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...