Justin O’Neal Miller’s Peggy tells a tale about a housewife who appears to have it all until the cracks begin to show. Since starting its festival run, Peggy has won numerous awards including Best in Show at Rome International Film Festival, the Jury and Audience Awards for Best Short at Spokane International Film Festival, and the Audience Award for Best Short at Calgary International Film Festival. Peggy stars Sarah Blackman (The Derby Stallion) and Jason MacDonald (The Vampire Diaries).

Madeleine Gottlieb’s Australian film Snare stars the popular actor Steve Rogers (Home and Away, The Code) and James Fraser (December Boys, The Water Diviner). This father-son drama premiered at the celebrated South by South West Film Festival and screened at the Oscar-qualifying Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

Ponyboi is the first narrative film by and starring an out intersex individual in cinema history. River Gallo and Sadé Clacken Joseph direct this live-action short capturing a charming young intersex man who turns tricks in the New Jersey laundromat where he works.

Chinese-Australian Director Lydia Rui’s This Perfect Day was created by a predominately female crew and stars Lee Mason (Underbelly, Crime and Punishment) and introduces non-binary lead Michelle Keating. In writing this topical film Rui drew inspiration from her own life. This Perfect Day screened at Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) as one of only 63 shorts, selected from a record number of 5131 submissions!

Monique Needham’s directorial movie debut Cashpoint shares the story of a young woman’s internet date. This revealing comedy screened in competition at the London Independent Film Festival.

Writer/director Alex Ross Perry’s latest effort, Her Smell, is explosive, and without out a doubt, it’s his greatest achievement to date. Spearheaded by an absolutely go-for-broke performance from Elisabeth Moss, the film is a beautifully chaotic cyclone character study full of glitter, sweat, and mysticism that will absolutely leave you drenched in its singular aroma.

Following the success of Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy entries, the titular character returns, only this time, he’s helmed by The Descent director Neil Marshall. A clunky and cobbled reboot, Hellboy  intentionally eschews the sophistication and pathos of del Toro’s films, replacing them with mindless buckets of blood and viscera. It definitely rings hollow (especially when compared to del Toro’s work), but it’s a fun no-brains-required, knock around, and the kind of gory gross-out blockbuster you don’t generally see circulating in the mainstream.

From the mind of Vilan Trub (Susie Q) — and the muscle of Michael Madsen (who executive produced) — comes The Dirty Kind, “a hard-boiled movie for a hard-boiled world.” The film marks Trub’s sophomore effort, and it strives to give new perspective to the familiar detective story and illuminate areas of Queens, New York, which have yet to be prominently featured cinematically.

Amazing Grace is a documentary “realized” by Alan Elliot that showcases one of the most incredible vocal talents the world has ever seen at the height of her power. Originally shot by actor/director Sydney Pollack, the film presents Aretha Franklin with choir at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles in January 1972. Due to a complication, the footage has been collecting dust in the Warner Bros. vault, but thanks to Alan Elliot (who spent 2 years putting it together), it’s now here for all of us to enjoy.

Writer/director S. Craig Zahler returns with his third feature, Dragged Across Concrete, a grim and grinding buddy cop slow burn that takes audiences on a “Shotgun Safari” through the treacherous asphalt jungle. As controversial and unapologetic as its subject matter may be, Zahler’s ability to craft thought-provoking and challenging genre stories is undeniably sharp.

Director James Kent follows up his critically acclaimed debut, Testament of Youth, with The Aftermath. Set in the fallout of postwar Germany, the film offers an interesting slant to the period drama romance, but it ultimately falls flat, lacking the emotional richness necessary to set itself apart from its confrères.

5 long years after Spring Breakers, Harmony Korine returns to officially enter the mainstream with his irreverent stoner comedy, The Beach Bum, an ode to excess that takes Matthew McConaughey to glorious new extremes and invites you to party like it’s 1999. With a candy-colored aesthetic full of neon light and psychedelic beach wear, The Beach Bum takes you on a wild hedonist voyage that only Korine can conjure.

The horror continues with Us, Jordan Peele’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed Get Out. Expansive and ambitious, Peele continues to swing for the fences with his social commentary and clever execution. While Us may not hit the pitch-perfect tone of its predecessor, it still makes for one wild ride filled with horrific delights that only Peele himself is capable of conjuring.

Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre gives fresh perspective to the American West with her feature-length debut, The Mustang, a true story about convicts breaking horses as part of their rehabilitation. Poetic and elemental, Clermont-Tonnerre creates a quiet knockout that is physically and emotionally intensified by the powerhouse performance from Matthias Shoenaerts.

Edited, produced, and directed by Todd Douglas Miller, Apollo 11 seeks to take us up close and personal to the last greatest feat in human achievement, the 1969 mission to put a man on the moon. Consisting solely of archival footage, including 70 mm film that was previously unreleased to the public, this documentary will have you feeling absolutely awestruck and inspired.

Lloyd Kaufman concludes his two-part “opus” reimagining of Class of Nuke ‘Em High in what can only be described as a softcore spoof porn with big tits, small pierced dicks, the kinda penetration that’s not arousing, and loads and loads of blood and goo. In other words, it’s basically everything you’d expect from a Troma film, but it can’t manage to hit the mark of its more iconic fare.

Writer/director Jonas Åkerlund (Spun) gives Norway’s black metal godfather’s Mayhem the I, Tonya treatment. “Based on truth… lies and what actually happened” and more concerned with the figures behind the music than the music itself, Åkerlund wipes his characters of their corpse paint and deglamorizes the black metal scene as he searches for the answer behind why events turned as ugly as they did. Though not perfect by any stretch, Lords of Chaos is an intriguing biopic full of church burning, satan worshipping, and murder.