On the sprawling grounds of one of France’s largest leisure villages, vacationers spend their days floating in a pool or congregating under the sun. Joanny Causse’s “Cigales” is an observational documentary on the summer season, an artful exploration of relaxation. In a series of photo-like compo...

On a hot day in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, a young woman paints her Nanna’s pergola before the house is auctioned. Pat Mooney’s “Lime Parfait” is a steady slice-of-life possessing a sentimental outlook on early adulthood and familial responsibilities. Atop a step ladder under a bright summ...

Three siblings invite an Argentinian man to spend the day with them at their pool. “La Piscina” is a bawdy, off-the-wall farce by the Brooklyn comedy group, Simple Town. After convincing Tomas to stay the night in their pool house, they spend the next day drinking beers, playing with swords, and ...

On a double date in 2013, Wade wants to vlog on the beach and make some memories with his friends. Sam Dinerstein directs “Valentine’s Day,” a snapshot of a group of high school seniors looking vaguely ahead to adult life — perhaps college, or better yet, to fame and fortune. Wade’s big dream is ...

Wearing five GoPro cameras, a man attempts to visit every one of Trip Advisor’s “Top 315 Attractions in Miami'. Don’t say “I miss you.” Say “the content would have been better if you’d been in it.” That’s how Dylan (played by writer/director/camera platform Dylan Redford) begins trying to patch 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...

Wandering the dappled grounds of an old farmhouse, Henry plays schoolmaster at an open-air painting retreat, where his instructional duties seem to involve holding forth at candlelit dinners in the garden and sucking down endless cans of Budweiser on the lawn while the work of painting and posing...

A group of friends go to the beach, but Nora isn’t having fun. This anxious drama from director Ryan Martin Brown throws us into the interior life of a young woman who’s starving, dehydrated, and perturbed about the lack of plans amongst her friends. A film about group dynamics — being stuck on o...

A titillating California drama with splashes of unexpected humor. Or maybe it’s the other way around. The gist: a divorced mother attempts to break up her daughter’s relationship. Maybe it’s to protect her... or maybe it’s out of jealousy. The handsome, smooth-talking boyfriend named Whit seems t...

A lighthearted take on the Alphabet made in quarantine during the Coronavirus Pandemic. Guy Kozak directs “Alphabet,” which creates an appealing mood and atmosphere from a series of simple compositions, one for each letter, A-Z. There’s a lovely variety of visuals — some words are proper nouns, l...

Lucinella, an openhearted 20-something, visits her dour sister, Lore, in L.A, and we see the weekend as a narrated montage, kinetic & full of spot-on details of how trips like this go. The first day, the younger sister, Lucinella, spends alone eating red velvet poppers and trying to act casual on...

A young woman decides to carry on the family tradition of attending the county fair, this time with her dead parents. Kate Jean Hollowell directs and stars in “Are They Smiling?” a comedy about an unusual grieving process: spending the day alone at a fair carrying the ashes of your dearly departe...

I'm currently in the middle of an obsessed phase with Kate Berlant & John Early, two of the funniest/smartest young performers around. This brilliant collaboration, "Santa Monica," written by the two & directed by another new NB favorite Andrew DeYoung, finds Early & Berlant playing characters wi...

A young man takes his love for lizards to the extreme. He legally changes his last name to Lizardi and then, camcorder in tow, goes in search of any lizard he can find and zoom in on. A crash-course in lizard awareness, he meets and chats it up with several townsfolk with something lizard-related...

Following a trio of friends around town as they dance choreographed routines in grocery stores and give acting workshops in Bingo halls, "Ford Clitaurus", true to its name, is a hilarious head-scratcher. It’s best to watch without knowing much. As in, stop reading this right now and press play ab...

Playing a version of himself, director Whitmer (aka Whit) Thomas drifts through L.A., meeting up with a series of friends and alienating them in various ways. Both comedic and revealing, "Fast and Loose" is a casual hang but an incisive one. As a self-reflection of a particular sort of friend gro...

An ode to the present moment capturing snippets of city life and visions of escape. “Observations of the Amazing World Around Us,” directed by Lee Phillips, explores what it means to construct our lives as a series of memories. A narrator poetically aims to reject this mode of living, instead hop...

A slapstick comedy in super slow motion. An unnamed tourist with a leg injury searches for physical and spiritual healing on a week long Carnival cruise vacation from Baltimore to the Bahamas. Floating between narrative, documentary, and experimental tendencies the film creates an atmosphere simi...

In the summer before leaving home, Cece is eager to get her first time over with. “Teen Daze” is a coming-of-age drama which digs into the psyche and behavior of a self-assured teenage girl living with her single father. Written & Directed by Brigette Lopez. Starring Stephanie Salgado.

On an empty beach at the end of summer, two young men experience a spontaneous connection. “Dino at the Beach,” directed by Josh Cox, is a sensual tone poem filmed at a picturesque Cape Cod beachfront. The self-assured Sebastian strikes up a conversation with the reserved Dino after finding him a...

A hauntingly beautiful 16mm short about a young man seeking adventure or escape or both. A striking collection of images that seemingly materialize out of nowhere, there is no dialogue and no need for any — the evocative visuals and soundscape fill in everything you need to know, or rather everyt...

In a moment of tense negotiation, Joyce and Mims haggle over a vintage Hank Aaron baseball card inside a sweltering pizzeria. “Card Shark,” directed by Alex Fabry, is an oddball comedy vignette about a should-be simple exchange turning into a strange encounter. Mims arranges a meet-up at his usua...

A story of America's favorite pastime and the way we pass the time. Directed by The Video Kideo.

Fueled by the hope of escaping her dreary suburban life, a misunderstood teen entertains the increasingly sinister advances of an Internet acquaintance. A stylish and self-assured melange of high and low art, “The Follower” tracks the excitement and danger of a 16-old-year girl drifting away from...