A constable, young officer, and dysfunctional family try to get to the bottom of a murder. Jonah Bergman directs “Music for the China Doll,” an eccentric murder mystery shot entirely on broadcast television tube cameras. The dead body of Madame Charlotte Dubois lies in the middle of a living room...

After decades of collecting dust, a restored visual manifesto captures a revolutionary’s jazz-smacked, Afro-apocalyptic address to a burning world. Joel Watson’s “A Jet Black Future” is a frenetic piece of docu-fiction spawning an impassioned poet on a bright day in Brooklyn. An opening card thro...

When a young line cook hears the voices of his favorite podcasters beckoning him like sirens, the mundane becomes macabre. Ahmad Bakrin directs “Happy Ending,” an account of a young man quietly reckoning with his loneliness, precise in its dark tone and heavy atmosphere. Pete doesn’t feel too goo...

A lonely girl falls in love with a woman who is secretly trying to turn her into a CRT television. Jay Villalobos directs “Brain Rot,” a mostly silent experimental film built with lo-fi textures and fragmented storytelling. At an arcade, Jessie meets a woman and they start going out. It’s not lon...

A security guard walks his old beat in an abandoned strip mall, contemplating his purpose in guarding the vacant property. “Portrait 001: Security Guard,” directed by Tanner D. Masseth, is an existential portrait rendering a 3D-animated subject in a dismal suburban landscape. With a distinctive a...

A rapper goes missing after a music video shoot and the director tries to track him down. “The Trick,” directed by Neal Wynne, is a comedic, lo-fi quest where a young man must wade through his dissociative state in order to find his missing friend. Steve, played by Jake Squire, tries his best to ...

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - USE THE PROMO CODE JUNE2025 FOR A 1-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION FOR $22. A heavy-hearted, hard-drinking New York City chef begins unraveling during a trip to Hong Kong. Stephen Gurewitz directs “Honky Kong,” an elliptical portrait of loneliness and dejection that captures a tall, bearded...

A renowned novelist is stuck in a rut when he runs into an old flame at a bookstore. “The Flavor of Cassava Leaf Over Rice,” directed by Tracey Todd, is an animated drama about a rainy weekend in L.A. where a trio of characters reflect on their lives as they begin to move into middle age. Married...