Katelyn and Halie just want to get high and watch Pixar movies but an invasive pizza delivery boy derails their Friday night. “Me & My Friend Just Want Our Pizza,” by directors Fernando Andrés and Tyler Rugh, is a stoner comedy about a casual evening that turns creepy. Like in their previous shor...

In her mid-twenties, Fanny moves back to her hometown to attend the local University but struggles to bond with other students and reckon with her past. This short dramatic feature from Norway is a beautifully-made character study about a young woman at a vulnerable time. During student orientati...

In a remote cabin in the redwood forest of Northern California, a Buddhist teacher and his son are thrown together after years of estrangement forced to make peace with life’s inevitabilities. “For the Coyotes” is a remarkable film about connection, pain and mortality. It was made by a two person...

A male stripper has an unusual experience on the job in Mary Dauterman’s “Unfinished Business.” From a script co-written by Jenny Donheiser, the film is an awkward comedy that uses 1980’s costuming and choreography to highlight its dingy tableaus and expressionless ladies. When he arrives to a mo...

A spirit haunts an Airbnb. The titular ghost, herself a visitor to the home at one point (“a weekend trip upstate with the girls”) considers the spot a charming place to haunt and loves the company of new visitors. Dauterman specializes in sketch films made with sharp style and timing (see also “...

A young woman becomes flustered when her boyfriend refuses to help prepare for an upcoming trip. Surreal moments begin to add up — Alex’s tooth falls out, an entire body of water lies just outside her window. Dauterman nails the feeling of a nightmare, say when your partner becomes inexplicably u...

Told as a series of texts between two friends dreading their planned hang, “On My Way,” directed by Mary Dauterman, is a 90 second comedy about not wanting to leave the house. We watch in split screen as the two young women — one snacking and watching TV, the other lounging comfortably in bed — p...

A Singaporean boy and his grandmother spend some days alone together in this lovely, understated short film by director Stanley Xu Ruiyang. While the mother and father are hard at work to support their comfortable existence, the boy and his grandmother are left alone with feelings of neglect, por...

A group of young friends in Boston navigate their combustible youth, making moves towards romance, artistic expression, and outer space. A lo-fi jolt of cinematic playfulness, “Maya Forever” is constantly shifting, never tied down to believability or realism, always jump-cutting in and out and aw...

On Rockaway Beach, a young woman named Teresa borrows money from a teenage skateboarder in return a provocative kiss. She pulls a similar routine with another man working at a deli promising a sexual favor in exchange for keys to the register. These aren’t isolated incidents but a destructive pat...

In a future where women are dying rapidly, a female psychologist counsels orphaned children to find answers. A stunningly achieved dystopian tale directed by Blake Salzman, “Midwife” is notable for its melding of genre and art-house sensibilities, and a powerful lead performance by Jules Willcox ...

Three creatures travel great distances on a lonely pilgrimage. “Remission,” directed by John Charter, is a mixed-media experimental film loaded with stunning visuals and potent abstract imagery. According to the film's logline, the figures are manifestations of an unknown solider’s war trauma — w...

The relationship of two young friends is put to the test as their differing views on entitlement and independence are exposed. From the comfort of their luxurious couch (which they never leave), they endlessly bicker about what it means to contribute to society, or not. The darkly comedic drama f...

A screenwriter tries to pitch his project but must endure an egotistical producer and his elusive schedule. “Big Money Flicks” is an absurdist satire on the pains of trying to make a movie, the desperation, power plays, et al. It’s delivered with madcap energy and intentionally disorienting editi...

Identical twin sisters, Ani and Ale, are addicted to the popular teen-soap, ‘Runyon’, in particular, the dreamy star of the show, Johnny. But when they’re not binging, they’re drifting apart. “Binge,” created by Kevin Rios, is a short comedy about obsession, celebrity worship, and decaying sister...

A young woman begins to have doubts while waiting to meet the adoptive parents of her unborn child. This expressive short directed by Anamari Mesa and Kevin Rios creates an instant atmosphere and lingers on well after the credits roll. The pregnant woman (played by Mesa) is on a train to meet the...

Lovers on the run are forced to take solace in each other when home is not an option. “Lola and Dallas” is a mini-tale of doomed love set in a dingy motel room filled with cigarette smoke and fantasies about a dangerous, glamorous life. Directed by Alessandra Mesa and Daniel Sorochkin, the film w...

This film explores the metaphorical significance of the tampon: a phallic item inserted into the vagina that is introduced to pubescent women as sort of a rite-of-passage into taking control over their bodies. A film by Alexandra Neuman, “Tampon” presents strikingly simple drawings beautifully an...

While waiting for his water to boil to make tea, a young man enters a state of distorted reality. This surreal experimental short by director Nick Shultz gets a lot of mileage out of a trippy soundscape and enigmatic framework. After an incident involving a door frame pull-up bar, a mundane eveni...

When the night fish arrive, their job is to feed on your sanity. Presented in second-person point of view and comprised primarily of crudely animated fish floating across a cosmic starry black landscape, “The Night Fish” directed by Albert Birney is a poetic rumination about the fears that keep u...

After the 2016 presidential election, a young woman moves to Washington D.C. to start what she hopes will be the next American revolution. “The Apocalypse Will Blossom” directed by Courtney Jines is a spirited response to a mixed-up world, notable for its concoction of youthful enthusiasm balance...

A young man attempts to get to the bottom of his childhood memories of plywood in this amusingly mundane documentary short by Christian Kozlowski. From as far back as he can remember, Christian’s dad had always used plywood to build houses, and he assumes that he still does. This assumption goes ...

After the sudden loss of their mother, three suburban siblings struggle to move forward as witnessed by their dog, Leadbelly. This mumblecore drama from Chicago beautifully captures sibling relationships and grief while never resorting to exaggeration or over-simplification. Directors Anna Nilles...

As the town of Sandwich, Massachusetts prepares for their annual parade, unsettling occurrences begin to threaten the event. Harrison Fishman directs “The Big Parade,” a lo-fi comic oddity that goes where it wants to go — it’s a gathering of small-town oddballs, mysterious butterflies, and musica...