A naked body moves a stranger to empathy in this experimental film by Frank Mosley, in one of two scenes investigating body, movement, and connection. “Parthenon” is carried by the transfixing presence of Lily Baldwin; the film around her is largely wordless, and divided into two loosely connecte...

A lonely man sets out in search of his soul mate after what he believes to be a fateful encounter with a banana. “Loveseat,” directed by Grace Kim, expresses its tale of longing with quirky, surreal gestures. The crossword-puzzle obsessed Jared is going about his daily life when he gets a mysteri...

A weary French professor and a young drug dealer share an evening together in Philadelphia. A two-hander character study, “May,” directed by Julian Turner, examines an unlikely relationship forged during a drug deal. Randolph and Genevieve find themselves in each other’s company searching for a d...

An art assistant for a gallery in New York knows his role well, to live in romantic poverty and be paid in social clout and drugs. “Art Boy,” directed by Taylor Ervin, is a sharp-edged depiction of an art scene where the actual art is a second tier concern over the lifestyles and personas behind ...

Two visiting New Yorkers are forced to stay in New Mexico while a serial killer dressed as a leopard stalks the city. “They Cry By Night,” by director Wes Sheridan, is a slow cinema mix of cultural essay and mumblecore character study, placed in an environment of fear and uneasiness. Carlos and A...

A man films a woman describing patterns. “Usually I’m Very Supportive of Delusion,” directed by Nic Murphy and written by Jessica Garrison (winner of the NoBudge Audience Award in January for her recent directorial effort, “DIME”), is a hard-to-describe experimental film which uses a simple struc...

Two actors workshop a scene in which an argument over spices turns into a larger fight about the state of their relationship. Nic Murphy directs “Spice Islands,” a meta portrayal about a man and woman locked in heated scene study, loosely guided by an offscreen director. It’s easy to lose yoursel...

A high school prom queen in Memphis is depressed. Cult Memphis filmmaker’s epic short about teenage depression. Funny, touching stuff. Directed by Ben Siler.

A young woman recalls her experience in two different relationships. Alexis T. Roberts directs “There’s a Glass House That I Want You To See,” a poetic exploration of love and separation. Within its elliptical, fragmentary form, the film finds truthful moments in a range of scenes, from an improm...

A dense fog in the San Fernando Valley cancels a meeting of UFO hunters and causes an unexpected tragedy in the nearby mountains. “Calabasas 1/26/20,” directed by Xavier Rotnofsky, becomes a documentary portrait of the impromptu gathering of mourners at a park near the helicopter crash of Kobe Br...

After a strange first date, a young man recounts the experience to his roommate. “Everything Happens to Me,” directed by Nick Beardslee, is an amiable rom-com about an intimate connection that suddenly goes off the rails. Shown in parallel timelines — we watch the date unfold, and we hear about i...

When fourteen-year-old Maggie and her friends hang out with some older guys they meet on Facebook, a crush unravels into a twisted trance fueled by Four Lokos and naive infatuation. “Monkey Bars,” directed by Jacqueline Xerri, is a coming-of-age drama about a group of teenagers that perfectly cap...

Matteo reckons with the disappearance of his older brother, Damascus, after his car turns up unexplainably abandoned. A poetic mood piece directed by J.P. Emodi, “Jason Richardson” follows the young man through a quietly tumultuous period as he grapples with memories of his brother and begins to ...

Stuck indefinitely in her childhood home surrounded by her younger cousins, an aspiring musician fixates on making sure everyone knows she’s the ‘weird’ one. “The Weird Cousin,” directed by Megan Patsel, is a playful comedy that was conceived and filmed in quarantine, a showcase for the writing a...

Two roommates struggle to decide which Black Lives Matter sign they should purchase to show their support for the BLM movement. Chester Vincent Toye directs “I’m SO Sorry,” which satirically tackles prevalent forms of white guilt and virtue signaling. Caught up in a moment of racial reckoning, a ...

After an acquaintance gets signed to a major label, two townies try to cook up their own path to success. “Sharon 66,” directed by Jordan Tetewsky and Joshua Pikovsky, is a quietly funny, weirdo slice-of-life portrait of life in a small town for two mid 20’s underachievers. Benjy wanders around S...

A young photographer explores his sexuality after a surprising romantic advance. “Self Portrait,” directed by by Gus Aronson, is a sensual experimental film which spotlights and inverts the concept of the photographer’s gaze. During a portrait session, a photographer and model experience a lustfu...

A collection of vignettes involving people in everyday moments who are tethered to otherworldly beings. “Others,” directed by Grace Rex, is a study in mood and hidden meaning, a strange, experimental portrait mostly free of dialogue but thick in atmosphere. In one segment, a woman named Dianne wh...

An awkward young man gets a Spanish lesson in the home of a tutor but learns more about the teacher than the language. It's film about communication, connection, and small talk morphing into big talk. It’s funny, warm and efficient. After the Spanish lesson is over, idle chit-chat turns personal ...

Chicago video journalist Will P.T. is ready for his big break but it’s slow coming and self-doubt is starting to creep in. “Prime Time,” directed by Gus Gavino, perfectly captures the feeling of striving for something you don’t have complete control over. It’s a subtly touching film about aspirat...

Two roommates, Annie and Dan, try to concoct a collab that will be their one-way ticket to fame. Written and directed by Annie Brennen, “Fauxmous: A New, Very Good Web Series,” is a rollicking extravaganza of comedy wordplay and effusive self-praise presented in six short eps. Brennen co-stars al...

Travis scratches off lottery tickets everyday out of routine, never thinking about how scary it'd be to actually win. “Scratch Offs,” directed by Andrew Lewis, is an intriguing piece of slow cinema, notable for its deadpan depiction of a young man who appears to have just won a million dollars an...

Two Midwesterners take a panoramic tour of the gas stations, strip malls and fast food restaurants of their lives. An experimental documentary that turns ordinary, prepackaged American suburbia into a surreal haze, “Going to the Store,” directed by Andrew Lewis, approaches the familiar with such ...

Dark and intense, Catherine Fordham’s short film “KAYA” delves into the desperation of a young woman in search of her sister. At a truck stop motel in Socorro, New Mexico, Kaya searches for her teenage sister, Luna, who was taken by a sex trafficker named Buck. Instead, she discovers another youn...