Thelma

Online ticket sales end at 5:00pm today. Additional tickets will be sold at the door at 7:30. When 93-year-old Thelma Post gets duped by a phone scammer, she sets out on a treacherous quest to reclaim what was taken from her. Inspired by a true story. 2024, USA, 98 minutes.

Following the films, stay for a discussion with J.D. Zeik, a local screenwriter with specialty in action (Ronin, Witchblade) and professor at the SUNY Purchase School of Film and Media Studies.

Thelma is an action-comedy that gives veteran Oscar nominee June Squibb (NEBRASKA) her first leading role and features the final performance of trailblazing actor Richard Roundtree (SHAFT). Squibb, who did many of her own stunts in the film, plays Thelma Post, a feisty 93-year-old grandmother who gets conned by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson and sets out on a treacherous quest across Los Angeles, accompanied by an aging friend and his motorized scooter, to reclaim what was taken from her. Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, and Malcolm McDowell also star.

Inspired by a real-life experience of first time director Josh Margolin’s own grandmother, Thelma puts a clever spin on movies like Mission: Impossible, shining the spotlight on an elderly grandmother as an action hero. With infectious humor, Thelma employs the familiar tropes of the action genre in hilarious, age-appropriate ways to tackle aging with agency. Squibb portrays the strong-willed Thelma with grit and determination, demonstrating that she is more than capable of taking care of business.

Provincetown International Film Festival
Best Narrative Feature

Sarrasota Film Festival
Best Narrative Feature

Cleveland International Film Festival
Best American Independent Film

“Thelma is a perfect showcase for the delightfully wry Squibb, whose character constantly reminds us that you’re never too old to try something new. – Seattle Times

“Everything you want in an action movie: chases, gunplay, a scene where the heroes slowly walk away during an explosion, near-misses, and a crowd-pleasing climax that made my audience cheer.” – Boston Globe

“A tender comedy at heart, Thelma is a delightful romp that focuses on the different textures of the human experience and the poignant (and sometimes very silly) moments that come with it.” – Globe and Mail

“Writer-director Josh Margolin ingeniously tweaks action- and crime-movie clichés to tell this rather quaint little story. But Thelma is not overly saturated in reference-y irony. It’s sincere and sensitive.” – Vanity Fair

“Writer-director Josh Margolin imagines, quite cleverly, what a Mission: Impossible film might look like for a 94-year-old woman, but he doesn’t scrimp on deeper issues either.” – New York Post

“It’s likely to draw laughs if you’ve ever coached someone on how to use a computer, tears if you’ve ever loved an elderly person who held tightly to their dignity. And Squibb is as understatedly funny and commanding as you’d expect.” – Guardian

“Manages to be so charming and heartfelt that the laughs never feel lazy, cheap, or cruel. Its observations about the disconnect between its elderly protagonist and the society around her are surprisingly relatable.” – New York Magazine/Vulture

“Holding out until the age of 94 for her first lead role, June Squibb proves what her legion of devoted fans has always known: she’s a superstar.” – Screen International

“The film reflects on issues of aging and autonomy with a mostly light touch, its protagonist making a strong case for the enduring spirit of elderly folks too often infantilized by both society and their loved ones.” – Hollywood Reporter

“A film that could have settled for being a masterclass in technique, but instead goes deeper, exploring questions of artistry, authorship, legacy.” NPR

“Had The Christophers just been a cross-generational punch-up, the sort of flinty showdown designed to throw off pleasurable sparks, you’d still walk away content. It remains a conduit for two of the best performances you’ll see all year.” – David Fear, Rolling Stone

“The Christophers is largely a comedy, but it’s also about all that we gain and lose with age, and about how we sometimes need young people to bring us back to ourselves.” – Stephanie Zacharek, TIME

“Having lost the inspiration that guided him to greatness, Julian is an artist who can no longer paint, and Lori is an artist who has lost all confidence in there being a place for her work in the larger world. For all the undercurrents about fame, commodification, and reputation that flow through The Christophers, at its core is a more plaintive lament about what it feels like to love something that doesn’t love you back.” – Alison Willmore, Vulture

“Go see The Christophers. Show up, and support a tiny, talky experiment that has no relationship to IP or sequels or box-office projection. It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s also never, as Lori grudgingly notes about Julian’s work, uninteresting. And in this cultural moment, that’s an authentic win.” – Elizabeth Weitzman, Time Out

“The Christophers is a work of criticism that deftly distinguishes different approaches to criticism.” ­– Justin Chang, The New Yorker 

“Brims with hilarious dialogue, lightly satirical observations of a culture that treats art as a commodity, and satisfying payoffs to a number of story elements planted early on.” – Seth Katz, Slant Magazine

“In the end, this film about artists becomes a work of art in its own right. The more you look at it, the more its many components reveal themselves to you.” – Chase Hutchinson, The Wrap

“Ian McKellen plays Julian Sklar, a sardonic art legend who meets his intellectual match in frank preservationist Lori Butler (Michaela Coel). In a test of wits and wills held mostly in a single-setting, Soderbergh pushes both characters to return to their former passions through philosophical conversations that reflect his own career.” – Robert Daniels, Screen International

“It bats about ideas pertaining to art, commerce, ownership and legacy with dexterous aplomb and boasts two equally superb leads who make the material crackle.” – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

“The Christophers is a talky, at times incredibly funny, comedy drama with plot reversals that make it feel like it’s on the verge of a thriller. It doesn’t end up there, at least not strictly, but it’s unpredictable enough to never make us entirely sure just where it’s heading.” – Benjamin Lee, Guardian

“There’s no room for anything shy of genius in The Christophers, a crackling original drama about artistic legacy in all its facets, directed by Steven Soderbergh , from a script by Ed Solomon (No Sudden Move) and starring two top-notch English actors of wildly different backgrounds and styles, Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel, at the top of their respective games.” – Peter Debruge, Variety

“With Ian McKellen in superbly crotchety form and Michaela Coel exuding chilly cunning, it’s further proof that Soderbergh remains one of American Cinema’s most inimitable, and adventurous, auteurs. – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast