A love letter to corporate synergy in the age of COVID-19. Made entirely from stock footage, “Smiling Worker Coughs in Hand” achieves an unsettling atmosphere from its generic visuals of average Americans engaged in basic daily activities. Director Ben Kitnick taps into the mood of the moment wit...

When a doomsday cult leader decides that he can’t spend eternity with his most aggravating follower, their plan falls into chaos. “Exit Statement,” by director Ben Kitnick, is an oddball comedy about a ragtag group of believers aiming to transcend to a higher plane. It’s December 31st, 1999, and ...

A recently engaged couple deals with the stress of competing for $10,000 on a public access gameshow. “Two Words” is a strangely endearing concoction of lo-fi satire and hi-fi love story. Written, Directed & Produced by Jordan Michael Blake. Starring Anu Valia, Brendan O’Brien & Jordan Michael Bl...

On a visit to her family in America, a grandmother is left to find companionship with a pet fish as she slowly comes to terms with losing her independence. Annie Ning directs “Fishbowl,” a tender and observant portrait of aging and isolation, shouldered by a poignant performance from Xiangrun Jia...

A man finds a family of strangers in his house and has an extremely difficult time asking them to leave. A film about avoiding conflict, or something more elaborate perhaps, a metaphor for shifting times? The house you thought was yours is no longer. Either way, it dishes out the cringe-y laughs ...

A Christmas movie about family, the Apocalypse and an immaculately pregnant man. Directed by and starring Jordan Michael Blake, “Clean Blood,” is one of the strangest holiday shorts you’ll ever see. It’s a blood-soaked affair with an outlandish premise, but just as defined by an ultra mundane fam...

A girl living in a half-physical, half-digital world, starts to hear her new neighbor through the wall. Jan Grabowski’s “Half-Dream” begins as a monochrome observation of a young woman in isolation but quickly escalates to a surreal out of body encounter. The character referred to as ‘The Girl’ l...

A man finds himself at a sketchy 24 hr dental clinic after having his wallet stolen and his tooth knocked out. “Central Dental,” directed by Lindsay Thomas Robinson, is an exercise in surreal atmosphere building, a noir-ish vignette, darkly clever and carefully composed. After getting mugged in a...

Gen z auteur + ceo of [REDACTED] EMOTIONS. Note: NoBudge is not sponsored by Celsius. The mention of brand affiliation is parody.

A man becomes sad after making a huge mistake. PJ Evans writes and directs “Sad,” a satirical video essay that recollects the tragic loss of what could have been a lucrative investment. As PJ engages in a game of Mario Kart on his Nintendo 64, we hear his voice dismayed by a decision that altered...

An artist works toward his future during a transitional period in his life. Kelly Turner directs “Bubblegum,” a vérité documentary following an aspiring fashion designer over the course of a couple days, dealing with work, friendships, and personal dramas. It’s an effortlessly authentic look at a...

A little girl receives a letter from Santa Claus in this short and sweet holiday film from director Eric Paschal Johnson, co-director of “Observatory Blues”. Over a series of richly melancholic 16mm compositions of a young girl lugging a Christmas tree through fields and forests, Santa narrates a...

A documentary about a hypothetical hurricane unexpectedly turns into a documentary about a real one. Filmed over the course of 7 years, “We Like it Here” is a firsthand account of Hurricane Sandy and the years-long aftermath. Director & Editor: Kyle Richard McCarthy.

Molly is a writer/director and production designer residing in Brooklyn, NY. Born and raised in a small rural town in Vermont, she is inspired by the theatrics & intricacies of smaller worlds. through film, she seeks to illuminate the nuance and inevitable contradiction in people & the everyday.

A drunk girl chats with her Uber driver after leaving a work happy hour. Sari Rae Eichenblatt’s “Third Wheel” comically portrays a scene of oversharing from the backseat. Hannah, a job recruiter, dives deep into the details of what’s currently going on at work, getting very specific about her com...

Two alien sisters journey for the first time to their favorite planet Earth with hopes to go viral on the internet, but their father has other plans for them and their beloved humans. Director: Sophia de Baun. Cast: Miriam Gabriel and Zora Schiltz Rouse. Producers: Sophia de Baun, Miriam Gabriel ...

The lives of sixteen women are explored in intimate detail. In season two of "16 Rachels," director Keaton Smith introduces the concept through the eyes of a viewer from a dystopian future. In its deep research of human produced media, an android named Joon discovers a remnant image of a woman na...