2017

2017

Best Film: And Nothing Happened

Best Drama: (tie) The Mess He Made, I Was There Too

Best Comedy: (tie) Bev, Ford Clitaurus

Best Director: Naima Ramos-Chapman (And Nothing Happened)

Best Screenplay: Sweet Things (Line Dalheim)

Best Cinematographer: (tie) Jomo Fray (Get Out Fast & Modern Love), Mia Cioffi Henry (Valeria)

Best Performance: (tie) Brennan Lee Mulligan (Bev), Max Jenkins (The Mess He Made), Naima Ramos-Chapman (And Nothing Happened)

Zeitgest Award: Unpresidented

Spirit of NoBudge Awards:

Get Out Fast

Modern Love

Losing It

Sound Speeds

Garbage

Fugue

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2017
  • And Nothing Happened

    In the aftermath of an assault, a woman tries to come to terms with the violation, or just get through her day. Director Naima Ramos-Chapman uses an unexpected dose of magical realism to express a poetic response to a loss of dignity. The quiet morning at first feels mundane, but as new details e...

  • Bev

    A very unfunny family history is spun into brilliant comedy from co-directors Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik. They begin with a doozy of a premise and keep pushing. When it all comes together, it feels like a wallop, but it’s largely packaged as a deadpan farce about a group therapy session. Bev is...

  • Ford Clitaurus

    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...

  • Unpresidented

    When a bet on Trump alienates him from all his friends, Keith aims to defend himself by telling his side of the story. As he recounts the tale of how it all went down, spouting his unlikely political views through the shocked streets of NYC post-election, it keeps getting darker and darker. Keith...

  • Valeria

    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...

  • Modern Love

    When the camera clicks on, the persona does too. That carefully cultivated image that requires multiple takes, the perfect angle, the right filter. And then you meet someone in real life and you don’t have that luxury. It’s on this precarious foundation that director Francesca Mirabella frames th...

  • Sweet Things

    Anne gathers herself for a job interview, a casual one at a coffee shop, but still a job interview. When her potential new employer arrives, a smooth, well-dressed man named Georg, giving off all the social cues of a first date, she’s caught off-guard and scrambles to react. Brilliantly observed ...

  • I Was There Too

    Mass shootings happen so often in our country that it's become routine. For the most part we make no attempt to remedy the problem, but at least we shower the victims and their families with sympathy and prayers. It's from this recognition that a divorced father and social outcast attempts to rec...

  • Garbage

    Young revelers, Jean and Jacob, vow to stop their crazy lifestyle holding them back in life, but first they must live it up for one more night. An infectious short film about partying in your own world no matter what it looks like from the outside. Waking up hungover by a pool, two friends decide...