Green-Wood Cemetery

Fresh off its SXSW premiere, the dramatic comedy Wild Nights with Emily stars Molly Shannon as the poet Emily Dickinson. The film was inspired by an article in the New York Times that documented how infrared technologies restored erasures that hid romantic content in Dickinson's letters. The poet's persona, popularized since her death, was that of a reclusive spinster - a delicate wallflower, too sensitive for this world. This film explores her passionate, vivacious side that was covered up for years - most notably Emily's lifelong romantic relationship with another woman (Susan Ziegler). After Emily died, a rivalry emerged when her brother's mistress (Amy Seimetz) along with editor T.W. Higginson (Brett Gelman) published a book of Emily's poems. Irreverent and surreal, Wild Nights was one of "The 50 Most Anticipated American Independent Films of 2018" (Filmmaker Magazine); you will never look at Dickinson the same way again.

In 1886, The New York Times reported that "It is the ambition of the New Yorker to live upon Fifth Avenue, to take his airings in the Park, and to sleep with his fathers in Green-Wood." On this night, among the fathers and mothers resting in Green-Wood, we celebrate New Yorkers, all New Yorkers. From the neighborhood veterans, creepy craigslist roommates, and preachers on the corner, to the weirdos wantonly disrupting traffic, the activists fighting gentrification, and the people who just gentrified your neighborhood, this is a night of stories about you and the other 8.5 million people who live in this city. Whether they are liberated by their creativity or imprisoned by government contractors, the protagonists of these short films are real and they are your neighbors. Come, grab a slice, and hang out with your city.