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 group of police cadets are mercilessly hazed as they suffer through the worst day of their training. Andrew T. Betzer directs “Important Police Shit,” a series of provocative vignettes tracking the physical and emotional abuse that cops-in-training endure, a captivating but painful glimpse insi...

A biracial student and sex worker confronts the difference in her lifestyle between night and day. Crosbie Roper directs and stars in “Epinephrine,” a psychological-horror piece processing racial identity, trauma, and sex-work. During the day, “Lil Bit” goes to class to study architecture. In the...

Jess is alone in Tarpon Springs, Florida on Christmas Eve. “Storms Named After People,” directed by Sarah Ballard, is a poetic glimpse into the headspace and disaffection of a young woman skulking around a small tourist town avoiding her father. She tries to delay and defer — instead of returning...

A harrowing account of a leadership seminar gone rogue in 1970’s California. In “You've Never Been Completely Honest,” a hybrid-documentary directed by Joey Izzo, a mixture of animation and reenactment footage brings to life a brutal audio interview. In 1972, a man named Gene recounts his experie...

A suicidal woman’s life changes when she encounters a man-sized Furby. Nicole Daddona and Adam Wilder direct the absurd comedy, “Sexy Furby,” a bonkers tale of love and death. After being orphaned by the passing of her mother and the more recent death of her father, a woman prepares to call it qu...

A woman invites an old acquaintance to live with her after a devastating loss. Director Doron Max Hagay, fresh off his induction into the NoBudge Hall of Fame, is in Hall of Fame form with “Company,” his latest collaboration with Blair Beeken and Katy Fullan. In it, Dana, an L.A. woman reeling fr...

On a visit to her family in America, a grandmother is left to find companionship with a pet fish as she slowly comes to terms with losing her independence. Annie Ning directs “Fishbowl,” a tender and observant portrait of aging and isolation, shouldered by a poignant performance from Xiangrun Jia...

While waiting for his water to boil to make tea, a young man enters a state of distorted reality. This surreal experimental short by director Nick Shultz gets a lot of mileage out of a trippy soundscape and enigmatic framework. After an incident involving a door frame pull-up bar, a mundane eveni...

Bonus footage from "The 15"

Memories of their early days swirl together for a young couple while the present day looms with hurt and confusion. Chelsea Muscat directs “Searching for the Wave,” an intimate and poetic relationship study that weaves together two separate timelines. In one, Faye and Ava form a quick bond and es...

An alien comes to Earth landing in an ordinary American backyard. Or so goes the game of imagination that a group of siblings think up and play out. Stephen Wardell directs “Uriah Plays the Alien,” a vastly original piece of avant-garde filmmaking observed in a dream-like haze of childhood creati...

An art assistant for a gallery in New York knows his role well, to live in romantic poverty and be paid in social clout and drugs. “Art Boy,” directed by Taylor Ervin, is a sharp-edged depiction of an art scene where the actual art is a second tier concern over the lifestyles and personas behind ...

The story of a drug-fueled weekend in a Brooklyn apartment propelled by grief and loyalty. Lee, reeling from the death of his mother, visits the home of his old friend, Monty. Given his present state of mind (and body), it’s not a pleasant visit, at least from the perspective of Monty’s well put ...

A harmless driving lesson quickly turns into a survival lesson on police encounters. “Ten & Two,” directed by Travis Wood, is a vignette about a mother and teenage son in the suburbs preparing for the inevitability of racial profiling. On a test drive, the son misses a stop sign and rattles the ...

A charming coming-of-age comedy about Lein, an awkward 15 year old girl caught between life stages. She falls under the sway of Amber, an almost 17 year old who wears lots of makeup & tight jean shorts, and begins to feel the pressure of becoming a young woman. Lein's search for a new sexual iden...

Overwhelmed by voices inside her head, a farmhand teeters between reality, nightmare, and an alternate dimension. Marisa DeMarini directs “Member’s Mark,” an elliptical experimental film that frames a psychological breakdown as a disorienting series of motifs - mirrors, lights, extreme close ups ...