Interview: Marie Stotz from 99 Minutes Film Series
Once a month in Alphabet City’s Nightclub 101, people gather to watch a movie that’s 99 minutes or less in length. I spoke with Marie Stotz, its programmer, about how she created the series.
What gave you the idea to do 99 Minutes?
I don’t think every movie needs to be 2.5 hours long, and I feel like in contemporary cinema, that’s what’s going on. I think there’s so much beauty and brevity in short features. Travolta et moi, which you saw with me, is 68 minutes, absolutely fucking perfect film. So I just started looking at my favorite movies, and I was like, “Okay, what’s the number that all the films were gonna be less than? 99 minutes.”
I wanted to showcase filmmakers that could say a lot of great things, you know, in a shorter amount of time. Brevity is the soul of wit, as they say. I also wanted to play a lot of stuff that doesn’t get played often due to rights issues, or maybe it’s a little underground, because we’re a free admission series. And a huge part of it, for me, is building community in the New York City film world. I think that’s one of the best things about living here and going to the movies here. There’s real community, and I was like, how about instead of just hanging out outside the theater after, we watch a movie in a nightclub, and then we can all hang out and drink and dance and chat and network after.
So another part of the 99 Minutes philosophy is, we’re also interested in showcasing NYC filmmakers. For instance, I had my friend Shane Fleming premiere his new movie Ramonaland, in March, and then he also showed some short films by his friends that he had worked on. Basically, they all worked on one another’s movies. So we showed four of those films.
How long have you been doing this?
We did the first 99 Minutes screening in September of last year, so it’s been, I would say probably 10 months. We normally do it once a month. There have been a couple months where we’ve done two in a month, if something comes up. The first one actually got a lot more traction than I thought. I was kind of expecting only my friends to show up, and strangers showed up, and I was like, “What?” And yeah, it’s been growing ever since. We bring out a lot of guest programmers, so it’s been nice seeing the different crowds that come in and out.
How did you make this happen?
A friend of mine connected me to Julia Cook, who runs the programming at Nightclub 101, and I pitched the idea. She loved it. I can’t say enough great things about Nightclub 101. They’re awesome people, and everyone who works there is a creative person, and then they’ve given me a ton of creative freedom.
Have you done any programming work before this?
No.
Any plans to grow the series? If so, how?
I would love to do a 99 Minutes in another city. I would say L.A. and Paris are both places that I would love to do it. I would love to lean into the community-building aspect of it. I have some more plans, but can’t talk about them publicly. It’s been very fun, so I look forward to seeing it grow.
Earlier, you said you’ve directed some movies. Can you tell us about those?
I directed my first short film, Envelopes, in the summer of 2024 with one of my really good friends, Alex Baker. I had always wanted to make a movie. I didn’t think it was ever possible. And then some of my friends started making movies, and I was like, okay, like this is closer than I thought.
Alex and I had always talked about making a film together, and then finally, I was like, we’re just gonna set a date to film, and the rest will come from there. So I got the idea for the movie after we had set the date. We made it in one weekend at my parents’ house. My dad was, like, driving us around locations because I don’t drive.
Then I made my second film, Carnelian, this past summer, and released that in March. Once again, really small crew—me, Alex, and another friend of mine who acted in it. I love how working with a small crew allows you to be super nimble. And if it’s friends, these are all people that you feel comfortable with, especially if you’re acting too. But yeah, before that, I was a photographer, so I do feel like a lot of my work kind of stems from my photography background.
Do you have any plans to direct another?
Yeah, I’m working on my next short film. We’re gonna shoot in September, and that is gonna be my first film with sound.
Oh, exciting. So the others were silent? Did you even use music?
Not even any music, just supposed to be soundtracked by the ambient noises of the environment. Second film, I’m so lucky, a composer friend of mine, Will Martin, did the score. It’s beautiful, so you know, I feel like I’m someone who likes to learn by doing. I’m always like, just start. So this has been kind of my own little film school. So now this is the first one where we’re recording sound, which is, you know, it’s expensive. It’s a whole other layer. But I’m excited. I’m working with local NYC actors, some non-actors. A wonderful friend of mine is going to DP it, and we’re gonna shoot on location in NYC, and I’m super excited.
Is there anything else you want Film Sense readers to know about 99 Minutes?
I would say, come through, it’s really fun. It’s a casual atmosphere, a great way to see a movie. If you want to meet other people who are in the film world, I always try to facilitate mingling and connections. Yeah, it’s not that serious, you know? Watching movies with your friends and having fun.
Nightclub 101 is located at 101 Avenue A, New York, NY. The next film in the series, Dark Skull, screens on Wednesday, July 8.
