Toxic Energy (2022)

A summary of the films featured in this annual event taking place in Westchester.

The newest Pedro Almodóvar movie, Pain and Glory, focuses on an aging and debilitated filmmaker, Salvador Mallo (played by Antonio Banderas) reflecting on his life in his old age.

What seems like such a simple story of survival is so much more than that—it’s a story of family, and of war, and of destruction. It’s painful to watch, but not in a bad way. It makes its audience reflect on their own actions, and in how they are complicit in the sufferings of others as the adults in this film are. Grave of the Fireflies does not hold back from being heartbreaking, and it shouldn’t. It tells a message that needs to be heard decades after the war, and a story that cannot be forgotten by history.

It’s 5:30am. The baby’s crying, but you need to finish prepping for your big pitch at work that morning. What do you do? You do the near impossible: both. That's what "Workin' Moms" is all about.

This film is based off of The Diary of a Young Girl, which was written during the Holocaust period.

"Driveways" is a nuanced portrait of an Asian American family, touching on themes of loss, growth, and belonging.