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Movies Playing at Sun-Ray that We All Must Watch

Word came out a week or so ago that Sun-Ray Cinema, one of the last indie theaters in North Central Florida — and probably the only theater in the southeast daring enough to play experimental and indie films outside of a film festival — closing its doors. 

Sun-Ray said on its Facebook page that July 31 would be its last day showing movies before they leave the space. The theater plays new mainstream movies like Planet of the Apes, IF, and Inside Out 2, and throwback favorites like Shrek and Madagascar, and many of these films are scheduled over the next few months. At For Film’s Sake, though, we’re primarily interested in the lesser-known and experimental films playing at Sun-Ray.

There’s still time to watch a few more movies and eat some of the best theater food. Here are some films scheduled in May, June, and July that we think you should put on your calendar and actually go see. (We’re not too into recorded music concerts, but Sun-Ray is playing Depeche Mode 101, GHOST: Rite Here Rite Now, and X if those kinds of movies are your jam.)

PUT THESE ON YOUR CALENDAR NOW!!

  • 5/26 @ 9 AM  Last Things 
  • 6/2 @ 7 PM — 32 Sounds
  • 6/4 @ 7 PM — Maximum Overdrive in 35mm
  • 6/5 at 7 PM — It’s Such a Beautiful Day & ME
  • 6/16 at 12 PM — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
  • 6/19 at 6:45 PM — Queer Futures

Make sure to double-check all details on the Sun-Ray Cinemas website. This list will be updated if more movies we are excited about get scheduled.

Last Things

Last Things is an almost hour-long experimental film by Deborah Stratman that is part science fiction, part documentary. It premiered at Sundance in January 2023 and made its international premiere at Berlinale in February 2023. The film looks at evolution and extinction from the point of view of rocks and the geo-biosphere. 

To date the film has received awards at many festivals worldwide, including being given the Avant-Garde Award at the Science New Wave Festival in 2023 and Best Experimental Feature at the Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival also in 2023.

More info can be found on Pythagoras Film’s website.

Last Things is playing at Sun-Ray Cinema on Sunday, May 26, 2024, at 9:00 AM. Tickets cost $16. 

32 Sounds

Sam Green directs this documentary on sound and what sound means to people. AUdience members will be given a pair of headphones to become fully immersed in the sensory experience.

The film explores the elemental phenomenon of sound by weaving together 32 specific sound explorations into a cinematic meditation on the power of sound to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world around us.

More info can be found on the film’s official website.

32 Sounds is playing at Sun-Ray Cinema on Sunday, June 2, 2024, at 2:00 PM. Tickets cost $16.

Maximum Overdrive in 35mm

You know Stephen King for his writing, but did you know he directed the movie Maximum Overdrive in 1986? The sci-fi flick is about a group of people try to survive when machines start to come alive and become homicidal. Maximum Overdrive is playing at Sun-Ray Cinema on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at 7:00 PM. Tickets cost $10.75.

It’s Such a Beautiful Day & ME

Every fan of adult animation — and any fan of Adult Swim — needs to know the name Don Hertzfeldt. Back in the 90s, Don made waves with his weird and sadistic animated line drawings. Rejected made its ways around film festivals and was shared by people in-the know in the early 2000s and its popularity as a cult favorite never waivered. We’re not sure exactly what ME is, but Sun-Ray lists this showing as being an hour long (plus two minutes). From Vidiots Foundation, a cool-looking theater based in LA that is also playing these films with a Q&A sess with the filmmaker: Don Hertzfeldt’s newest animated film ME is a 22-minute musical odyssey about trauma, technology, and the retreat of humanity into itself that IndieWire has described it as “soul-shaking” and “a triumph”. You could watch the Blu-ray restoration version of Rejected on YouTube, here, but why not just wait and see it on the big screen? It’s Such a Beautiful Day & ME are playing at Sun-Ray Cinema on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, at 7:00 PM. Tickets cost $10.75.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo) is Clint Eastwood’s 1976 movie where he teams up with outlaw Tuco (Eli Wallach) to seek out a buried gold fortune before hitman Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef) can get to it. Brace yourself: It’s 3 hours long.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is playing at Sun-Ray Cinema on Sunday, June 16, 2024, at 12 PM (noon). Tickets cost $8.75.

Queer Futures

Queer Futures is a series of four short files that explore fat beauty and liberation, gender-affirming healthcare, nonbinary siblinghood in ballroom culture, and the anonymous connections of a decades-old LGBTQ hotline.

More info on the film can be found on the distributor’s website and the film’s official website.

Queer Futures is playing at Sun-Ray Cinema on Sunday, June 16, 2024, at 6:45 PM (noon). Tickets cost $10.75.

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