A distinctive piece of homemade filmmaking that’s awkwardly funny and intriguing. Arriving and departing on its own track, "Making Eyes" is a lo-fi film about locking eyes with a stranger on the NYC subway and falling in love. An office worker who gets by with his Mad Men impressions keeps seeing...

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...

An actor is forced to take a Lyft to the Emmys and becomes embroiled in his driver's personal life. John de Menil writes and directs “Nominated,” a tumultuous comedy that targets the elevated manner which we treat celebrities, and throws one — a perfectly coiffed man in a tuxedo ready for a night...

It's 2 AM and Vince just wants to know why his best friend hasn’t watched his short film yet. Hugo De Sousa and Frank Mosley direct “The Event,” a painfully awkward dark comedy about the deep speculation and confusion of not feeling supported in an artistic pursuit. Incisively written and perfect...

A man is confronted by his violent past while living in a limbo of his own making. “The Seventh Circle,” directed by Alexandra Velasco, is a frenzied experimental horror film soaked in isolation and ambiguity. Whispering to himself in Spanish, a man called El Minotauro moves through a cavernous h...

On their first day living together, a young couple experiences ghosts from their past. “Houseplants,” from director Prashanth Kamalakanthan, is an elliptical drama that glimpses into the private life of Alma and Ron, a struggling couple on a vulnerable day. Over time, your partner changes and you...

Maggie invites friends, acquaintances and total strangers into her home for what they think is a party, but she has other plans in store. “Maggie So Low,” directed by Michael Borowiec and Sam Marine Borowiec, is an improvised comedy about toxic friendships and harebrained schemes. An old college ...

Two brothers steal a car in Lisbon, Portugal and head for a lighthouse. Directed by George Daniell, “The Valley of the Cats,” is an inventive lo-fi comedy adventure, shot on 8mm tape, part road movie, part descent into madness. Dead Eye and Square Hands, as the brothers are known, make their way ...

In a series of observational moments, a violist, barre instructor, and chemistry teacher grapple with the realities of working in quarantine. Lydia Cornett directs “Teaching in Quarantine,” a fly-on-the-wall doc portrait of virtual teaching post Covid-19. Requiring a good deal of adaptation, tech...

A struggling novelist throws a dinner party to announce his acceptance into a prestigious writer's program, but his plans are soon overshadowed by a more pressing matter. Joe Stankus directs “Good News,” an elegantly constructed exploration of a relationship between two men dealing with varying l...

A young woman copes with heartbreak, blackheads, and bad therapy. Emily Ann Hoffman directs “Blackheads,” a study on relationships and gender roles, melding stop motion and 2D animation with a nuanced sense of realism. Sofia has just broken up with her boyfriend and she’s struggling with anxiety ...

File under a little unusual for NoBudge. Might be the closest we've come to a horror film. It's a deathly dark story of unrequited love between two women. There's an astonishing visual flair at work, slow shutter speed rain dances, spectacular lightening storms, ghosts that look like ghosts. It's...

A woman momentarily evades her discontent by adopting a stranger's identity. A stunning slow burn character portrait built around a masterful performance and sumptuous Super 16mm images. Directed by Jake Kolton. Written by Audrey Findlay, Jake Kolton. Starring Mascha Mareen.

A not-quite-pornographic vignette from 1991. Sexy attorneys come together to discuss a horrific bus accident. Directed by Laura Moss. Written by Brendan J. O’Brien and Laura Moss.

A young man decides to take control of his life by turning to cigarettes. This experimental film shot in the San Fernando Valley using an old mini-DV camera is an avant-garde curiosity directed by Justin Zuckerman. Christian smokes the titular ‘first cigarette’ but doesn’t stop there. In fact, he...

An actress is challenged by an eccentric director when rehearsing a gruesome kill scene for his horror movie. Taryn Segal’s “Up and Coming” is a handheld satire that pokes fun at the expectations of performance and the day-to-day lives of actors. As Taryn lies on the floor of what looks like any ...

Raptor is coming! A musical odyssey starring Robert Malone, who wins NoBudge actor of the year for his 3 films, films which have taken the seriousness of our site down 1,000%. This one, our first musical, is miraculously even goofier than "Fresh Starts for Stale People" and "The Confabulators", s...

Mourning her grandmother, a young woman takes a job that requires her to lure a mysterious entity from a hole. Casey Friedman’s “Pentatarmex Rabitular” is a quiet piece of sci-fi observed through its character’s mundane life and the bizarre occurrences that come with a strange job. Accompanied by...

Told from the perspective of a cat, this melancholic 16mm short begins as a portrait of a relationship between a young Japanese woman and an American man. An air of poetry and wistfulness pervades but there’s heaviness under the surface, and as the peaceful images morph into darker ones, we are f...

Longing for a touch the casual encounters section can not satisfy, Tristan, an outsider among outsiders, is captivated by the appearance of a new man. Directed by Tristan Scott-Behrends, “Only Trumpets,” is a lavish glimpse into sex and love in the digital age, part cynical thesis, part experimen...

A male stripper has an unusual experience on the job in Mary Dauterman’s “Unfinished Business.” From a script co-written by Jenny Donheiser, the film is an awkward comedy that uses 1980’s costuming and choreography to highlight its dingy tableaus and expressionless ladies. When he arrives to a mo...