A group of curly haired strangers help Katelyn recreate her past life as a Kurt Vile t-shirt. Directed by Drew Angle and Katelyn Douglass, “Shirt Vile,” is an evocative tribute to the musician and a portrait of a fan, a young woman who connects with him on a metaphysical level, but also a physica...

After a painful dry spell a woman attempts to have a one night stand. Directed by Lizzy Sanford, “Rubber Heart” is an open and honest comedy examining issues of gender roles and expectations of appearance. The man doesn’t know how to react when faced with Anna’s pubic hair. Trying to compensate f...

Left home alone for the weekend, two sisters navigate their strained rivalry amid the horrors of adolescent sexuality. Lizzy Sanford writes and directs “The Knot,” an understated character study about sibling-hood and teenage rites of passage. The film is merely a glimpse but it’s painted with vi...

Alessandra Lacorazza’s “Mami” takes a risky look at the struggle a daughter engages in when she realizes that her chance for a successful life might hinge on the abandonment of her dependent mother. Carolina, a young Latinx immigrant woman lives with her mother in the United States, is the careta...

In a series of observational moments, a violist, barre instructor, and chemistry teacher grapple with the realities of working in quarantine. Lydia Cornett directs “Teaching in Quarantine,” a fly-on-the-wall doc portrait of virtual teaching post Covid-19. Requiring a good deal of adaptation, tech...

A socially anxious college student reluctantly heads to a party attempting to make new friends. Nande Walters directs “Who Are You Really?”, an experimental portrait of insecurity characterized by a raw, youthful energy. Anya walks into the room and immediately feels like everyone is judging her....

A young mother finds a key that opens the door for her son’s escape. A kinetic experimental film made entirely from still photographs, Thea Lorentzen’s “A Key for the Kid,” is a small marvel in abstract ingenuity. The year is 2100 and the task is to find a blinking red key hidden in the forest. T...

A naked body moves a stranger to empathy in this experimental film by Frank Mosley, in one of two scenes investigating body, movement, and connection. “Parthenon” is carried by the transfixing presence of Lily Baldwin; the film around her is largely wordless, and divided into two loosely connecte...

A lonely man sets out in search of his soul mate after what he believes to be a fateful encounter with a banana. “Loveseat,” directed by Grace Kim, expresses its tale of longing with quirky, surreal gestures. The crossword-puzzle obsessed Jared is going about his daily life when he gets a mysteri...

A weary French professor and a young drug dealer share an evening together in Philadelphia. A two-hander character study, “May,” directed by Julian Turner, examines an unlikely relationship forged during a drug deal. Randolph and Genevieve find themselves in each other’s company searching for a d...

An art assistant for a gallery in New York knows his role well, to live in romantic poverty and be paid in social clout and drugs. “Art Boy,” directed by Taylor Ervin, is a sharp-edged depiction of an art scene where the actual art is a second tier concern over the lifestyles and personas behind ...

Two visiting New Yorkers are forced to stay in New Mexico while a serial killer dressed as a leopard stalks the city. “They Cry By Night,” by director Wes Sheridan, is a slow cinema mix of cultural essay and mumblecore character study, placed in an environment of fear and uneasiness. Carlos and A...

A man films a woman describing patterns. “Usually I’m Very Supportive of Delusion,” directed by Nic Murphy and written by Jessica Garrison (winner of the NoBudge Audience Award in January for her recent directorial effort, “DIME”), is a hard-to-describe experimental film which uses a simple struc...

Two actors workshop a scene in which an argument over spices turns into a larger fight about the state of their relationship. Nic Murphy directs “Spice Islands,” a meta portrayal about a man and woman locked in heated scene study, loosely guided by an offscreen director. It’s easy to lose yoursel...

A high school prom queen in Memphis is depressed. Cult Memphis filmmaker’s epic short about teenage depression. Funny, touching stuff. Directed by Ben Siler.

A young woman recalls her experience in two different relationships. Alexis T. Roberts directs “There’s a Glass House That I Want You To See,” a poetic exploration of love and separation. Within its elliptical, fragmentary form, the film finds truthful moments in a range of scenes, from an improm...

A dense fog in the San Fernando Valley cancels a meeting of UFO hunters and causes an unexpected tragedy in the nearby mountains. “Calabasas 1/26/20,” directed by Xavier Rotnofsky, becomes a documentary portrait of the impromptu gathering of mourners at a park near the helicopter crash of Kobe Br...

After a strange first date, a young man recounts the experience to his roommate. “Everything Happens to Me,” directed by Nick Beardslee, is an amiable rom-com about an intimate connection that suddenly goes off the rails. Shown in parallel timelines — we watch the date unfold, and we hear about i...

When fourteen-year-old Maggie and her friends hang out with some older guys they meet on Facebook, a crush unravels into a twisted trance fueled by Four Lokos and naive infatuation. “Monkey Bars,” directed by Jacqueline Xerri, is a coming-of-age drama about a group of teenagers that perfectly cap...

Matteo reckons with the disappearance of his older brother, Damascus, after his car turns up unexplainably abandoned. A poetic mood piece directed by J.P. Emodi, “Jason Richardson” follows the young man through a quietly tumultuous period as he grapples with memories of his brother and begins to ...

Stuck indefinitely in her childhood home surrounded by her younger cousins, an aspiring musician fixates on making sure everyone knows she’s the ‘weird’ one. “The Weird Cousin,” directed by Megan Patsel, is a playful comedy that was conceived and filmed in quarantine, a showcase for the writing a...

Two roommates struggle to decide which Black Lives Matter sign they should purchase to show their support for the BLM movement. Chester Vincent Toye directs “I’m SO Sorry,” which satirically tackles prevalent forms of white guilt and virtue signaling. Caught up in a moment of racial reckoning, a ...

After an acquaintance gets signed to a major label, two townies try to cook up their own path to success. “Sharon 66,” directed by Jordan Tetewsky and Joshua Pikovsky, is a quietly funny, weirdo slice-of-life portrait of life in a small town for two mid 20’s underachievers. Benjy wanders around S...

A young photographer explores his sexuality after a surprising romantic advance. “Self Portrait,” directed by by Gus Aronson, is a sensual experimental film which spotlights and inverts the concept of the photographer’s gaze. During a portrait session, a photographer and model experience a lustfu...