Diego is humiliated and punished by his father after telling him what happened. Moisés Aisemberg directs “Guilt,” a searing drama about boyhood cruelty and the societal forces behind it. On a camping trip, two kids and their fathers spend some time in the great outdoors. The boys are mostly left ...

Vincent, a neurotic millennial with a middling credit score, needs work bad. A life of crime could certainly pay if he ever gets a chance, and one night he does. “Auxiliary Man,” directed by and starring Max Roux, infuses its 90’s style crime tale with bumbling humor and energetic soul tunes. The...

A brother and sister in the San Fernando Valley reunite after the sister is forced from her home and daughter. “Purity,” by director Max Roux, is an emotionally raw drama about a broken family trying to keep it together in an ugly world. Riley shows up at the apartment of her brother, Karl, with ...

Gloria plans to catch the bus from Chinatown back home to her native Virginia, but along the way, she runs into old friends and bad habits. Directed by Deni Cheng, “Bucko!” is an edgy naturalistic drama carried by the captivating Eloisa Santos as Gloria (aka Bucko). Her suitcase is packed but she...

A young woman mourning the loss of her cat receives an unexpected visitor. “Catlady” directed by Max Roux is an atmospheric elegy, a portrait of grief that spins into the surreal, carried by a spellbinding performance from Jade Louise. With tears streaming down her face, she buries her beloved ca...

Longing for a touch the casual encounters section can not satisfy, Tristan, an outsider among outsiders, is captivated by the appearance of a new man. Directed by Tristan Scott-Behrends, “Only Trumpets,” is a lavish glimpse into sex and love in the digital age, part cynical thesis, part experimen...

Charting a cross country journey through rodeos, deserts, and motels, “I Know What I Saw,” is a poetic travelogue of American landscapes and small encounters. Directed by Gillian Waldo, who narrates a series of postcards addressed to someone named “N” — detailing low-key run-ins with cops and par...

An experimental dance film merging melancholy with silliness, “Fragile,” by director Kearston Hawkins-Johnson, follows a ballerina through unlikely spaces, reacting unpredictably. Masked with a paper bag, allowing anonymity and protection, the woman dances alone in an abandoned building, and then...

Demi leaves her husband and wanders around San Diego to find herself in this low-key comedy directed by Nick Ehart. At a park, Demi (played by Mollie Merkel) meets a woman named Margaret (Blair Beeken), head of HR at Rite Aid, and they strike up a conversation. Before long, they’re chatting like ...

In Atlantic City on a lonely night, two strangers cross paths and share the evening together. A soulful 16mm portrait of two men and their unlikely connection, by director Chris Osborn, “True Blue” draws its characters perhaps as symbols of a faded American dream, but does so with complexity and ...

A fourteen year-old girl on her last day before high school navigates the juncture between childhood and adolescence. Daiva Žalnieriunas directs “Farewell Winona,” a textured coming-of-age drama that vividly captures a place - rural Canada - and a period of innocence right before things start to ...

A young woman daydreams to escape from a mundane day at the office with her boss and co-worker. Eren Gülfidan directs “Daydreaming,” a collection of surreal images presented as a stream-of-consciousness tone poem. A brain falls from the sky. A mime juggles on the train. The woman imagines herself...

A girl sits for a portrait, allowing flowers to adorn her until they cover her completely. “Haus Des Meeres,” directed by Kristine Morgan, is a lovely video art piece envisioned as both a beautiful object and a reaction against beautiful objects. Regina Soza is the girl in the flowers, and her st...

“Sandy” journeys through a New Jersey beachside town with no sense of the past as sea levels rise. Our take: This personal essay film by Dylan Hansen-Fliedner is a contemplative survey of family history, climate change, Hollywood hypocrisy, and our culture’s unwillingness to change its ways. Visu...

A journey through a sleepless night directed by and starring Anna Salinas. “Insomniac” is a stream-of-consciousness experimental film where a flood of disconnected images and thoughts flash through a tired mind. A voiceover introduces the primary concerns of the night - unpaid parking tickets, bi...

A random hookup leads to an ambush interview by a documentary crew. “Humans of My Bed,” directed by Sam Permar, is an edgy, darkly funny mockumentary exploring boundaries of sexual liberation and internalized homophobia. At a friend’s birthday party, Kip and Neel, meet, hit it off, and have sex i...

After falling into an industrial cooking vat, Marty's coworkers welcome him back to the bakery with an extravagant party. Drew Angle and Katelyn Douglass direct “Terrible Accident at the Bread Factory,” a one-take comedy which introduces over a dozen employees of Crumbles Baking Co. as they criss...

A group of curly haired strangers help Katelyn recreate her past life as a Kurt Vile t-shirt. Directed by Drew Angle and Katelyn Douglass, “Shirt Vile,” is an evocative tribute to the musician and a portrait of a fan, a young woman who connects with him on a metaphysical level, but also a physica...

After a painful dry spell a woman attempts to have a one night stand. Directed by Lizzy Sanford, “Rubber Heart” is an open and honest comedy examining issues of gender roles and expectations of appearance. The man doesn’t know how to react when faced with Anna’s pubic hair. Trying to compensate f...

Left home alone for the weekend, two sisters navigate their strained rivalry amid the horrors of adolescent sexuality. Lizzy Sanford writes and directs “The Knot,” an understated character study about sibling-hood and teenage rites of passage. The film is merely a glimpse but it’s painted with vi...

Alessandra Lacorazza’s “Mami” takes a risky look at the struggle a daughter engages in when she realizes that her chance for a successful life might hinge on the abandonment of her dependent mother. Carolina, a young Latinx immigrant woman lives with her mother in the United States, is the careta...

In a series of observational moments, a violist, barre instructor, and chemistry teacher grapple with the realities of working in quarantine. Lydia Cornett directs “Teaching in Quarantine,” a fly-on-the-wall doc portrait of virtual teaching post Covid-19. Requiring a good deal of adaptation, tech...

A socially anxious college student reluctantly heads to a party attempting to make new friends. Nande Walters directs “Who Are You Really?”, an experimental portrait of insecurity characterized by a raw, youthful energy. Anya walks into the room and immediately feels like everyone is judging her....

A young mother finds a key that opens the door for her son’s escape. A kinetic experimental film made entirely from still photographs, Thea Lorentzen’s “A Key for the Kid,” is a small marvel in abstract ingenuity. The year is 2100 and the task is to find a blinking red key hidden in the forest. T...