Movies by Maria Dizzia

My Old Ass
An 18th birthday mushroom trip brings free-spirited Elliott face-to-face with her wisecracking 39-year-old self. But when Elliott’s "old ass" starts handing out warnings about what her younger self should and shouldn't do, Elliott realizes she has to rethink everything about family, love, and what's becoming a transformative summer.

Martha Marcy May Marlene
After several years of living with a cult, Martha finally escapes and calls her estranged sister, Lucy, for help. Martha finds herself at the quiet Connecticut home Lucy shares with her new husband, Ted, but the memories of what she experienced in the cult make peace hard to find. As flashbacks continue to torment her, Martha fails to shake a terrible sense of dread, especially in regard to the cult's manipulative leader.

True Story
A drama centered around the relationship between journalist Michael Finkel and Christian Longo, an FBI Most Wanted List murderer who for years lived outside the U.S. under Finkel's name.
The Ghost and Us
Laura's thrilled with her new boyfriend, not so thrilled that his house is haunted by the ghost of his dead wife. But when she finally decides enough is enough, it turns out playing ghost buster is harder than she thought. Over a night that includes microwave s'mores and a shoot-out with holy water, Laura has to ask herself--how do you exorcise a ghost whose name is on the lease?

William
Two cutting-edge scientists give 'birth' to a Neanderthal—the first to walk the earth for some 35,000 years—in order to attempt to answer these questions. Part 'normal' child, part science experiment, William’s 'parents' struggle with the best way to raise him. As William grows toward adulthood, he is educated in the human experiences of love and intimacy. But his primitive impulses begin to emerge the more he tries to conform to human expectations, leading to tragic consequences for him and his loved ones.

Sea Change
A teenage girl makes a startling discovery about her connection to the Seawalkers, legendary beings who are half-human, half-sea creature.

If I Forget
A play about the stories we choose to believe, the compromises we can't avoid and the hurt only our nearest and dearest can inflict. In the final months before 9/11, a liberal professor has reunited with his two sisters to celebrate their father's 75th birthday. Each having their own version of family history, the siblings clash over everything. Destructive secrets and long-held resentments surface as the three negotiate—with biting humor and razor-sharp insight—how much of the past they’re willing to sacrifice for a chance at a new beginning.

Plainclothes
A promising undercover officer assigned to lure and arrest gay men, defies professional orders when he falls in love with a target.

Funny Pages
A teenage cartoonist rejects the comforts of his suburban life in a misguided quest for soul.

Vox Lux
In 1999, teenage sisters Celeste and Eleanor survive a seismic, violent tragedy. The sisters compose and perform a song about their experience, making something lovely and cathartic out of catastrophe — while also catapulting Celeste to stardom. By 2017, the now 31-year-old Celeste is mother to a teenage daughter of her own and struggling to navigate a career fraught with scandals when another act of terrifying violence demands her attention.

37
On a March night in 1964, 37 neighbors in Queens, New York, witness the brutal murder of Kitty Genovese. None of them takes action or calls the police. 37 tells the story of a few of these people and what led up to the night when they unexplainably remained passive observers. The film is a convincing portrayal of a borough in change and a time characterized by racism, the Civil Rights Movement and political shifts. The actual event that inspired the film’s plot has been called a symbol for the moment when America lost its innocence. The dire...

Christine
In 1974, television reporter Christine Chubbuck struggles with depression and professional frustrations as she tries to advance her career.

Piercing
After kissing his wife and baby goodbye for a seemingly normal business trip, Reed checks himself into a hotel room to accomplish something he’s always dreamed of: the perfect murder. As his sinister plans unfold, he soon realizes he might be in over his head with a mysteriously unhinged call girl named Jackie.

Above the Shadows
A young woman who has faded to the point of becoming invisible must find her way back with the help of the one man who can see her.

The Graduates
A year after her boyfriend dies from gun violence, a young woman prepares to graduate high school as she navigates an uncertain future alongside a community that is searching for ways to heal.

The Happy Sad
Two young couples in New York-one black and gay, one white and heterosexual-find their lives intertwined as they create new relationship norms, explore sexual identity, and redefine monogamy.

3 Generations
A teenager transitions from female to male, and his family must come to terms with that fact.

The Neighbors' Window
The story of a middle-aged woman with small children whose life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street.

While We're Young
An uptight documentary filmmaker and his wife find their lives loosened up a bit after befriending a free-spirited younger couple.

Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point
A rambunctious extended family descends upon their small Long Island hometown for the holidays where hijinks, generational squabbles, and family traditions ensue.