A group of curly haired strangers help Katelyn recreate her past life as a Kurt Vile t-shirt. Directed by Drew Angle and Katelyn Douglass, “Shirt Vile,” is an evocative tribute to the musician and a portrait of a fan, a young woman who connects with him on a metaphysical level, but also a physica...

The humble beginnings of the photograph used as the default background of Windows XP, one of the most seen images of all time, becomes a playful rumination on culture, aesthetics, and impermanence. “Bliss,” directed by Zachary Loren Jones, tells the story of a man named Charles, the photographer ...

Two twenty-somethings, unrelated, struggle to maintain their personal relationships going about their day-to-day life in Vancouver. Brian Daniel Johnson directs “Side Walks,” a simple, yet cinematic, look at the lives of two young adults mainly told through their phone calls. Simon lives with his...

A documentary about the end of a young man’s musical project told through the anecdotes and recollections of everyone who helped along the way. “The Death of Art Slob,” directed by musician Amar Ahmad, is a poignant ode to suburban scenes, house shows, college towns, and the American enclaves whe...

A young woman recalls her lover and children. Written and Directed by Ryan Henry Knight. Creative Direction by Ryan Henry Knight and Luigi Thomas. Cast: Gelilla Mekonnen, Amira Nailah, Scott Moon, Ben Spencer, Paris Howard, Luigi Thomas.

A woman endures frequent nightmares of her own death while finding it impossible to determine what’s real. Directed by Lexx Truss, “Zarina” is potent horror, a disorienting trek into the deep recesses of the mind — terror is alleviated with momentary blips of relief only to return stronger. Zarin...

An anxious teen responds to a Craigslist ad and strikes an unexpected connection with a stranger behind a sheet. “Personals,” directed by Sasha Argirov, is an engrossing drama that details a would-be sexual encounter and the corresponding awkwardness and vulnerability. The nervous young man enter...

Wally’s surprise birthday party turns weird after an existential reaction. Jordan Michael Blake directs “Birthday Boy,” an unsettling portrait of emotional whiplash shot with a family camcorder, which contains years of unrelated home videos that occasionally bleed through. Everything seems rather...

Two meandering friends ponder their life choices when they meet a corporate buddy for lunch. “Jeanette is the Dog” is an Australian short directed by Pat Mooney — a casual vignette about home ownership and wealth imbalance (and a dog named Jeanette). Standing on a high-rise rooftop making up name...

A group of young people in Montreal participate in a DIY dating show. Maurane presents “Love in the Mile-End,” a lo-fi satire of reality TV where contestants compete for a $500 prize by answering a series of questions about their love life. It’s an eccentric cast of skaters, unemployed lovers, co...

Some sort of hybrid throwback, hearkening back to 70's gambling movies, nostalgic for cool, talky 90's L.A. indies, the threat of knockoff is always there, but it isn't one. It brings plenty of its own to the table, authentic & of our time. Aldo is an independent hairdresser in Echo Park, L.A. He...

Locked down at home, Kent scrambles to make a last minute sign for his co-worker’s virtual surprise party. “Hey Yú (如魚得水),” directed by Athena Han, perfectly captures a common mode of our times — being distracted, overwhelmed, and failing to live up to other’s expectations. Living alone in Vancou...

Pal falls in love with the prettiest girl in the classroom, Iris. He daydreams of living on the inside of her eyelids hoping that she will notice him. This one goes out to all you softies. Directed by Bradley Bischoff.

A filmmaker compares his love life to the German fable. Ethan Fuirst directs and stars in “Rumpelstiltskin,” a self-reflective, docu-fictional piece that comedically considers a man’s romantic, eventually turned platonic, relationships. Through 16mm grain and before a spot-lit backdrop, Ethan, su...

An emerging filmmaker asks himself whether it's possible to make something meaningful in 10 minutes. “Kar,” directed by Nick Allen, is a self-reflexive film about trying, failing, and trying again to make a film. Under a looming cloud of anxiety, Nick gears up to make his road film about a bright...

Two old friends reunite on the hottest day of summer in NYC. “Dom,” directed by Meryl Jones Williams (co-directed and story by Jane Stiles), is a sensuous mood piece — minimal but rich in feeling — following Beth through a complicated day spending time with a close friend she hasn’t seen in awhil...

An introverted poetry student experiments with her image as she works on her final class project, a self-portrait poem. Melanie Notinger directs “Dress Code,” a character study about gender identity and self expression carried by a rich, lived-in specificity. Dani struggles to define herself — at...

A house dog escapes into the woods at night to follow the psychedelic temptations of the natural world. Our take: “Dog in the Woods,” by directors Christian Chapman and Paul Jason Hoffman, is a dark and trippy adventure straying from the safe confines of domesticity for the wild woods, told from ...

A man finds a woman washed up on shore; when she reveals her identity, he goes to great lengths to become part of her world. “Dolphin Boy,” directed by Arielle Bordow and Tyler Zonies, is a lo-fi fantasy film—a snapshot of longing rendered with deadpan campiness and body-horror elements. While sm...