The Vergecast Presents: Sneakers

Monday, April 27 at 7:00: Q&A with David Pierce and Nilay Patel of The Verge after the film!

The following is a transcript of the Slack conversation where David Pierce pitched his fellow Vergecast host Nilay Patel on a movie night for fans of The Verge:

Nilay Patel [1:25 PM]
Omg sneakers

Nilay Patel [1:25 PM]
We gotta do sneakers

David Pierce [1:26 PM]
sneakers is #1 on the list!

Why SNEAKERS? Because The Verge is a website about technology and how it makes us feel, and SNEAKERS hits us in all those feels. It’s got 1980s computer hacking, geopolitics, and Robert Redford. What else do you need?

Join David and Nilay as we enjoy SNEAKERS together and follow it up with a discussion about the movie’s cultural relevance, how much we love Robert Redford, and the legacy of the Panasonic KX-T1450 Easa-Phone Auto Logic Answering Machine.

A New Leaf

New 55th Anniversary 4K Restoration!

When useless trust fund baby Henry (Walter Matthau) learns he has outspent his inheritance, he decides to marry rich and sets his sights on Henrietta (Elaine May), a botanist heiress clueless enough to entertain his halfhearted romantic advances. Repulsed by the prospect of wedding the well-meaning but hopelessly awkward and inept Henrietta, Henry resolves to murder his new bride and take her fortune. Showing in a new 55th anniversary 4K restoration, Elaine May’s directorial debut weaves unforgettably mean one-liners (“she has to be vacuumed every time she eats”) and May’s inspired slapstick performance into an acidic, hilariously funny anti-romcom classic.

“Nearly a masterpiece, a film of such wit and comic invention that it belongs among the great American comedies.” – The Village Voice

She’s the He

Just before graduation, Ethan and Alex pose as trans women in a last ditch effort to quell gay rumors about them. It’s all a joke until Ethan realizes: She really is trans. As the school year ends, the two best friends must reckon with their changing friendship, coming out and coming-of-age.

Renoir

Suburban Tokyo, 1987. 11-year-old Fuki’s father, Keiji, is battling a terminal illness, and in and out of hospital. Her mother, Utako, is constantly stressed out from caring for Keiji while holding down a full-time job. Left alone with her rich imagination, Fuki becomes fascinated by telepathy and falls ever deeper into her own fantasy world.

Official Selection: Cannes Film Festival

Magic Hour

Charlie and Erin escape to the desert to navigate an unexpected and challenging new phase of their relationship. A Duplass Brothers Production starring Daveed Diggs (Hamilton) and Katie Aselton (The League).

Official selection: SXSW

Blue Film

When a fetish-catering camboy (Kieron Moore) visits a client in exchange for $50k, he discovers a masked man (Reed Birney) with a camcorder and a series of increasingly intrusive questions. But when the man reveals a disturbing connection to Aaron’s past, the two drop their personas and gradually unravel in a sultry chamber piece being called “one of the most daring American films of recent vintage.”

“Provokes and captivates in equal measure, with the naked honesty of a black box off-off Broadway play.” -The Hollywood Reporter

Marama

Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18 at 7:35: Q&As with writer/director Taratoa Stappard after the screenings

1859, North Yorkshire. When young Maori woman Mary arrives from New Zealand, she’s trapped as governess to a wealthy whaler’s granddaughter. Living among her ancestors’ stolen artifacts, she uncovers Sir Cole’s horrific crimes. Embracing her Matakite powers, Mary becomes Marama and must save Anne and avenge her family by destroying him.

Official Selection: TIFF

Additional showtimes announced on April 13.

Rose of Nevada

Three decades ago, the Rose of Nevada vanished at sea, along with its crew. Now, it has returned. In a remote fishing village, its reappearance is embraced as an auspicious sign, with the local citizens convinced the luck of their economically devastated community may turn, if only the ship sails again. Joining the crew is Nick (George MacKay), desperate to provide for his young family, and Liam (Callum Turner), a mysterious drifter eager to escape his past. After a successful voyage, they return to harbour, only to find that nothing is as they remember it.

Shooting on a 16mm Bolex camera and constructing all the sound in post, Mark Jenkin writes, directs, edits and scores a haunting and hallucinatory time-travel mystery that further solidifies him as one of the most distinct, singular artists working in film today. Jenkin conducts a cinematic séance, conjuring a portal into another world that forces us to confront the past and our relationship to it.

True North (Open Captioning)

Please note that there are additional showtimes of TRUE NORTH that screen without open captions (on-screen display of dialogue and sounds). For those showtimes, click here.

Set against the backdrop of 1960s Montreal, TRUE NORTH unearths two pivotal but underrecognized events, the Congress of Black Writers and the Sir George Williams Affair, positioning the city as a powerful nexus in the global Black liberation movement. Through never-before-seen archival footage and intimate first-person testimonies, the film revisits a charged era of resistance, where Black students and activists challenged institutional racism that sparked reverberations across the globe.

Taking a hemispheric view of Black resistance, TRUE NORTH connects threads from the Caribbean, Canada, and the US, tracing the shared legacies of colonialism and state oppression. At the heart of the film are the voices of elders, who lived through this period and whose contributions have largely gone unrecognized. Their stories ground the film’s narrative, offering a rare and poignant perspective on the era. Through their lens, TRUE NORTH becomes both an act of remembrance and a call to action for new generations.

Visually striking and emotionally resonant, TRUE NORTH is a love letter to 1960s Montreal and a radical reimagining of its place in history. With its bold artistic approach and commitment to truth-telling, TRUE NORTH invites audiences into an immersive experience that is as relevant now as it was revolutionary then.

Official Selection: TIFF, DOC NYC

True North

Please note that there are additional showtimes of TRUE NORTH that screen with open captions (on-screen display of dialogue and sounds). For those showtimes, click here.

Set against the backdrop of 1960s Montreal, TRUE NORTH unearths two pivotal but underrecognized events, the Congress of Black Writers and the Sir George Williams Affair, positioning the city as a powerful nexus in the global Black liberation movement. Through never-before-seen archival footage and intimate first-person testimonies, the film revisits a charged era of resistance, where Black students and activists challenged institutional racism that sparked reverberations across the globe.

Taking a hemispheric view of Black resistance, TRUE NORTH connects threads from the Caribbean, Canada, and the US, tracing the shared legacies of colonialism and state oppression. At the heart of the film are the voices of elders, who lived through this period and whose contributions have largely gone unrecognized. Their stories ground the film’s narrative, offering a rare and poignant perspective on the era. Through their lens, TRUE NORTH becomes both an act of remembrance and a call to action for new generations.

Visually striking and emotionally resonant, TRUE NORTH is a love letter to 1960s Montreal and a radical reimagining of its place in history. With its bold artistic approach and commitment to truth-telling, TRUE NORTH invites audiences into an immersive experience that is as relevant now as it was revolutionary then.

Official Selection: TIFF, DOC NYC