Adam Khalil and Bayley Sweitzer’s EMPTY METAL
Saturday, March 21, 2026, 7 pm ET
at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center
$8 general, $6 students/seniors, $5 members of Squeaky Wheel and Hallwalls
“Filled with energy, rage, and the smallest measure of hope, Empty Metal is a new kind of political film for these extraordinary times” -Film Society Lincoln Center
An unsettling and cutting political thriller, EMPTY METAL features an apathetic punk band who are ensnared to commit a series of assassinations by an Indigenous family whose mother communicates telepathically with her meditation companions, a Rastafarian hacker, and a Buddhist whose son is a member of a secret militia. These disparate actors are united by rage, boiled in the history of the United States, and finding itself at a point of no return in our contemporary moment. Inspired by Lizzie Borden’s classic Born in Flames (1983), Adam Khalil and Bayley Sweitzer’s film has been widely acclaimed since its debut in 2018. It is an essential portrait of current day American violence and politics, and posits its inevitable consequences.
Squeaky Wheel and Hallwalls is excited to screen this modern day classic, and to welcome co-director Bayley Sweitzer whoe will be in person for a post screening Q&A. Special thank you to Tammy McGovern and Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center.
Adam Khalil & Bayley Sweitzer, EMPTY METAL, 83 minutes, 2018.
Biographies of the artists
Bayley Sweitzer is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn. His practice revolves around a dynamic, high-mobility engagement with the margins, as well as taking an earnest look at the chronomorphic qualities of narrative, specifically the camera’s ability to consolidate dimensions. His work has been shown at Film Society Lincoln Center, Anthology Film Archives, Pacific Film Archive, Motel Gallery (Brooklyn), Other Cinema (San Francisco) and MIIT House (Osaka). Bayley works professionally as a camera assistant and is a member of the International Cinematographers Guild, IATSE Local 600.
Adam Khalil is a filmmaker and artist. His practice attempts to subvert traditional forms of ethnography through humor, relation, and transgression. Adam’s work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, Sundance Film Festival, Walker Arts Center, Spektrum (Berlin), Trailer Gallery (Sweden), Carnival of eCreativity (Bombay). Khalil is a 2017 Sundance Art of Nonfiction grantee, 2017 Sundance Institute Indigenous Film Opportunity Fellow, UnionDocs Collaborative Fellow and Gates Millennium Scholar.
This event is presented with support from Teiger Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
