A date to see the fireworks on the Fourth of July turns into a weird night of discovery for a shy teenage girl. “Lightstreet,” directed by Billie Michael, is an understated coming-of-age drama that captures the awkwardness and uncertainties of youth in a quiet small town. The young couple wanders around looking for a good place to watch fireworks while discussing the matters of the day, TikTok, Animal Crossing, making collages from 1970’s magazines. As a gift, the boy gives her a seashell he recently picked up at a Maryland gift shop but it soon becomes a burden, and slowly the mood of the night begins to shift. For all of its surface simplicity, there’s an undercurrent of cynicism and disappointment on personal and societal levels. We previously featured Michael’s short, “No Pets” (’21), another quiet but effective study of an anxious woman scrambling to hide evidence of her cat from her landlord. -KA. Director: Billie Michael. Cast: Celia Sondheimer, Lucien Dent. Director of Photography: Cory Eli Berezow. Editor: Cory Eli Berezow.
No Pets: https://www.nobudge.com/videos/no-pets
A harrowing account of a leadership seminar gone rogue in 1970’s California. In “You've Never Been Completely Honest,” a hybrid-documentary directed by Joey Izzo, a mixture of animation and reenactment footage brings to life a brutal audio interview. In 1972, a man named Gene recounts his experie...
A tale of sibling betrayal and revenge as told by a ranch horse. “Horse Brothers,” directed by Milos Mitrovic and Fabian Velasco, is a surreal fantasy tale and family melodrama built with inventive lo-fi visuals and a fever dream tone. After an absence, Frodo arrives back to the family farm in a ...
A man reconnects with an old friend from his days in the theater. “My Breakfast with Barf,” is an animated comedy directed by Peter Javidpour, a lighthearted send-up of the 1981 film, “My Dinner with Andre.” Leonard, a man of culture and intellect (whose head is shaped like an egg), meets up for ...
