NYC Theatrical Premiere, One Week Only!

*** SPECIAL GUESTS IN PERSON ***
Co-Star DANA WHEELER-NICHOLSON (Fri. 1/27 + Sat. 1/28)
Producer EZRA VENETOS (Fri. 1/27)
Writer-Director BERNDT MADER (Sat. 1/28)

"FIVE TIME CHAMPION, written and directed by Berndt Mader, is a kind of indie Every Film. Quiet, mostly well observed, a bit quirky, regionally distinct (it takes place in Texas) and aware of human complexity... Mr. Mader gets some nice, unforced performances, especially from Ms. Wheeler-Nicholson, Mr. Arnold and Betty Buckley as Julius’s grandmother, who must deal with her not quite philandering but not quite present husband."
- Rachel Saltz, THE NEW YORK TIMES (January 26, 2012)

"An exceptional movie in every way! Much of the credit goes to Mader's tightly written script. When it's funny, it's uproariously so... When the script is poignant, it studiously avoids being cloying; there are many quietly reflective scenes that engender great sympathy for the characters without movie-of-the-week melodrama."
- Don Clinchy, SLACKERWOOD

"Although the movie has some big names, none shines as bright as young Ryan Akin, who... captures the angst and confusion of teens everywhere as he fumbles through his first attempts at sex, as he suffers through jealousies, as he begins to question the wisdom of the choices that adults make."
- Charles Ealy, THE AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

WATCH THE TRAILER:
youtube.com/watch?v=J4KQzpC6LiE

FIVE TIME CHAMPION is a small-town Texas dramedy about coming of age, petty theft, adultery, and the boundless opportunities presented by science. A crowd-pleasing fave at SXSW, Dallas and Cucalorus, writer-director Berndt Mader's soulful feature debt makes its NYC theatrical premiere with a week-long run, January 27 - February 2.

While teenage science star Julius (Ryan Akin) steadfastly researches the asexual reproduction of worms, his eccentric family members are pulling apart from each other in ways that he can only attribute to sex. His grandfather is visiting a woman other than his grandmother, and his mother is estranged from her prospective fiancée, who is also Julius' assistant principal. On top of that, he's losing his best friend Shiley to a hunky classmate, all while he wrestles with his dad's mysterious departure years ago.

Julius keeps a diligent eye, but unfortunately, all of his heartbreakingly acute observation seems to prove that no solution will restore the people he cares about to their appropriate roles. How can he hold together his family, or build his own romantic relationships under the shadow of rumors about his father's homosexuality? Only when Julius allows people, including himself, to fall short of his scientist's expectations of order and reason can wounds begin to heal.

FIVE TIME CHAMPION features an inspired ensemble of talent, including Tony award winner and Grammy nominee Betty Buckley ("CATS," THE HAPPENING), Dana Wheeler Nicholson ("FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS"), Jon Gries (NAPOLEON DYNAMITE) and Robert Longstreet (TAKE SHELTER), with original music by composer Graham Reynolds (A SCANNER DARKLY).

92 minutes. In English. Presented in Blu-ray. Unrated.
 

SHOWTIMES: 
FRIDAY, January 27 (7pm, 10pm) * SPECIAL GUESTS IN PERSON *
SATURDAY, January 28 (7pm, 10pm) * SPECIAL GUESTS IN PERSON *
MONDAY, January 30 (7pm)
TUESDAY, January 31 (7pm)
WEDNESDAY, February 1 (7pm)
THURSDAY, February 2 (10pm)