A frustrated, out of work actor turns to medical acting to pay his bills, offering intensely committed performances to students who are simply trying to diagnose symptoms, not evaluate believability. The actor, Paul (played by Alex Karpovsky) wants to be great but without a traditional audience i...

A colorful compendium pairing musical genres with varieties of flowers. Luke Strickler directs and animates “Music for Plants,” which visualizes a series of melodic mash ups — “Sunflower Ska,” “Punk Petunias,” “Dandelion Dubstep,” et al. Morphing seamlessly between styles and tones, each chapter ...

When Silvia mysteriously goes missing in Chinatown, tension rises between the two people closest to her. Jacqueline Sir directs “Sacral,” a fragmentary drama about the messy relationships and social life of a group of young NY city kids. Told with blurred low-fi imagery and a constant sense of un...

The quest for virtual food — infinite pizza, zero calories — hits a snag when inventors mistake a short film for competition. Malcom Mills directs the strange vision, “VR Food,” melding horror, sci-fi, and dark comedy in layers of dream-state flashes. Malcolm and Mallory are working together on a...

Walid (17) has fled from Syria to the Arctic Circle. As his family is stuck in the Balkans, on the border of the EU, Walid has to help them cross it, over the phone, from the streets of a northern Norwegian fishing village. Directed by Truls Krane Meby. Cast: Jawad Alkadhmani.

In the summer before leaving home, Cece is eager to get her first time over with. “TEEN DAZE,” directed by Brigette Lopez, is a coming-of-age drama, which digs into the psyche and behavior of a self-assured teenage girl living with her single father. She spends her days lounging in the pool and p...

A man in New York becomes obsessed with a girl he keeps seeing. “Nadja,” directed by Abe Dassa Kaye, is a moment-to-moment look at a young man’s brief episode of infatuation. Chatting over some drinks during the day, the young man tells his two friends about a recent romantic interest: there’s a ...

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, two friends on a FaceTime call experience a dispute with a neighbor. Entirely presented as a video screen capture, Tanner Jarman’s film becomes an inadvertent tour through the racist viral videos of the day as we follow a young black man walking down the str...

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...

Seeking refuge from their anxieties and menial problems that haunt them at home, two girls from Miami take a last minute surfing trip to Nicaragua. In “Turn On The Bright Lights,” Juanita Umaña ruminates on the memory of a mid-20’s rendezvous. We get familiar with Missy and Layla through a young ...

A fragmented portrait of an insecure young woman, enthralling and vibrant. Directed by Donal Foreman.

When a visit to a psychic takes an unexpected turn, Benji is forced into difficult decisions about her life and future. Directed by and starring Dana Sorman, “Psychic,” is a probing personal drama (not without moments of biting comedy) about career and family hangups. An aspiring actress and stan...

After an evidently successful first date, Evan and Marceline head back to her place. “Welcome to Bushwick,” by director Henry Jinings, is about the nerves and perceptions of a man and a woman approaching intimacy for the first time. We pick up as the two young Brooklynites enter the apartment of ...

A married couple battles an age-curse that begins the night of their wedding. Alex Kavutskiy and Jerzy Rose direct “A Bride’s Curse,” a darkly comedic folk tale about lying and marriage. After consummating on their wedding night, the curse is revealed. If the husband lies to his wife three times,...

In her new short about an online troll, director Anu Valia presents an unsettling view of internet connectedness. The callous young woman in the titular role, known virtually as SushiHat, is bored with life if not constantly judging others on social media. Her cruel comments (“nice gunt”) or ince...

A young woman on an imaginary journey experiences a brief romantic encounter. “Queens,” a visual poem by Alyssa Trawkina, follows the charming Tara — sometimes she’s joined by others, as when she jumps in a trampoline park, or rides up an escalator in sync with two other women. Other times, she’s...

Sara experiences another woman's orgasm and gets a new view on life. “ARE YOU OK,” directed by Mattis Ohana Goksøyr, is a sex comedy from Norway built around a series of striking compositions and rendered with dry wit. Two young couples are vacationing together when an intimate sexual encounter s...

A busker on Hollywood Boulevard with an affinity for classic horror films reflects on his life and troubles. Jonah Bergman’s “Conversations with a Monster” is a docu-fictional portrait of a nostalgic L.A. persona captured on the textures of Super 8mm film. The middle-aged man touches up his green...

As her children gather home on the eve of a funeral, a mother copes with her husband's confession of infidelity. Molly Longwell directs “Bad Mother,” a dramatic comedy where the behavior and decisions of a peculiar family slowly unravels into chaos. As she anticipates the arrival of her two child...

Three creatures travel great distances on a lonely pilgrimage. “Remission,” directed by John Charter, is a mixed-media experimental film loaded with stunning visuals and potent abstract imagery. According to the film's logline, the figures are manifestations of an unknown solider’s war trauma — w...

Two roommates struggle to decide which Black Lives Matter sign they should purchase to show their support for the BLM movement. Chester Vincent Toye directs “I’m SO Sorry,” which satirically tackles prevalent forms of white guilt and virtue signaling. Caught up in a moment of racial reckoning, a ...