Newtown Cultural Arts Commission will present its inaugural Rooster Film Festival on Friday, October 27, at 7 pm. A series of independent productions will be screened in the theater of Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street.former Newtown resident Nate Hapke as well as a short by Barbara Distini and David Distini of Trumbull.Helianthus, an animated short about art and individual expression written and directed by Michaela Beaudry;House of Fury, in which two realtors duke it out in the cut-throat world of real estate, directed by Barbara Distini and David Distini;One More, directed by Nate Hapke, who shows that moving into college is a big step for both a single mother and her only child;LILT, in which daydreams of dancers flood the thoughts of a woman as she says goodbye, which was written, directed, and produced by Josiah Cuneo;Brunch, a short film highlighting the importance of mutual appreciation and depth in a relationship, also directed by Nate Hapke;Home Away, a film by Zhengrongfeng Huand that tells the story of a Chinese illegal immigrant who sneaks into the United States and tries to retrieve his son who has been taken away; andLight Sight, an animated short written, directed and edited by Seyed M. Tabatabaei.The Whole by Rodrigo Moreno, which examines the human quest for self-knowledge.Sunday Cinema Series SelectionsVertigo (1958) and Mel Brooks' High Anxiety (1977) will be shown at Edmond Town Hall on Sunday, October 29. Vertigo will be screened at 1 and 7 pm, and High Anxiety will be shown at 4 pm. Both films are rated PG and are not suitable for young children.Vertigo is not only tied up in danger and death, but also lust and madness. James Stewart plays a detective so impaired by an extreme fear of heights (and the vertigo that immobilizes him even when chasing a suspect) that he retires.D'entre les Morts, Hitchcock tells the tale masterfully with swirling visual effects.High Anxiety is Mel Brooks's spoof of more than ten of Hitchcock's films, including scenes nodding to The Birds, Psycho, North by Northwest, and of course, Vertigo. Brooks compiled and reimagined scenes from these films in his own affable way, while capturing "the master's" techniques.newtownartsrestival.com.

The Rooster Film Festival is a 2017 Newtown Arts Festival event. It is also being presented in conjunction with NCAC's Someday Cinema Series.

Films by local artists include two shorts by

Terry Sagedy, artistic director of the film festival, timed the event to coincide with National Arts and Humanities Month.

"We wanted to create a new film festival that would bring new work to town and provide some exposure for independent filmmakers," Mr Sagedy said. "We were fortunate to have a significant number of entries and after our selection process was complete, we are happy to announce that we have several shorts and one feature film woven up into an evening of screenings that will delight film enthusiasts and the casual viewer."

Seven shorts have been queued for Friday evening, along with one feature film.

The selections include the following:

The festival's featured film is

Tickets are $3 each and will be available at the box office.

Alfred Hitchcock's

Often lauded as Hitchcock's greatest film, and in 2012, topping the Sight & Sound list of Greatest Films Ever Made, the suspense in

Kim Novak plays the suicidal young blonde who becomes his obsession, allowing her to dupe him in an elaborate ruse. Based on the 1954 French crime novel,

Brooks not only directed the film, but starred as Dr Thorndyke, the new director of the PsychoNeurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous. Madelyn Kahn plays his "blonde" obsession, supported by Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman, whose characters have a kinky relationship. Brooks is a master in his own right, every scene winking at the audience as if to say, "Get it?'

Tickets for each of these screenings are also $3 and will be available at the box office Sunday afternoon.

Proceeds from The Rooster Film Festival and Someday Cinema Series screenings will benefit Edmond Town Hall renovations. For additional information visit

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