Ham on Rye

All of the teenagers in Haley’s hometown dress in their grandparents' best clothing on what is said to be the most important day of their lives. With nervous excitement, they make a scattered pilgrimage across town, drawn to an unknown fate. Haley walks at a more reluctant pace, skeptical of the timeworn tradition and the bizarre coming-of-age ritual that awaits them at their destination. When they finally arrive at Monty's, a local delicatessen, the clusters of local teens join together in a surreal ceremony of food, dance, and romantic angst that will determine the course of their lives forever. Many of the teens are granted instantaneous escape from the clutches of suburbia while an unchosen few are left to dwell interminably in their vacant hometown. (Santa Barbara International Film Festival)