23 Minutes to Sunrise

They say the darkest hour is just before dawn, and at the Sunrise Diner, it’s very dark indeed. Documentary filmmaker Jay Kanzler (“Close But No Cigar”) returns to SLIFF with his first narrative feature. Screening as a work-in-progress, this drama co-stars Eric Roberts (“Star 80,” “The Dark Knight”), Nia Peeples (“The Young and the Restless,” “Walker, Texas Ranger”), and comedian Bob Zany. Filmed in Sauget, Ill., “23 Hours to Sunrise” keeps a tight focus on eight people whose lives become intertwined at an out-of-the-way 24-hour diner in the deepest part of the night: a middle-aged couple in crisis, a cook who thinks he’s finally catching a break, a waitress in a bad relationship, a young punk and his girlfriend who are sure this is their last stop, and a dark stranger and young girl who seem from another world entirely. As daylight approaches, the octet discovers that not everyone is what they appear.