CHRISTMAS, AGAIN
CHRISTMAS, AGAIN
Charles Poekel, 2015
Catalog No.: FTF-058
Length: 80 minutes
For a fifth consecutive December, a heartbroken Noel returns to New York City to work the night shift at a sidewalk Christmas tree lot. Devoid of any holiday spirit, he struggles to stay awake during the long, chilly nights in his trailer, while the daytime traffic keeps him from getting any real rest. As he slowly spirals into despair, he comes to the aid of a mysterious young woman in the park. Her warming presence, matched with some colorful customers, help rescue him from self-destruction.
Directed and Written by Charles Poekel
Produced by Charles Poekel
Cinematography by Sean Price Williams
Edited by Robert Greene
Starring: Kentucker Audley and Hannah Gross
Festivals: Sundance Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, Maryland Film Festival, Oak Cliff Film Festival and more
PURCHASE
WATCH THE FILM
PRESS
"Just the right mix of chilly and sweet."
-Ben Kenigsberg, The New York Times
"Moments of warmth, stolen from the cold by two outsiders, are strangely hopeful and affirming, offering the surprise of beauty in a bleak world."
-Scott Pfeiffer, Chicago Reader
"A low-key, near-total charmer, writer-director Charles Poekel's "Christmas, Again" captures something ineffably moving."
-Robert Abele, The Los Angeles Times
"Charles Poekel’s moody, perceptive drama is built from the avid accretion of alluring details. A blend of documentary nuance and dramatic invention."
-Richard Brody, The New Yorker
"Audley gives one of the year’s best performances."
-Mike D'Angelo, A.V. Club
"The film has the courage of its convictions and confidence in its mood. What a pleasure to watch a film that resists being about only one thing. That resists the conventional story. That lets us enter into the life of another."
-Sheila O'Malley, RogerEbert.com
"Poekel and cinematographer Sean Price Williams do a grand job of capturing the sleepy, hazy feeling of a late night when it seems like you're the only person left in New York City."
- Jenni Miller, The Playlist
"Offers some melancholic truth. A welcome new subgenre of the dreaded holiday film."
-Lara Zarum, The Village Voice
"Feels like a throwback to the kind of New York character study someone like Jerry Schatzberg (“Panic in Needle Park”) or Hal Ashby (“The Landlord”) might have dreamt up back in the ’70s."
-Peter Debruge, Variety
"Charles Poekel displays an assured directorial hand and maintains a modest, appealing sensibility throughout."
-Clayton Dillard, Slant Magazine
"A low-key mixture of American indie tropes and Christmas chestnuts."
- Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter