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...

A depressed man uses a contraption to utilize his tears for good. “Living with the NEVER-MIND,™” by German director Konstantin Enste, is a clever fake infomercial selling a product that puts sadness to use. A satisfied customer Frank explains how it works: first, he cries, then his tears funnel i...

Mallory attempts to start her day with a simple meditation but is overwhelmed by distractions both in her environment and in her head. Alex Markman directs “Mallory Meditates,” a kinetic character study / mood piece about the arduous task of quieting one’s mind. The simple conceit is pumped full ...

Wedding bells ring in Elisa's head as she sings of love and hopefully marriage. Elisa Victoria writes and stars in “I’m Gonna Get Married,” a charming DIY pop musical, stylized, self-assured and brimming with personality. Elisa hops around in vintage wedding dresses belting tunes about finding a ...

Emily Kaplan’s “Spare Parts,” in which she also stars, explores a young woman confronted with surprising intimacy. Kaplan plays a nomadic grifter who speeds from one brief encounter to the next, pocketing what spare change, electronics, jewelry, etc. she can before moving on to the next hit. One ...

Jonny (Deragh Campbell) watches a toy frog swimming endlessly in a plastic tub. She then drops it in the East River and it mechanically swims away. A Snow Leopard paces back and forth behind a cage, as elegant and graceful as it is pathetically trapped. Sam (Kentucker Audley) sits with a baseball...

A frustrated, out of work actor turns to medical acting to pay his bills, offering intensely committed performances to students who are simply trying to diagnose symptoms, not evaluate believability. The actor, Paul (played by Alex Karpovsky) wants to be great but without a traditional audience i...

While dealing with sexism and mistreatment at work, Lee finds solace in her relationship with her best friend, Evelyn. One of the more off-the-wall selections we’ve featured of late, this short feature (42 minutes) by Mitch F. Anderson is perhaps most notable for a striking absence — an on-screen...

A father writes an online review for a pair of herb scissors. An actress gets bad news while filming a credit score commercial. A football team psychs themselves up for a game with a prayer. Directed by Abigail Horton, “A Few Activities” highlights a series of small, absurd moments in the lives o...

In a trash-filled city, a homeless woman's encounter with a fish takes an unexpected turn. Elly Stern directs “Waste Away,” a beautifully designed and executed stop-motion animated film, an allegory of motherhood in various forms, and a depiction of the overabundance, wastefulness and decay of mo...

A raw and desperate romantic spirit fills every frame. Wildly compelling. Directed by by Christian Palmer.

A Detroit minister rallies a community group to shut down a local drug house. “Community Patrol,” by director Andrew James, is both an observational portrait of a couple days in the life, and an inspiring case study of community action. Minister Malik Shabazz is sick of the drug abuse, violence, ...

An Indian-American teenager is caught between a crush and an anthrax prank in the weeks following 9/11. “Hasim October,” by director Swetha Regunathan, is a portrait of youthful frustration at a chaotic moment in American history. On the day before her 15th birthday, Brinda and her friend are wal...

On the edge of adolescence, a little brother visits his sister in the big city for the first time. This documentary snapshot directed by Dominique van Olm (who also stars) is a beautifully intimate account of their weekend in Toronto. The low-key course of events makes an effective case for the p...

A skinny blond gets picked up in an old white van by a young man and his German Shepherd and they drive around listening to Waylon Jennings. And that's already enough for me, but it gets really good when the blond reveals she's obsessed with Steve Buscemi and has a grand plan to marry him. It sta...

Simple story about two Belarus teenagers in love. It doesn't scream for your attention but it doesn't have to - it's got sincerity on its side. Mumblecore must have reached eastern Europe, or they've invented their own version, because that's a good starting point here. A low-key, naturalistic sc...

A beautifully-made character study of two ex-lovers in a luxurious hotel room reliving their past. The line between reality and role-play is thin and it’s an engrossing edge. Two wonderful performances lead the way: the man, an ex-college athlete, desperate to re-enact his days skipping practice ...

Two sisters dig up their mothers grave in the Australian Outback. “Min Min,” directed by Stephanie Ellis, establishes itself as an atmospheric relationship drama before veering into the supernatural. It’s beautifully shot and cut, and features the compelling performances of Ellis and Anna Cordell...

A young woman flees to Paris and relinquishes her blackness in pursuit of personal freedom. “White Girl in Paris,” directed by Tajayona, is a poetic exploration of race, a powerful set of visuals that stake claim to a black woman’s opportunity to be young and carefree. She puts on a costume, pran...

While looking for a job online, filmmaker Travis Wood notices a trend on many company’s Meet The Team pages. With “Affurmative Action,” he delivers the unfortunate observation as a series of video screen captures highlighting racial inequities but plenty of canine representation. This is the four...

A silent experimental film about a space man’s first day in Brooklyn. Directed by Travis Wood and shot on Super 8mm black and white film, “Just getting by is okay” communicates with a gentle playfulness and warmth. The ‘space man’ hits the streets to get acquainted with his new environment, attra...

As an eight-year-old kid, director Travis Wood had two bikes stolen in the course of a month. In “One Peg Boss,” he narrates the tale over a charmingly simple animation, ruminating on his memories and coming to terms with the incidents. The first bike was stolen immediately after receiving as a b...

A portrait of a roommate named Kayla, a teacher who watches French movies and drinks three cups of tea at a time. Directed by Travis Wood, “Kayla in 1A” is a film about two strangers living together and establishing no connection. “We’ve lived together for six months. I don’t know anything about ...

A man finds a family of strangers in his house and has an extremely difficult time asking them to leave. A film about avoiding conflict, or something more elaborate perhaps, a metaphor for shifting times? The house you thought was yours is no longer. Either way, it dishes out the cringe-y laughs ...