A man lives in a restaurant where he also works as a waiter. Ian Faria and Edy Modica direct “Waiter Movie: The Short,” a hilarious and oddly endearing portrait of a New York waiter who chops it up with patrons just as well as he waits tables. We meet our old soul Frankie, played by Modica hersel...

Traveling the continental United States, two vagabond thieves rob from sick, twisted sexual deviants. Griffin Sauter directs “Mousetrap,” an experimental road film following two drifters as they traverse a crude American landscape. From warehouse to ghost town, the two partners front as a “critte...

An actor living on the edge of one of the most polluted zip codes in the United States prepares for a role. Kevin Steen directs “Daron, Daron Colbert,” an atmospheric portrait of a young man’s day-to-day life while he aspires to a career in acting. We’re introduced to Delray, a heavily polluted n...

A woman receives a phone call regarding her fertility results before a night out. Emma Pillsbury’s “I am Never Having Kids” is a melancholic silhouette that looks at young adulthood in respect to maternity and womanhood. Through a 4:3 frame and discrete points of view, we observe the young woman ...

A sprawling story of love and loss, as reflected on a single face. Conor Dooley directs “Gold and Mud,” a fast-moving comedy that shifts from moment-to-moment in the life, all the way to death, of a woman contending with fluctuating intimacies in her personal life and the bleak realities working ...

An awkward New York teenager accompanies her more experienced friend to a boy’s home. Amanda Samimi directs “Tenderless,” a 16mm coming-of-age film that considers youthful city-living and meandering intimacies. Observing skaters on the blacktop and the overly-acquainted squirrels of Tompkins Squa...

A struggling actor abandons all logic when she finds a stranger unconscious in her laundry room. Sophie Jarvis directs “Medical Drama,” a character study at turns surreal and darkly funny about a young woman going through a rough couple of days. Doing whatever she can for work, she finds herself ...

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...

A lonely woman with boundary issues steals a dog. India Donaldson directs “If Found,” a minimalist drama set at an off-season beach town that’s built with striking wintry visuals and a tone swaying between lightly comedic and disturbing. She lives on a boat with a friend who seems alarmed by her ...

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...

Roaming through rural France on their tandem bike, young post-punk musicians look for an audience and a name for their band. “Gwendoline,” directed by Joaquim Bayle, is a beautifully shot musical odyssey in 16mm black-and-white film that’s both bleak and lighthearted. On the road desperately seek...

Two twenty-somethings, unrelated, struggle to maintain their personal relationships going about their day-to-day life in Vancouver. Brian Daniel Johnson directs “Side Walks,” a simple, yet cinematic, look at the lives of two young adults mainly told through their phone calls. Simon lives with his...

A glance at the day-to-day happenings and peculiar inhabitants of a park in Russia. Zhenia Kazankina directs “Continuity of Parks,” a 16mm experimental piece shaping Greek mythological figures into everyday park-goers. Hecate looks for Cerberus after leaving it off-leash; the Moirae gossip while ...

In a small east coast town, two teenage boys ruminate on their first stirrings of desire. “Albedo or Apples and Oranges,” directed by Yiro Hu and Sean Dahlberg, is a mood piece that explores longing without sex and the silences between friends. First, we observe Shane. He sits quietly in the pass...

During a routine smog check, an eastern European mechanic discusses racism in a very uncomfortable way with a black man. A dry comedy set in L.A., “Smog,” directed by Derek Milton, tackles an awkward exchange about skin color and the term African American in wry, understated fashion. The chatty m...

An aspiring musician tries to handle his relationships with co-workers and family obligations while preparing for an upcoming show. A deadpan drama-comedy by Eric Peterson, “Big Things” authentically portrays the world of an upstart musician in a small city. Working at a sports apparel company as...

The brilliantly loony “Observatory Blues” tells the life story of Fernando Music, a writer born with no hands that becomes famous for a series of books about space and sex. Beautifully shot on 16mm and featuring a genius cast moving in all kinds of glorious directions (including a narration by Hu...

Discharged from the hospital after a partial face transplant, Eva is struck with an intense curiosity about her donor. Shot in gorgeous, richly textured 35mm images, the film is minimally constructed but full of ideas. The miracle surgery seems to have taken — the surgeon is pleased and Eva’s ric...

A mysterious woman finds her way into a stranger’s apartment resulting in an oddly unsettling encounter. India Donaldson directs “Hannahs,” a darkly funny, increasingly uncomfortable character study led by two wonderfully nuanced performances from Amy Zimmer and Brenna Palughi. Hannah returns hom...

A new roommate moves into Xena's apartment, changing the dynamic with their current partner. Arielle Bordow directs and co-stars in “Craigslist Roommate,” a free-spirited 16mm snapshot of fluid relationships and shared living. When the wandering Addie moves to Madison, Wisconsin, she responds to ...

An entrepreneur pivots with the market. “Trash Scab,” directed by Philip Steiger, is a scarily plausible, bitingly funny vision of a dystopian nightmare. The circumstances have been exaggerated from our current reality but not by much: a pandemic rages on, a citywide curfew in place, police have ...

When Nina fails to meet her goal in the final week of weight loss camp, she considers drastic alternatives. “Bye Bye Body,” directed by Charlotte Benbeniste, is a tender snapshot about body image and self-esteem delivered with wonderfully natural performances and lovely 35mm images. At a weigh-in...

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 man is caught with his pants down when terrorized by a force outside his bathroom stall. “Someone’s In Here,” directed by Ben Kitnick, is a horror vignette, minimal, well-executed and open for metaphorical interpretation. A man dressed in Khakis, a polo, and a fleece vest, takes care of busines...