Four twenty-something friends relive the days of high school in this drug-soaked micro-budget drama. A bleak film about aimlessness, about empty conversations and empty drug use.The foundation is that awkward period after high school when old friends try to remain intact but are inevitably drifti...

Over the course of a year, two Parisians fall in and out of love. Lee Manansala directs “One Year of Khadijah and Pauline,” an eloquent study of a relationship shot in lovely black and white and rendered with grace and intelligence. Told in three parts, the film examines the ups and downs of Khad...

A soft-spoken father takes refuge in yoga classes to escape parenting responsibilities and leer at women in tight yoga gear. Anchored by a hilariously low-key Paul Gordon (a veteran on the no-budget scene), the short wears its juvenile heart on its sleeve, and for a comedy, delivers surprisingly ...

Will Gillman attempts to woo a first date by taking her to a chicken photography competition at a local bar. A new knee-slapper from director Brandon Daley — his previous short, Savasana, won Best Comedy in last year’s NoBudge Awards — whose vision is carried out with full-fledged commitment to t...

"Marilyn Monroe's School For French Girls" takes place across the kind of weekend you can remember fondly forever without admitting that actually, not everyone had fun.

When a group of friends decamps to the beach for a member's birthday weekend, any attempt at "conversation" is quickly rejected...

John and Mel are an impossibly lovey-dovey young couple moving out on their own for the first time. At work, they’re caught in the service industry spin cycle. At home, they tease and tussle with the play-aggression of puppies. John agrees to be directed by Mel in the lead role of a script he wro...

A young woman finds herself caught between her present and past when she receives a letter from home. Directed by Daniel Turner, “dvě místa” (which translates to ‘two places’ in Czech), is a patient character study shot in black and white, formally precise and deceptively complex, about a young w...

In her bombastic daydreams, Mel Vitale plays “the hardest-working cunt in show-business,” a scrappy broad stacked with brass balls and blue jokes. Back on our planet, Mel resembles less Joan Rivers and more the demon child of Wednesday Adams and Al Pacino. And her act, which often unravels into t...

A charming coming-of-age comedy about Lein, an awkward 15 year old girl caught between life stages. She falls under the sway of Amber, an almost 17 year old who wears lots of makeup & tight jean shorts, and begins to feel the pressure of becoming a young woman. Lein's search for a new sexual iden...

In the illustrious tradition of on-the-road, rambler cinema, Welcome to Nowhere (Bullet Hole Road) is a fresh, experimental take. Heavily reliant on motion graphics animation, director William Cusick charts the surreal encounters of five overlapping strangers in the American desert. The spirit ca...

A vérité portrait of Timothy Little, known as the Train Eater, a performer who has adopted the NYC subways as his preferred venue in speaking out against police brutality and Trump’s America. Beautifully captured and stunningly performed, the film is a poignant time capsule of dark days in our co...

Maddy finds herself stranded somewhere off of the highway after being stood up by a guy named Mike. This 16mm short directed by Joseph Barglowski is an ambling, low-key mystery rooted with moments of dry comedy. The locale is right off the interstate (the titular exit 9) where Maddy is set to mee...

Lucas, a young father who’s living with his mom, putting himself through school, and co-parenting his daughter, speaks the film’s titular line in the opening minute, as he realizes someone has been through his room while he was out of the house. The whole shape of the film, however, is folded aro...

Noah, a struggling writer who lives alone in his mother’s New York townhouse, receives a visit from Daniel, an old friend looking to start a new psychiatry practice. This darkly comedic short by Daniel Goldberg examines a floundering rich kid, riddled with anxiety and self-doubt, against his prom...

A young painter caught in the vicious cycle of creativity must overcome her innermost turmoil. “The Snake That Ate Itself” is an avant-garde student short directed by Kevin Carpio notable for its striking images, stream-of-consciousness form, and captivating lead performance by Ashley Briglia. We...

Left behind by the same loved one, two Asian American youth search for connection in their small Midwestern town. This tender coming-of-age drama from director Dan Chen expands beyond small, ordinary moments into a deeply felt portrait of alienation and nostalgia. Ella, a brash, cigarette-smoking...

Two filmmakers scout their next movie in the desert and canyons of Arizona, Nevada and California. But the line between location scouting and a personal vacation is a thin one. “Holiday Lake” by Frankie de Fusco and Sarah Salovaara is a funny spoof on delusional filmmakers seemingly more concerne...

A struggling actor in L.A. goes in for an audition. It doesn’t go well. Presented as an eight minute single-take, “Everything Happens to Me” is a funny and painful glimpse into chasing your dreams well past the point of no return. When he arrives, he’s frazzled and unprepared, having just got off...

A musician, a YouTuber, and a Tik Tok star battle their egos and depression in “Things That Happen,” an urgent new drama by Bobby McCoy. Filled with style and momentum, this disturbing depiction of young adults (or old kids) lost in a vapid and cruel media landscape tracks three young characters ...

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...