On a Friday evening, Manhattan gallery owner Jack (50's) meets Claire and Victoria (both early 20's) on a Soho street and invites them up to his loft "to see his Max Ernst collages." What ensues is an unexpected and intimate exchange of secrets, dreams, and regrets between strangers.

Cast: Rosario Dawson, Anna Grace, Daniel Von Bargen, Margaret Gibson and George Bartenieff

Producer: Susan Stover
Production Designer: Anne Stuhler
Costume Designer: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Cinematographer: Peter Agliata
Editor: Joe Mcormack
Casting Director: Peggy Adler
Composer: Carter Burwell

Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, 1998
Sedona International Film Festival, 1998
Women in Cinema Film Festival/Cinema Seattle, 1998
Worldfest-Charlston/Charlston International Film Festival, 1997
New York Exposition of Short Film and Video, 1997
Cinewomen Festival (England), 1997
St. Louis Film Festival, 1997
Northampton Film Festival, 1997
San Juan Cinemafest, 1997
Chicago International Film Festival, 1997
International Festival of Fantastic Films, 1997
Nantucket Film Festival, 1997
Boston Film Festival, 1997

The Boston Globe (Betsy Sherman, September 1997) "The finesse of director-writer Myra Paci and her cast helps Girls Night Out maneuver along a thorny path for its 32 minutes. One night in downtown Manhattan, a middle-aged man asks two college-age girls up to his loft for a glass of port and a look at his Max Ernst collages. Is this merely the eternal story of the dirty old man? Surprises are in store over the course of the long night. Daniel Von Bargen, a familiar movie and TV villain, here plays a character with some layers. For the girls of the title, Paci makes the most of Anna (Girls Town) Grace’s hard edges and of Rosario (Kids) Dawson’s warmth."

The Seattle Weekly (Claire Dederer, January 21, 1998)
"Among a crowd of hopefuls, a film worth checking out: Myra Paci’s Girls Night Out. It’s the story of two young Manhattan women who are lured up to a gallery owner’s apartment to see his etchings. We expect a morality tale to follow; someone always gets hurt when girls visit strange men. But Paci’s women don’t get used."

Flagpole ( Mary Jessica Hammes, October 7, 1998)
"Poetry, art and raw emotion weave together perfectly into a stunning little story. Claire (Anne Grace from Girls Town) and Victoria (Rosario Dawson from He Got Game, Kids) are targeted by an older man, Jack (Daniel Von Bargen of Philadelphia) who meets them on a Soho street one Friday night…thus begins an unnerving night that dumps the viewer thick into every conceivable emotion. Van Bargen’s performance is rattling; his attraction to the girls feels alternately slimy and golden. The overall anxiety is heightened by cinematography that is comparable to still photographs. Both Grace and Dawson nail their roles as well, but watching Grace in the throes of hypnosis in one revealing scene is like watching an underwater nature documentary; you feel like you can’t breathe."

The St. Louis Riverfront Times (October 1997)
"Girls Night Out…offers a compelling examination of the threat of sexual violence [and is] eerily slow, beautifully shot and finely acted….a worthwhile, surprising picture whose patient pacing is rewarded with unexpected and fruitful interactions between characters who, a mere 20 minutes earlier, had nothing to say to each other. In New York City, two young women agree to accompany an older man back to his loft to see his Ernsts; what ends up happening is both less and more than one would expect."

Certificate of Merit, Chicago International Film Festival, 1997
Silver Award, Worldfest-Charlston/Charlston International Film Festival, 1997
Jury Award, New York Exposition of Short Film and Video, 1997