Prepare for Sundance with a Nov. 20 screening of The American Astronaut, which premiered at the festival 25 years ago. Courtesy: BNS Productions, Commodore Films
Visitors to Dairy Arts Center’s strange and peculiar film screenings from their weekly Friday Night Weird programming never know what to expect. With the departure of longtime programming director Shay Wescott to join the folks at Sundance Film Festival, we didn’t either.
It’s safe to say things are as weird as ever inside the Boedecker Theater. This month’s slate features heavy ties to Colorado, with a low-budget horror filmed down the road in Denver and in-person presentations from two indie tastemakers with deep ties to The People’s Republic. You’ll visit space, an Indonesian prison cell and that fateful night inside Ford Theater circa 1865.
Consider your ticket an invitation to film school this month — the perfect primer to get you ready for when Sundance rolls into town.
UCK
Friday, Nov. 6 | 8:30 p.m., Ty Bradford, 2026, USA, NR
Some spots don’t come out.
Henry is the only carpet cleaner in the small, sleepy town of Roswad. He comes up against a particularly stubborn bit of goo that turns out to be something unexpected.
With a poster that recalls Breaking Bad’s hazmat suit-clad main duo, UCK is about more than cleaning. "At its core,” director Ty Bradford says, “it’s a father-son story — what fathers want from their sons and what sons don’t want from their fathers."
Bradford, a Colorado resident, filmed the low-budget horror in Denver featuring actors from two local theater companies. He’ll be in attendance at the November 6 screening to discuss his work and show off some of the film’s visual effects, which drew the praise of Dairy Arts Center’s new director of programs, Glenn Webb.
The use of practical effects is “refreshing in a new low-budget horror,” Webb says. “So many creators stretch their money by resorting to CGI, or even AI-generated visuals.”
These People
Friday, Nov. 13 | Cory McAbee, 2026, USA, NR
Not since Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has there been such a fresh take on our nation’s tallest president. There’s nothing we can add to improve upon the original writeup for These People, taken from the Red Planet Planning Commission, a project of director Cory McAbee:
“The story is centered around Abraham Lincoln's assassination at the Ford Theater in 1865. From there our story ripples outward as we follow the lives of Abraham Lincoln's friends, family, enemies and his corpse. Our film is narrated by an immortal that has existed since the beginning of time and was at the Ford Theater the night that Lincoln was killed.”
“This film has been assembled from movies that were created between the years 1897 to 1930. Most of our cast was born in the 19th century. Most of the background actors had never seen themselves on film before. In addition to public domain footage, These People contains original stop-motion animation created for effects and to replace damaged or missing segments of vintage films.”
McAbee also contributed original music to score the film combined with early 20th century recordings. He will be in attendance at the Boulder screening.
The American Astronaut
Friday, Nov. 20 | Cory McAbee, 2001, USA, 1:32, NR
From a presidential found-footage musical to a cowboy space musical, The American Astronaut is the second McAbee offering on tap at Friday Night Weird this month. It follows interplanetary trader Samuel Curtis, traveling through space and the past while being pursued by an old friend-turned enemy hellbent on murder.
The cast of characters includes Blueberry Pirate, Real Live Girl and Boy Who Actually Saw A Woman's Breast. Critic Henry Edward Hardy called it, “one part David Lynch’s Eraserhead, one part John Carpenter’s Dark Star, three parts punk-shockabilly music video, one part Devo show, one part Busby Berkeley extravaganza, one part John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath plus liberal doses of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.”
The screenplay was accepted into Sundance’s screenwriters lab in 1998, and premiered at the film festival in 2001. Written, directed and starring McAbee, The American Astronaut is “gorgeously shot on black-and-white 35mm film,” Webb says, and “features music by McAbee's band at the time, The Billy Nayer Show.”
There are only a handful of 35mm prints of the film left; Pablo Kjolseth, retired director of CU’s International Film Series, owns one of them, along with the spacesuit McAbee wears in the film.
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the spacesuit will be on display during the screening, and Kjolseth will introduce the film.
Ghost in the Cell
Friday, Nov. 27 | Joko Anwar, 2026, Indonesia, 1:46, R
Friday Night Weird finally leaves America for a post-Thanksgiving showing of Joko Anwar's Ghost in the Cell. Set inside an Indonesian prison, the film turns “good vibes only” into a life-and-death mandate as an evil entity seemingly targets unhappy inmates. Prisoners take to praying, dancing and otherwise aura-maxxing to avoid being killed.
“Anwar also takes a swing at social evils, like cronyism, institutional brutality, private militias, and general corruption and moral decrepitude,” Webb says. “All the while it keeps the mostly likeable prison inhabitants in extreme danger with plenty of gore, and also humor.”
Anwar might not be a filmmaker you’re familiar with, but he has nabbed wins and nominations for many films in Asia and Indonesia, including the Citra Awards — the Indonesian equivalent of the Oscars. Ghost in the Cell is rated 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.
“The audacity is jaw-dropping," Inverse’s Katie Rife writes. “The WTF-ery begins early and does not let up throughout.”
