While dealing with sexism and mistreatment at work, Lee finds solace in her relationship with her best friend, Evelyn. One of the more off-the-wall selections we’ve featured of late, this short feature (42 minutes) by Mitch F. Anderson is perhaps most notable for a striking absence — an on-screen...

A young Boston man and his kinda girlfriend spend a couple nights together then take separate trips to New York. They sleep together, share forties and sing karaoke duets, but she always seems distant, on the verge of cutting him loose, all the more so when she's offered a summer job in Brooklyn ...

A colorful animated tale of a one-eyed woman and the guilt she feels after destroying her home planet. “Starshine Mountain,” directed by Corrinne James, is a wonderfully imaginative fairy tale / creation myth that begins with a cataclysmic series of events. Odette is a scientist on Earth who one ...

A lonesome woman with strong moral fiber meets a new man for a late night drink. “Bar Snakes,” directed by Alex Warren, is a boozy vignette that perfectly captures the flirtatious maneuverings of two tipsy souls. The woman (played by Kate Adams) is already drunk when the date starts; the man (pla...

After a breakup, a young woman pays an online psychic to draw a portrait of her soulmate. Stella Gatti directs “Twin Flame,” a tone poem on the feeling of being adrift after a relationship. When Ofelia receives the drawing, she discovers that it eerily resembles her ex-boyfriend. Unsure how to mo...

During a sleepover, a tween celebrity obsession tests the boundaries of friendship, privacy, and a young girl's heart. Directing duo Karina Lomelin Ripper and Marc Ripper present “Superfan,” a sharply-crafted modern coming-of-age film. Sleepover gear in hand, Selena arrives to a Pacific Northwest...

After a decade away, a stripper returns to her conservative hometown to interrogate her past. “A Forgotten Place,” directed by Alice Leigh Barrós, is a sci-fi drama considering one’s relationship to home and the traumas that linger. Upon news of her mother’s illness, Kat returns to the rural outs...

A sixteen year old boy with an intense desire for recognition seeks out a vicious criminal to prove his boundless grit. “The Hunger,” out of Oslo, Norway, is a suburban gothic tale of teenage vanity and misguided determination. Directed by Kenneth Karlstad, the film cultivates sensory overload at...

A holistic healer and a hip hop producer cross paths. Led by two very funny performances from Blair Socci and Tynan DeLong, “Beats” is a dry comedy about the ways we attempt (and fail) to achieve mental wellness in the modern world. Responding to a targeted Facebook ad, Derek shows up to the apar...

Two friends decide to start a band even though they can’t really play music. Clara Ribot and Maple Leung direct “Come on Let’s Go,” a medium-length, lo-fi hangout film about two recently reconvening friends impulsively embarking on a new project. It’s been a while since seeing each other but afte...

A titillating California drama with splashes of unexpected humor. Or maybe it’s the other way around. The gist: a divorced mother attempts to break up her daughter’s relationship. Maybe it’s to protect her... or maybe it’s out of jealousy. The handsome, smooth-talking boyfriend named Whit seems t...

In a dystopian future, it’s one man’s job to check faucets for leakage and wastage. Paolo Chianta directs and animates “Tap Runner,” an animated sci-fi short, hand-drawn with a ballpoint pen and characterized by a melancholic spirit. His job does not permit him to actually fix the taps — that’s t...

Rachel decompresses from a string of bad dates by recounting a traumatic event.

Abandoned by the roommate she'd been expecting to live with, a young woman finds herself stuck in an apartment she can’t afford. Justin Senkbile’s 16mm slice-of-life film, “We Live Here Now,” follows a newly arrived Chicago transplant caught adrift in wintry solitude. Carolyn wheels her single lu...

Grant Conversano is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Film Directing program. They have worked for SPACE on Ryder Farm, the Sundance Institute, and are an alumnus of the Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium. Grant is a 2020 Indie Grits Lab Real Fiction Fellow,...

An anniversary gift leads two young lovers into a black hole of misunderstanding. “Love Machine,” directed by Michael Rees, is a squirm-inducing dark comedy about the delusions and insensitivities of a dysfunctional couple. What at first appears to be a straightforward relationship study soon dev...

One of the sharpest satirical shorts in awhile, an American portrait of gluttony, tragedy, and cheap entertainment. Guised as a character study, it begins with a large man in a hotel room in Wilmington, North Carolina. Randy Stormberg, host of a TV show called "All You Can Eat" (a fake show in th...