Film Forum

Written and directed by Richard Shepard
U.S., 2023
Produced by Stacey Reiss and Richard Shepard
Executive produced by Jon Stern
Edited by Adam Lichtenstein
Movie theatre artwork by Skip Sturtz
Approx. 95 min. DCP.

Emmy winning filmmaker Richard Shepard’s very personal feature-length memoir (chock-ablock with film clips) of Upper West Side native Shepard’s glory days of obsessive NYC moviegoing in the 1970s and 1980s, at long-gone but still-cherished movie houses like Theatre 80 St. Marks, the New Yorker, and the Thalia – while weaving in an intimate character study story of his elusive, mysterious father, who had no discernable job, went by three or four different names, had obvious connections to the city’s shady underbelly, and whose love of movies helped foster Shepard’s own cinematic DNA.

Conceived during the height of the pandemic, FILM GEEK is crafted entirely out of film clips from over 200 movies, including Shepard’s own early efforts as a Super 8mm moviemaker, as well as the movie theatre art of Skip Sturtz.

Read about writer-director Richard Shepard's cinephilic childhood.

Reviews

“Belongs on the same shelf with the great personal essays on cinema like LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF, ROCK HUDSON’S HOME MOVIES, and Elvis Mitchell’s IS THAT BLACK ENOUGH FOR YOU? Except FILM GEEK is much warmer and more emotional.”
— Larry Karaszewski (co-screenwriter of ED WOOD, THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT)

“FILM GEEK is a blast, a fun, funny, emotional rollercoaster of a movie. Part cool film history, part moving personal history, FILM GEEK is a unique and compelling doc about fathers and sons and the movies that bind them. I loved it!”
— Judd Apatow