Gilbert refuses to have a sad Christmas this year. NoBudge regular Alex Kavutskiy directs “Gilbert’s Little Christmas,” an L.A. holiday comedy which monitors an aspiring entrepreneur (his big idea is hamburgers on a stick) that’s lost all hope after being dumped on Christmas day a year ago. Gilbert decides to kill himself and heads to the mall to buy rope (of course). While there, he discovers how expensive it is to take a picture with the mall Santa and decides on one last act of goodwill — dressing up like Santa himself and offering poor families (“with only one car”) the opportunity to take a picture with him for free. His suicide plans are delayed even further when he’s propositioned mysteriously by an odd fellow to come to his home and help out his wife. Kavutskiy has a great ability to wring new juice out of comedy tropes, leaning into the juvenile and absurd (absurdly we are releasing on Valentine’s Day ❤️) and enlisting an esteemed cast of oddballs led by Budd Diaz. -KA.

Writer/Director: Alex Kavutskiy. Director of Photogaphy: Ryan Thomas. Editor: Chase Omark, Chad Rietschel. Original Score: Jason Martin Castillo. Starring: Budd Diaz, John Gemberling, Andrea Rosen, Lindsay Ames, Ryan Perez, Chelsea Morgan, and Kate Freund.