It can be brutal enough just growing up as a girl. Then add poverty, addiction, and God to the mix. Armed with a gun and a prayer, Emma and her cat bravely go where too many girls have gone before. It’s a war, and we gotta win it!

Critic David Edelstein writes: “The director’s touch is light, even glancing. Every frame carries wonder and dread….it is worthy of our finest humanist directors.” And another of our finest humanist directors, Oren Moverman, stated: “Small Time has an honesty and heart rarely seen in American cinema.” (APRIL 20-21)

Director’s Statement: Niav Conty

Small Time is about a girl growing up in rural America in the shadow of the opioid crisis and “the war on terror?” The film takes an empathetic and at times darkly humorous look at life, faith, and childhood, and presents a difficult, raw view of addiction, PTSD, and the family traumas they create. This story is, fundamentally, about America and its internal contradictions. Like a mirage, one America shimmers before us while we stumble over another. It’s also about childhood and personhood: what shapes the people we become, and what shapes us as a nation.

The film was shot entirely in rural Pennsylvania, an area that has been deeply affected by the ravages of the opioid crisis, and we were able to bring locals in as roles and extras. Many of them, of all ages, had lived through similar experiences.

Selected Filmography: Forever (short), Outworld (short), Person Woman Man Camera TV 

Food Pairing Suggestion:

Watching Small Time is going to be even sweeter for Programmer Amara Waterman with chewy chocolate chip cookies and an espresso from Mix Bakeshop.