Just added! The director of The Accidental Getaway Driver, Sing Lee, will be joining us for an-person Q&A after the Sunday, March 9th screening at 12:00PM!

Drive out for Sing J. Lee’s The Accidental Getaway Driver, a tense and emotionally charged crime thriller based on a true story. These screenings are presented by our friends from VAALA !

The film follows Long Ma, an elderly Vietnamese taxi driver in Southern California who unwittingly picks up three escaped convicts in the dead of night. What begins as a routine fare spirals into a harrowing hostage situation as Long finds himself caught between fear and an unlikely connection with the group’s conflicted leader. As the night unfolds, tensions rise, past traumas resurface, and Long must navigate both physical and psychological survival in an environment where trust is a dangerous gamble.

VAALA was founded in 1991 by a group of Vietnamese American journalists, artists, and friends to fill a void in the community and provide a space for newly resettled immigrant artists to express themselves. VAALA’s mission is to connect and enrich communities through Vietnamese art and culture. Historically run entirely by volunteers, VAALA is a community-based non-profit organization. Over the years, VAALA has collaborated with diverse community partners to organize numerous cultural and artistic events. VAALA’s four core programs include the annual Viet Film Fest and Viet Book Fest, the Gallery Beyond Walls program featuring art exhibitions, and free art and film workshops for youth, such as Youth in Motion: A Filmmaking Workshop for Emerging Filmmakers.

Just added: after the screening on Wednesday, March 12th at 8:00PM, the star of Nickel Boys, Ethan Herisse, will be joining us for an in-person Q&A moderated by our Film Membership Coordinator Bobby Thornson! 

RaMell Ross’s Oscar-nominated Nickel Boys, based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, is finally coming to The Frida Cinema!

The film follows Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse), an idealistic young man inspired by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose dreams are shattered when he is unjustly sentenced to the school. There, he befriends Turner (Brandon Wilson), a more cynical and pragmatic boy who teaches him the hard truths about survival in an institution rife with corruption, racism, and violence. As the two navigate the horrors of Nickel Academy, their clashing philosophies on resistance and endurance lead them down paths that will forever shape their fates.

Fall in love all over again with Anora, the Palme d’Or and Oscar-winning new film from writer/director Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project, Red Rocket). On Oscar night, Anora shook up the entire movie world as it took home five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress In A Leading Role, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing! Don’t miss your chance see the most acclaimed film of 2024 on the big screen!

Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

Metrograph Pictures presents Santosh, the new film from acclaimed filmmaker Sandhya Suri.

A government scheme sees newly widowed Santosh inherit her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India. When a low-caste girl is found raped and murdered, she is pulled into the investigation under the wing of charismatic feminist inspector Sharma.

At Long Last Longworth continues with a very rare screening the 1993 film Arizona Dream! 

Johnny Depp plays Axel Blackwell, a young man from New York City who is sent to Arizona to attend the wedding of his uncle Leo (Jerry Lewis), a car salesman who lives in the desert. While there, Axel finds himself tangled up in the eccentric lives of the people around him, including a passionate, somewhat unstable woman named Elaine (Faye Dunaway) and her stepdaughter, Grace (Lili Taylor), who has an unusual obsession with the idea of flying. Axel’s journey becomes a surreal exploration of freedom, longing, and the bizarre connections that people form in their lives.

Directed by Emir Kusturica and featuring an evocative soundtrack by Goran Bregović, the film strikes the perfect tone between a whimsical detachment and an almost-otherworldly feel. Set against the stark, colorful backdrop of the Arizona desert, it’s a perfect choice for those who enjoy a mix of whimsical fantasy and deep, introspective character studies. 

At Long Last Longworth is a week-long guest programming takeover by author, critic, podcaster, and certified Frida Cinema favorite Karina Longworth. We gave her a promt for four different films: one of her “all-timers” (Trouble In Paradise), her favorite flop (At Long Last Love), a movie she thinks needs to be re-examined (Arizona Dream), and a movie she loves from her childhood (The Wizard Of Oz). Before each screening, there will be an exclusive introduction pre-recorded by Ms Longworth, with the exception of At Long Last Love, which will have an in-person conversation after the screening!