A family invents a series of rituals to describe the trouble they're in: first a burial, then an alien invasion. “Katelin Describes a Crisis,” directed by Stephen Wardell, is an avant-garde exploration featuring an intriguing cast of kids making a pre-apocalypse movie with an older family member....

Two teens in a small desert city earn cash standing on the side of the street holding signs for cheap loans. They make a game of it, spinning the signs like they’re doing skateboard tricks. “More tricks, more money, dawg,” says the baller white kid teaching a newbie the ropes of the street in a g...

An introverted girl goes clubbing alone and wishes she could be less uncomfortable. Tiger Hornby’s “Double Club,” is an atmospheric portrait, made of zero words yet still close and intimate. The anonymous woman quietly enters a club, trying to fit in with other party-goers through the fog and pul...

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...

Beneath the sleeping city of Bologna, Italy, a smattering of night-time inhabitants go about their unusual lives. “La Città Sul Retro (The City Tucked Away)” is a video art portrait of a beautiful old European city where subtle flows of work and pleasure emerge from quiet streets. A Film by Maram...

I'm currently in the middle of an obsessed phase with Kate Berlant & John Early, two of the funniest/smartest young performers around. This brilliant collaboration, "Santa Monica," written by the two & directed by another new NB favorite Andrew DeYoung, finds Early & Berlant playing characters wi...

A dancer reflects on a recent injury in Anne Hollowday’s “Physical Thoughts.” A vivid portrait rendered with striking images and poetic narration, it’s a film about the limits of verbal expression (“we all have thoughts; we don’t share many of them”) and the possibilities of physical expression (...

2014 NoBudge Award winner Jeremy Hersh (Best Screenplay, “Natives”) returns with another story of women in love confronting their maybe-irreconcilable differences. Where that earlier film expanded to embrace ideas about place, culture, and identity, what we get here is a marvel of concentration. ...

Emily is a writer/director based in NYC and LA. Her short films have played festivals including Atlanta, Austin, and other Oscar Qualifiers. She also designs and animates commercial work for companies including Vogue, Google, Netflix, The National Council for Mental Wellbeing, and many more. She...

After clearing a scattered archive of voicemails, a woman reconnects with a frequent caller. Allie Viti’s “Your Mailbox is Full” is a candid 16mm snapshot of Brooklyn, narrated by a colorful spectrum of voices. There are spam messages from Publisher’s Clearing House and auto insurance companies, ...

A young man and his girlfriend seek a resolution amid a life filled with confusion and ennui. With an unorthodox portrayal of its two leads, Marcus Soltzberg’s “We Are Always Hiding” delicately looks at a romantic relationship as it occurs in time and space. Trevor and Skye try to get back into t...

Growing disconnected from the world around her, a young artist slips from reality. Ahmad Bakrin directs “moulded,” a subdued thriller with a unique consideration of dissociation as a result of modern social realities and fabricated persona. In a post-breakup reality, a young woman struggles to re...

As an online roleplaying game approaches its final days, two teens embark on a cross-country trip to meet each other in real life. “Love192,” directed by Haydon Mayer, is a tender romance and sign-of-times saga that captures and transcends the digital realm. Jude goes by the username “M4yJud3July...

Four twenty-something friends relive the days of high school in this drug-soaked micro-budget drama. A bleak film about aimlessness, about empty conversations and empty drug use.The foundation is that awkward period after high school when old friends try to remain intact but are inevitably drifti...

Unable to stop quarreling, a young couple turns to a strange alternative therapy practice. Zach Galsky directs “Physical Therapy,” an energetic comedy that pokes fun at a relationship dilemma between a young Czech couple. We meet Alex and Elizabeth as they individually discuss a recent argument ...

Four friends parked in a car do a ceremony in the middle of the woods. It goes badly. Made by the preeminent Brooklyn comedy group, Simple Town, “Scary Car” is lo-fi horror comedy at its finest, a brilliantly executed account of an unexplainable occurrence. After a passionate conversation about U...

A retired soccer referee reflects on his old job, why he still likes to wear the uniform, and how he now spends his free time. | Directed by Eve Axness. Cast: Wayne Pepper.

Somewhere in America, right this instant, a roomful of young women are waiting to audition for the role of a lifetime. In her headspacey short film, Anu Valia plucks her heroine Clara out of this room and momentarily holds her up to the light, before gently nudging her back into the anonymous str...

The lives of a group of thirty-something artists weave together as they grapple with the idea of parenthood. Allegra Oxborough directs “A Blue Morning: Conversations Among Artists on Parenthood,” a slice-of-life docu-fiction following two couples with kids, and a third contemplating a family. Cap...