Following sold-out screenings with Academy Award-winning director Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight) and comedian Guy Branum (Stop! That! Train!), Festival Theaters Palm Springs is announcing its next chapter: a summer season of exclusive premieres and filmmaker conversations that continues to position the theater as the Coachella Valley’s destination for cinema worth leaving the house for.

The lineup includes the Palm Springs premiere of Atropia followed by a post-screening career retrospective conversation with actress Alia Shawkat, an exclusive engagement of Maddie’s Secret featuring a Q&A with comedian and actor John Early, and additional programming that reinforces the theater’s commitment to presenting cinema as a Coachella Valley community experience. All events are ticketed at $20.

"We're building something that doesn't exist anywhere else in the desert, a place where you can see a great film and then sit in the same room as the person who made it,” said Zack Solomon, General Manager of Festival Theaters Palm Springs. “The support from our community has been extraordinary, and we're committed to keeping these experiences as fun, accessible, and affordable as possible."

ALIA SHAWKAT — ATROPIA | JULY 2 AT 7:00 PM

On July 2, Festival Theaters presents the Palm Springs premiere of Atropia, followed by an extended post-screening conversation with actress Alia Shawkat. A Palm Springs native, Shawkat has spent two decades becoming one of the most reliably singular actors in American film and television — from Maeby Fünke on Arrested Development to Dory Sief on Search Party to a string of celebrated film roles. The conversation will span both Atropia and her broader career, offering audiences a rare opportunity to engage directly with one of the valley’s own.

Awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Atropia follows an aspiring actress (Alia Shawkat) in a military role-playing facility who falls in love with a soldier (Callum Turner) cast as an insurgent, where their unsimulated emotions threaten to derail the performance. What unfolds is an audaciously funny satire that asks: In the performance of war, who are the winners and who are the losers?

JOHN EARLY — MADDIE’S SECRET | JULY 23 AT 7:00 PM

On July 23, Festival Theaters hosts the exclusive Coachella Valley engagement of Maddie’s Secret, playing only at Festival Theaters. The screening will be followed by a post-film Q&A with John Early, an Emmy-nominated comedian, writer, and actor who wrote, directed, and starred in the project. The conversation will be moderated by writer and professor Catherine Liu.

Maddie’s Secret is John Early’s critically acclaimed directorial debut, in which he stars as Maddie, a plucky dishwasher who leaps to viral superstardom at a trendy food content creation company. While her life looks picturesque — complete with an adoring husband (Eric Rahill), ride-or-die best friend (Kate Berlant), and a cupboard full of woman-owned ethically-sourced chili crisp to boot — mounting professional pressures threaten to reawaken a hidden secret from Maddie’s troubled past.

A DESTINATION FOR FILMMAKER CONVERSATIONS

This summer’s programming is the latest chapter in Festival Theaters’ ongoing commitment to presenting world-class cinema in the desert. Additional upcoming screenings with filmmaker conversations include:

• Palm Springs International ShortFest presented at Festival Theaters from June 23-29 with Q&A’s following every screening! (more information here)
• Coroner to the Stars on June 26 at 7:00 p.m. with director Ben Hethcoat
• Situations on July 11 at 7:00 p.m. with director/writer/actor Greg Vrotsos

For showtimes, tickets, memberships, and upcoming announcements, visit festivaltheaters.com.