During Lost Weekend XVI, Film Club will host a silent auction whose proceeds will benefit the Literacy Volunteers Winchester Area. Please help Film Club and the Alamo make independent cinema more available to the public than ever before.
Winchester Film Club is a community of film fans that meets as often as every week at the Alamo Drafthouse to screen independent, foreign, documentary and classic films. Founded and led by Andy Gyurisin, the group has grown to over 4,000 members in ten years of screenings at the Alamo and has helped to demonstrate that independent films are in demand in the Shenandoah Valley. We are also the framework for over 10 other Film Clubs within the Alamo Drafthouse around the United States.
Big Thank You to Lisa Gullickson, our artist this year who designed our Lost Weekend logo.
Make your film festival experience even easier with a group rate at the Comfort Inn & Suites which is located next to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Call 540-866-0300 for rates and availability.
Join us for Lost Weekend Film Festival's Opening Celebration on Thursday, September 28th at 6pm
Thursday, September 28th
6pm: Opening Night Announcements
7pm: Theater 5 + Theater B: Opening Night Selection & ADVANCE SCREENING & FEMALE FILMMAKER: IT'S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL (2023). 123min. Rated: NR. An intimate look into the lives of one of the most iconic folk-rock bands in America - the Indigo Girls. With never-before-seen archival and intimate vérité the film dives into the songwriting and storytelling of the music that transformed a generation. Sponsored by Angry Buddha Body Shop
9:35pm: Theater 5: ADVANCE SCREENING: MOLLI AND MAX IN THE FUTURE (2023). 93min. Rated: NR. A sci-fi romantic comedy about a man and woman whose orbits repeatedly collide over the course of 12 years, 4 planets, 3 dimensions and one space-cult. Sponsored by Meg “The Magnificent” Rutan
9:35pm: Theater B: ADVANCE SCREENING & FEMALE FILMMAKER: FANCY DANCE (2023). 91min. Rated: NR. Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax has cared for her niece Roki by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in Oklahoma. Every spare minute goes into finding her missing sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow. At the risk of losing custody to Jax’s grandfather, Frank, the pair hit the road and scour the backcountry to track down Roki’s mother in time for the powwow. What begins as a search gradually turns into a far deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of Indigenous women moving through a colonized world and at the mercy of a failed justice system. Sponsored by Wines Bookkeeping LLC
11:30pm: Theater 5: MIDNIGHT SELECTION & ADVANCE SCREENING: HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (2022). 108min. Rated: NR. In this silent supernatural winter epic, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America’s greatest fur trapper to defeat hundreds of beavers. Sponsored by Kerry & Stephen Kilpatrick
11:30pm: Theater B: FEMALE FILMMAKER & MIDNIGHT SELECTION: BIRTH/REBIRTH (2023). 96min. Rated: R. A single mother and a childless morgue technician are bound together by their relationship to a little girl they have reanimated from the dead. Sponsored by Meg “The Magnificent” Rutan
Friday, September 29th
9:00am: Theater 5: CESAR NOMINEE FOR BEST ANIMATED FILM: ERNEST & CELESTINE: A TRIP TO GIBBERITIA (2022). 80min. Rated: PG. Ernest and Celestine are traveling back to Ernest’s country, Gibberitia, to fix his broken violin. This exotic land is home to the best musicians on earth and music constantly fills the air with joy. However, upon arriving, our two heroes discover that all forms of music have been banned for many years - and for them, a life without music is unthinkable. Along with their friends and a mysterious masked outlaw, Ernest and Celestine must try their best to bring music and happiness back to the land of bears. Sponsored by The Peter Bullough Foundation
9:00am: Theater B: ADVANCE SCREENING: TIME BOMB Y2K (2023). 84 min. Rated: NR. As the year 2000 approached, rumblings started to spread outside of the world of computer engineers and into the mainstream consciousness about a ubiquitous glitch in computer code that meant when the year turned from “1999” to “2000,” all computers would reset to “1900” and the world’s systems would malfunction, grinding to a halt. In a fully archival tour de force, co-directors Brian Becker and Marley McDonald document the countdown to Y2K against the backdrop of the mass hysteria that infiltrated everything from politics to pop culture. Doomsday prepper communities started to proliferate and businesses popped up with products, books, and any way to make a quick buck off the looming disaster. Time Bomb Y2K is a wild ride through the final days of the ’90s and a compelling portrait of a turning point in the digital revolution. Sponsored by Kerry & Stephen Kilpatrick
9:00am: Theater C: ADVANCE SCREENING: MOM & DAD'S NIPPLE FACTORY (2023). 81min. Rated: NR. In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Brian and Randi Johnson are your pretty typical conservative Christian family. With perhaps one exception: Brian is a serial entrepreneur inventing and inventing and inventing new gadgets, partly to make money and partly to satisfy his endless curiosity. But when Randi is diagnosed with breast cancer and endures a unilateral mastectomy, she is dissatisfied with the prosthetics available. So what is Brian to do but secretly create custom nipples for her that impresses even her cancer team. From there, a successful business is launched, with hardly anyone in the family, let alone their community, knowing, until one of the sons-in-law accidentally stumbles on a sample nipple where the towels were supposed to be. With this revelation, mom and dad opened up to their son, director Justinsuperstar, and the result is this charming and heartfelt documentary. Sponsored by Rotz Pharmacy
10:55am: Theater 5: FEMALE FILMMAKER & TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL NOMINEE: LAKOTA NATION VS. UNITED STATES (2022). 120min. Rated: PG-13. Poet Layli Long Soldier crafts a searing portrait of her Oyate’s connection to the Black Hills, through first contact and broken treaties to the promise of the Land Back movement, in this lyrical testament to resilience of a nation. Sponsored by Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
10:55am: Theater B: TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WINNER: RICEBOY SLEEPS (2022). 117min. Rated: NR. A South Korean mother and son struggle with their new life in 1990s Canada and the growing rift between them. Sponsored by Katy & Barry Creek
1:25pm: Theater 5: ADVANCE SCREENING & FEMALE FILMMAKER: CONFESSIONS OF A GOOD SAMARITAN (2023). 105min. Rated: NR. Director Penny Lane’s decision to become a “good Samaritan” by giving one of her kidneys to a stranger turns into a funny and moving personal quest to understand the nature of altruism. “Confessions of a Good Samaritan” is a provocative inquiry into the science, history, and ethics of organ transplantation, asking an ancient question in a whole new way: Who is your neighbor, and what do you owe them? Sponsored by AzulBlue Journeys
1:25pm: Theater B: ADVANCE SCREENING: LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG (2022). 106min. Rated: NR. Kolya and Vasylii learn that their father, who left them when they were children, is dying in Luxembourg, far away from them. One of them wants to go and find his father, while the other one does everything he can to prevent the first from leaving the country. As a result, they both go to Luxembourg in search of their dad: Kolya considers him a hero, while Vasylii thinks he is a scoundrel. Sponsored by The Levy Family
3:40pm: Theater 5: OPENING WEEKEND: THE CREATOR (2023). 135min. Rated: PG-13. Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and K*ll the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war—and mankind itself. Sponsored by Gail Consulting Group
3:40pm: Theater B: PHILADELPHIA FILM FESTIVAL WINNER: REBEL (2022). 135min. Rated: NR. Kamal resolves to change his life for the better, and so leaves Belgium to help victims of the war in Syria. But when he arrives, he is forced to join a militia and is left stranded in Raqqa. Back home, his younger brother Nassim quickly becomes easy prey for radical recruiters, who promise to reunite him with his brother. Their mother, Leila, fights to protect the only thing she has left: her youngest son. Sponsored by Anne Helzer
BREAK IN LOBBY FROM 6pm - 7:20pm
7:20pm: Theater 5: BASED ON THE BEST-SELLING BOOK: LANDSCAPE WITH INVISIBLE HAND (2023). 105min. Rated: R. Years into a benevolent alien occupation, mankind is still adjusting to its new overlords. Their technology initially held promise for global prosperity, but rendered most human jobs – and steady income – obsolete. When two teenagers discover the aliens are fascinated with human love and will pay for access to it, they decide to livestream their romance to make extra cash for their families. Sponsored by Tara & Chris Shifflett
7:20pm: Theater B: ADVANCE SCREENING & DIRECTOR Q&A: DAD & STEP-DAD (2023). 78min. Rated: NR. Jim and Dave, a dad and a step-dad, have trouble bonding during a 3-day weekend upstate with their son, Branson. Includes live Q&A with director Tynan DeLong. Sponsored by Edward Jones: The Office of Mike Cesnik
9:40pm: Theater 5: ADVANCE SCREENING & SECRET SCREENING: IT’S A SECRET (2023). 108min. Rated: NR. You won’t know what you are watching until the lights go down, and the film begins. It could be a comedy? It could be a thriller? It Could be an international film? It could be a new favorite. What I can tell you is that you will be surprised! Sponsored by Bella Kittrell
9:40pm: Theater B: ADVANCE SCREENING & FEMALE FILMMAKER: UNTIL BRANCHES BEND (2022). 98min. Rated: NR. In writer-director Sophie Jarvis’ compelling debut, set in the seemingly peaceful Okanagan, a distraught cannery worker discovers an invasive insect that could threaten the livelihood of her entire town. Sponsored by Dryad Cookery
11:50pm: Theater 5: MIDNIGHT MOVIE: SLOTHERHOUSE (2023). 93min. Rated: PG-13. Wanting to have a killer year, sorority sister Emily Young realizes she might just be the best option for her sorority. While beginning her campaign, she finds an adorable sloth that steals her heart and soon realizes she just might steal the hearts, and votes, of her sorority sisters. But when bodies slowly begin to pile up in the Sigma Lambda Theta house, Emily and her sorority sisters realize the deaths are being caused by their new house mascot, the cuddly sloth Alpha. Will Emily and her sisters escape the house with their lives? Or is this death-sloth with three razor sharp claws too quick for them? Sponsored by Steven “GPAW” Tygart
11:50pm: Theater B: MIDNIGHT MOVIE & ADVANCE SCREENING: BLACK MOLD (2023). 92min. Rated: NR. While exploring a decrepit and abandoned facility, an auspicious photographer faces off against her traumatic past. Sponsored by Psycho Cinema
Saturday, September 30th.
9:00am: Theater 5: ADVANCE SCREENING & FEMALE FILMMAKER: OINK! (2022). 72min. Rated: NR. A young girl sets out to prove to her disapproving mother she can house-train the endearing but unruly little piglet she gets as a birthday gift from her estranged oddball grandfather. Sponsored by Piggins and Banks: Pig and Animal Sanctuary
9:00am: Theater B: STEVE NERANGIS APPROVED: CHOP & STEELE (2022). 77 min. Follows childhood friends turned professional comedians, Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett, the founders of the Found Footage Festival. When Nick and Joe book their gag strongman routine on unsuspecting morning news shows, their pranks go viral and land them in federal court with a vengeful media conglomerate. The stress of the lawsuit and pressure to continue their pranks threatens their livelihood and tests their lifelong friendship. Sponsored by Catherine & Peter Mattens
9:00am: Theater C: TIME TRAVEL ON A SATURDAY MORNING: LOLA (2022). 79min. Rated: NR. Sussex, England, 1938. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Thomasina and Martha Hanbury, two ingenious sisters, create LOLA, a miraculous machine. Sponsored by Blue Plate Books
10:50am: Theater 5: SHORT FILMS: A COLLECTION OF SHORTS CURATED BY VANISHING ANGLE (2022). 95min. Rated: NR. A collection of seven short films from Vanishing Angle including works by Jim Cummings, Natalie Metzger, Dawn Luebbe, and more. Shorts include: DRESS A COW, SLEEP STUDY, HOW DOES IT START, PARENT TEACHER, SHADOW BROTHER SUNDAY, POOF, THE ARRIVAL. Sponsored by Barbara Sadhana
10:50am: Theater B: ADVANCE SCREENING & FEMALE FILMMAKER: BLACK BARBIE: A DOCUMENTARY (2023). 100min. Rated: NR. Through intimate access to a charismatic Mattel insider, Beulah Mae Mitchell, Black Barbie delves into the cross section of merchandise and representation as Black women strive to elevate their own voices and stories, refusing to be invisible. Sponsored by Suzan Herskowitz, PLLC
1:00pm: Theater 5: FEMALE FILMMAKER: WAR PONY (2022). 114min. Rated: R. The interlocking stories of two Lakota boys growing up on Pine Ridge Reservation. At 23, Bill just wants to make something of himself. Meanwhile, 12-year-old Matho can’t wait to become a man. Bound by their shared search for belonging, each of the boys grapple with identity, family, and loss, as they navigate their unique paths to manhood. Sponsored by The Levy Family
1:00pm: Theater B: ADVANCE SCREENING & FEMALE FILMMAKER: DISFLUENCY (2021). 98min. Rated: NR. After failing her final college class, Jane returns home to her family’s lake house, coming to terms with the trauma that derailed her senior year. Includes live Q&A with the Director, Anna Baumgarten. Sponsored by Zoya Fansler.
3:40pm: Theater 5: ADVANCE SCREENING: FREESTYLE (2022). 89min. Rated: NR. One morning, Louise, 45, is suddenly unable to step out of her car. Sweats, anxieties, palpitations… she is having an inexplicable panic attack. She is tetanized and simply cannot set foot outside. Sponsored by Catherine & Peter Mattens
1:00pm: Theater B: ADVANCE SCREENING: PEAK SEASON (2023). 82min. Rated: NR. New York yuppies Amy & Max arrive in the wealthy resort town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a summer vacation. When Max is called away on business, Amy finds a friend in Loren, a local wilderness guide. They spend the week together exploring the Tetons. Both lonely and lost in their own lives, Amy & Loren share an instant connection. As her bond with Loren grows into something more than friendship, Amy questions whether she’ll return to NYC with Max after all. Sponsored by Anne Helzer.
BREAK FROM 5:10pm - 6:30pm
6:30pm: Theater 5: ADVANCE SCREENING & FEMALE FILMMAKER & JULIAN VELARD: I LIKE MOVIES (2022). 99min. Rated: NR. Socially inept 17-year-old cinephile Lawrence Kweller gets a job at a video store, where he forms a complicated friendship with his older female manager. Includes special musical guest, Julian Velard. Sponsored by Steven “GPAW” Tygart.
6:30pm: Theater B: ADVANCE SCREENING & FEMALE FILMMAKER: SOMETIMES I THINK ABOUT DYING (2023). 91min. Rated: PG-13. Fran likes to think about dying. It brings sensation to her quiet life. When she makes the new guy at work laugh, it leads to more: a date, a slice of pie, a conversation, a spark. The only thing standing in their way is Fran herself. Sponsored by Rotz Pharmacy
8:45pm: Theater 5: ADVANCE SCREENING: KARAOKE (2022). 100min. Rated: NR. A comedy about a married middle-class suburban couple in their 60s who are drawn to their new neighbor, a charismatic bachelor who has karaoke evenings at his apartment. Sponsored by Margaret’s Saving Grace Bully Rescue
8:45pm: Theater B: 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY FILM CLUB SCREENING: COHERENCE (2013). 89min. Rated: NR. On the night of an astronomical anomaly, eight friends at a dinner party experience a troubling chain of reality bending events. Includes a special Q&A with director James Ward Byrkit Sponsored by Blue Plate Books
11:10pm: Theater 5: A WEIRD AND WONDERFUL FILM FROM A LOST WEEKEND XV FAVORITE DIRECTOR: EEGA (2012). 145min. Rated: NR. Nani is a flower decorator, madly in love with his neighbor Bindhu. He gets killed by the baddie, Sudeep, a powerful businessman. Nani comes back as a housefly to get his revenge. Sponsored by Edward Jones: The Office of Mike Cesnik
11:10pm: Theater B: VENICE FILM FESTIVAL WINNER: FREAKS VS. THE REICH (2021). 141min. Rated: NR. Four circus freaks with superpowers find themselves trapped in Nazi-occupied Rome after their owner and father figure goes missing in the aftermath of the 1943 surrender of Italy to the Allies.. Sponsored by Access Horror
Sunday, October 1st
9:30am: Theater 5: CESAR AWARD NOMINEE: RISE (2022). 117min. Rated: NR. Elise thought she had the perfect life: an ideal boyfriend and a promising career as a ballet dancer. It all falls apart the day she catches him cheating on her with her stage backup; and after she suffers an injury on stage, it seems like she might not be able to dance ever again. A heartwarming and inspiring story that tells us how sometimes, the worst thing that could happen may turn out to be the best. Sponsored by The Peter Bullough Foundation
9:30am: Theater B: DANCE + MUSIC + PAUL MESCAL: CARMEN (2022). 117min. Rated: R. A young and fiercely independent woman, Carmen, is forced to flee her home in the Mexican desert following the brutal murder of her mother. She survives an illegal border crossing into the US, only to be confronted by a lawless volunteer border guard. When the border guard and his patrol partner Aidan become embroiled in a deadly standoff, the pair is forced to escape together. Sponsored by AzulBlue Journeys
9:30am: Theater C: DANCE + MUSIC + DOCUMENTARY: ROOKIES (2022). 115min. Rated: NR. HipHop as a language and an outlet for young people: The film follows the youngest class members of a dance academy on their way to becoming professional dancers. Many of the students come from the socially deprived areas of Paris. Accompanied by a pulsating, dancing camera that pulls the audience right into the action, the film negotiates themes such as origins, pains, dreams and hopes. Sponsored by Katy & Barry Creek
12:00pm: Theater 5: SUNDANCE AWARD WINNING DOCUMENTARY: KOKOMO CITY (2023). 73min. Rated: R. Directed by two-time Grammy nominee D. Smith, KOKOMO CITY takes up a seemingly simple mantle — to present the stories of four Black transgender sex workers in New York and Georgia. Shot in striking black and white, the boldness of the facts of these women’s lives and the earthquaking frankness they share complicate this enterprise, colliding the everyday with cutting social commentary and the excavation of long-dormant truths. Accessible for any audience, unfiltered, unabashed, and unapologetic, Smith and her subjects smash the trendy standard for authenticity, offering a refreshing rawness and vulnerability unconcerned with purity and politeness. Sponsored by Bella Kittrell
12:00pm: Theater B: FEMALE FILMMAKER: SCRAPPER (2023). 84min. Rated: NR. Living alone since her beloved mum died, 12-year-old Georgie fills the flat they shared with her own special magic. But when her absent father Jason turns up out of the blue, she’s forced to confront reality. Sponsored by Independent School of Winchester
1:50pm: Theater 5: WEST VIRGINIA DOCUMENTARY & ADVANCE SCREENING & FEMALE FILMMAKER: KING COAL (2023). 78min. Rated: NR. The cultural roots of coal continue to permeate the rituals of daily life in Appalachia even as its economic power wanes. The journey of a coal miner’s daughter exploring the region’s dreams and myths, untangling the pain and beauty, as her community sits on the brink of massive change. Sponsored by Schenck Foods
1:50pm: Theater B: AL WHITE PRESENTS: SUNDOWN (2021). 82min. Rated: R. When a distant emergency disrupts a vacation in Acapulco, simmering tensions rise to the fore between scions of a wealthy British family. Includes a special introduction by STARFISH director AT White. Sponsored by Morgan Stanley | Jennifer Shea-Roop
3:40pm: Theater 5: SHORT FILMS: A CURATED COLLECTION OF LOCAL / INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILMS (2023). 89min. Rated: NR. A special collection of Virginia short films and an international recommendation specially curated for Lost Weekend. This collection of short films include ANGELBOY, STEALING BREAD, PLUTO’S ON FIRE, DRY DROWNING, and A STURGEON STORY. Screening includes Q&A with the directors of these short films. Sponsored by Barbara Sadhana
3:40pm: Theater B: AL WHITE PRESENTS: NINE DAYS (2020). 124min. Rated: R. A reclusive man conducts a series of interviews with human souls for a chance to be born. Sponsored by The Levy Family
6:00pm: Theater 5: ADVANCE SCREENING & FEMALE FILMMAKER: JOIN OR DIE (2023). 99min. Rated: NR. A film about why you should join a club—and why the fate of America may depend on it. Follow the story of America’s civic unraveling through the work of Robert Putnam, whose legendary Bowling Alone findings light a path out of our democracy’s crisis. Sponsored By Advance Planning Associates LC
6:00pm: Theater B: AL WHITE PRESENTS: FALCON LAKE (2022). 100min. Rated: NR. A shy teenager on a summer vacation experiences the joy and pain of young adulthood when he forges an unlikely bond with an older girl. Sponsored by Access Horror
8:30pm: Theater 5: ADVANCE SCREENING & Closing Night Selection: RED WHITE AND BRASS (2023). 85min. Rated: NR. Maka, a Tongan superfan, will do whatever it takes to get tickets to the Tonga v France Rugby World Cup game - even if that means promising to deliver a brass band for the pre-match entertainment. Only problem is, the band doesn’t exist and Maka has four weeks to make one. Inspired by a true story. Sponsored by The Vasta Family
Lost Weekend Film Festival could not be possible without the support of these sponsors:
Access Horror
Advance Planning Associates, LC
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
Alamo Winchester Film Club
Angry Buddha Body Shop
Ann & John Lamanna
Anne Helzer
AzulBlue Journeys
Barb & Dave Kliewer
Barbara Sadhana
Bella Kittrell
Bill Vaughn Music
Blue Plate Books
Catherine & Peter Mattens
Comfort Inn
Comic Book Couples Counseling
Country Inn & Suites
Dividing Creek Beer Company
Dryad Cookery
Edward Jones: The Office of Mike Cesnik
Four Color Fantasies
Gail Consulting Group
Hand & Stone Massage
Hanover Film Club
Independent School of Winchester
Katy & Barry Creek
Kerry & Stephen Kilpatrick
The Levy Family
Literacy Volunteers Winchester Area
Maple Cottage Pottery
Margaret's Saving Grace Bully Rescue
McDonalds
Meg “The Magnificent” Rutan
Mirandum Pictures
Morgan Stanley | Jennifer Shea-Roop
Murphy Beverage Company
Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
Nutrition Naturally Now
The Peter Bullough Foundation
Piccadilly Printing
Pied-Mont Dora
Piggins and Banks: Pig and Animal Sanctuary
Psycho Cinema
Realty One Group | Leigh Phillips | Realtor
The Recovery Connection
Rotz Pharmacy
Schenck Foods
Shenandoah University: Film Studies
Steven “GPAW” Tygart
Summit Events
Suzan Herskowitz, PLLC
Tara & Chris Shifflett
The Vasta Family
Woodrow Painting & Decorating
Wine Bookkeeping LLC
Zoya Fansler