On the Town with Screen Slate and the Knicks
Our editorial staff writes on some spectator sports.
IN THIS NEWSLETTER
Editor’s Letter
The Little Movie Blog That Could
Hoop Dreams
Pitch Decks: Apply by Jun. 19
New Releases
Tim and Eric Take Cannes
Festival Deadlines
EDITOR’S LETTER
It’s that humid time of year when fall movie trailers are starting to drop: the past few weeks have brought us previews of Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime, which sees Robert Pattinson playing To Catch a Predator’s Chris Hansen, and Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning, his sequel—spiritual successor?—of sorts to The Social Network, sans David Fincher, starring Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg. These trailers are gambling that just a glimpse of these actors portraying real people can convince us that the movie will work, or at least be entertaining.
Primetime just has a teaser, which doesn’t give us too much beyond Pattinson’s American accent and some intense staring, but The Social Reckoning unveils Strong with a Julius Caesar–crop haircut; his eyes wide and alive; his speech staccato and robotic. Strong is something of a paradox to watch, and it’s exciting when torrents of unfiltered emotion break loose from his studied technique. As I watched the trailer, I thought not so much of the real Zuckerberg, but of Jesse Eisenberg in Fincher and Sorkin’s original—since he’s playing Zuckerberg the kid, he has the freedom to be a little more naturalistic rather than model his performance on well-documented events. Eisenberg is always sort of Eisenberg when you watch him, and Strong is the same, but in the opposite way.
I’ll cede the floor to my colleagues who have logged off and explored the world this week: Deputy editor Maxwell Paparella delivers a scene report from the first Screen Slate Benefit Gala, a variety show of sorts celebrating a beloved New York institution—even public service. Then, editorial manager Natalia Keogan shares some thoughts on cultural spectatorship, recently swept up in the Knicks’ historic championship run. I’ve been saying to friends for weeks that once the NBA season is finally over, I’ll be able to get back to some proper movie-watching. But what an end-of-season we’re in for here in New York. (And I won’t share which team I support during the regular season.) — Chloe Lizotte
THE LITTLE MOVIE BLOG THAT COULD
“It’s a regular Who’s That?,” quipped the comedian Sarah Sherman of the crowd that had gathered for the Screen Slate Benefit Gala.
For 15 years, the publication has served as a listing service, with daily editorial recommendations, for arthouse and repertory film screenings in New York City (in 2023, their coverage area expanded to include the San Francisco Bay Area), but last Wednesday was the first time it had tried to raise money in this way, having made it this far on a dime and a dream, plus the joyfully donated and discounted labor of hundreds. (Full disclosure: from 2021 to 2023, this writer was Screen Slate’s managing editor—lean years, but happy ones!)
In fact, a number of notable personages had descended into the basement of Artists Space to drink beer and eat pizza: Josh Safdie stopped by before the Knicks tip-off. Nathan Fielder could be seen chatting with John Wilson and Lance Oppenheim. Ronald Bronstein had holed up in an office with Sherman to help punch up her jokes before she went on. Isabel Sandoval, Aaron Schimberg, Nadia Lee Cohen, and True Whitaker made the rounds. Rowan Blanchard wore a dress printed with an image of the Empire State Building, which made her look taller. Abel Ferrara and Amy Taubin nodded approvingly at the kids, who were alright.
In fulfillment of her duties as the evening’s master of ceremonies, Sherman worked a variety of thematic material into her trademark body horror/humor stylings. (“Ari Aster is here. What is that short for? Ari gonna make another weird, fucked up movie about a maternal wound?”) As groans and laughter combined, she ceded the stage to Jon Dieringer, Screen Slate’s founder and editor-in-chief, who gave it in turn to Richard Hell for a reading of excerpts from cinephilic literature. Bradley Eros presented a live multiple-projection piece, Bela Lugosi’s Dead. Then Mike Bilandic introduced Talia Ryder, who performed lounge music with piano accompaniment by Jacob Madden, while Mark Eydelshteyn of Anora (2024), her costar in Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2024), looked on. Mark Ibold, the bassist of Pavement, tended bar. And then there were the less famous people, whom I was just as happy (or more) to see.
Cartoonists from the Cashiers du Cinema zine drew caricatures of guests in the corner of the room. A benefit auction included such priceless memorabilia as Hell’s annotated script for Susan Seidelman’s Smithereens (1982), the Grateful Dead shirt Elizabeth Olsen wears in Azazel Jacobs’s His Three Daughters (2023), and a vintage VHS of River’s Edge (1986) signed by Dennis Hopper. (This last item could be redeemed only by means of a trip to the donor’s childhood home on Staten Island, a visit that would entail verification by her father, “Dirty” Dan, a 9/11 first responder. It was further stipulated that the winning bidder “must not be a murderer or a bad person.”)
The after-party was hosted by the artist Andrew Norman Wilson at La Caverna, a grotto-themed underground bar, at which a performer in an inflatable T-rex costume grinded with attendees to the sounds of DJs Kenny Lartey and Ron Like Hell, a QR code soliciting donations to the website fixed to the dinosaur’s back.
When Sherman asked who had paid full price to be there (tickets started at $200), it’s true that only a small percentage of the guests raised their hands, but Screen Slate has never been the kind of publication that lets a balance sheet get in the way of a good party. Long may it prosper. — Maxwell Paparella
HOOP DREAMS
Truthfully, I had never seen a Knicks game before Monday. There were a ton of films I could have used a free night to catch up on, but it was just too easy to be swept up in this moment as a New Yorker. My initial lack of knowledge made one friend side-eye me over his vodka soda. By game’s end, I was yelling that the refs should be strung up like Mussolini.
Demoralized by the loss—their first in 46 days—I decided to check out a punk show instead of watching game four. When I arrived to Gottscheer Hall, the divey, 100-year-old Ridgewood institution, to see YHWH Nailgun, the stage was flanked by two giant television screens. The organizers understood that no one was coming—even to a free show for a rising band—if the game wasn’t on. So I watched between avant-noise sets as people moshed and cursed out the Spurs in unison.
After the show, I had to see the game through. A novel mix of alt adults and barflies packed the place out. I don’t need to tell you about the nail-biting last quarter—if you’re like me, you’ve been obsessively watching replays, anyway—but I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life. I was shaking, crying, screaming at the top of my lungs. We all were.
If we were on the brink of any other Saturday, I’d opt to see Silent Hill (2006) at the Roxy on 35mm. Or the 4K restoration of By Hook or by Crook (2001) at Anthology Film Archives. But not this time. I never thought I’d be this person, but: Knicks in fucking five. — Natalia Keogan
Accountability Challenge - Pitch Decks: Apply by Friday, June 19
Are you working on a pitch deck and looking for accountability partners or mentors who can help take your deck to the next level? This Accountability Challenge is for you!
Apply by Friday, June 19 for a chance to be paired up with an accountability partner to help develop your pitch deck and receive individualized feedback from such industry leaders as producer Mynette Louie (Rosemead, The Tale, Swallow) and Patrick Wengler (Love, Brooklyn). Plus, ALL applicants, regardless of selection, will be invited to attend an exclusive Pitch Deck Workshop, led by filmmaker Meghan Ross!
You must be a Gotham Member to apply. New Members can have their application fee waived. Email membership@thegotham.org for assistance.
NEW IN THEATERS & STREAMING PLATFORMS
I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), the feature debut from future American Psycho (1999) helmer Mary Harron, celebrates its 30th anniversary with a 4K theatrical re-release. The film chronicles radical feminist Valerie Solanas’s (Lili Taylor) attempted assassination of the iconic artist. Keep an eye out for Elissa Suh’s forthcoming interview with Harron about the film’s legacy.
Steven Spielberg returns with Disclosure Day, a continuation of the filmmaker’s extraterrestrial fascination. It follows a meteorologist (Emily Blunt) and cybersecurity expert (Josh O’Connor) who hope to expose secret government intelligence about alien contact.
Karla Murthy’s raw, personal doc The Gas Station Attendant—about her complicated relationship with her father—opens at DCTV today. Editorial manager Natalia Keogan interviewed Murthy ahead of her film’s Sheffield DocFest premiere last June. “There were times where I would be crying and editing at the same time,” Murthy said.
NEWEST WEB ARTICLE
“I Hope They Boo”: Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim Take Cannes
By Keva York
Laurel and Hardy, Martin and Lewis, Nichols and May… Tim and Eric. A double-act for the ages, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim first teamed up as students at Temple University in Philadelphia, and secured comedy-legend status with their chaotic-good surrealist sketch show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007–2010), produced for Adult Swim. Like public-access TV beamed through a cracked funhouse mirror—this nineties kid recalls how much those first viewings felt like some kind of illicit initiation rite—Tim and Eric managed to remake internet culture, and maybe even American humor, in its own, gleefully psychoactive image.
Read more here.
FESTIVAL DEADLINES
Boston Film Festival
Extended Deadline: Jun. 20, 2026
Event Dates: Sep. 17-21, 2026
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
Early Bird Deadline: Jun. 12, 2026
Regular Deadline: Aug. 14, 2026
Late Deadline: Oct. 2, 2026
Event Dates: Feb. 12-21, 2026
Woodstock Film Festival
FilmFreeway Final Deadline: Jun. 12, 2026
Event Dates: Oct. 14-18, 2026