Mountain Friends
From the Archives
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Comedy, Short Films, 28-Jan-2026
A camping trip puts a platonic friendship to the test. “Mountain Friends,” directed by Jon Mackey, is an intentionally stilted comedy that follows two friends into the Angeles Forest and one man into a flailing attempt to become more than friends. After hiking to their campsite, night falls quickly. It’s hard to get sleep in the woods and Molly asks if she can join Jake in his tent. She insists it’s not a romantic move and Jake is happy to oblige. In the middle of the night, a stranger ominously rolls up to their campsite—danger surfaces as Jake’s true motivations are called into question. The film gets a lot of mileage from the perfectly awkward line deliveries from NoBudge veteran Jon Millstein, playing Jake, as well as Ben Seeder playing the masked stranger. - JM. Director: Jon Mackey. Cast: Jon Millstein, Rekha Shankar, Ben Seeder, Pam Murphy. DP: Jordan Black. Writer: Jon Millstein. Editor: Jon Mackey.
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