A young woman hires a hunky arborist to inspect a tree on her property, to the dismay of her husband. “Genius in a Small Town" is an amusing look at rugged masculinity and the reactions it inspires. Written and directed by Emma Horwitz & Claire Siebers. Starring Claire Siebers, Jonathan Bock, Qui...

The only remaining episode of Sad Kidz TV, a Canadian after-school cartoon block with the fun-loving host Shane, exploring the deep melancholy it takes to be a kid. Directed by Alexander Laird and Alexander Swift, “Sad Kids,” mocks up a zany kids show, and it would be a near perfect replica if no...

In America for the first time, a German teenager heading to a party with a group of boys becomes entangled with the police. “Interstate 8,” directed by Anne Thieme, is an understated drama, an immersive minute-by-minute procedural that explores cop culture, immigration, and lines of unspoken comm...

The small apartment of a young woman making a film: laundry piles on the desk chair, tender karaoke in the living room, and a needy cat that makes life worth living. Nande Walters presents “Something That Means Nothing (October),” a vérité look at apartment living, moments alone, and in between. ...

A tech entrepreneur attends a silent yoga retreat. Charlie Sosnick directs “Silent Yoga,” a slapstick comedy where a cultish yoga event is attended by Zach, a wunderkind founder of a “decentralized finance unicorn.” Along with his unrelenting smart phone, which keeps buzzing due to possibly being...

Two best friends at a liberal arts school spend together a complicated evening of unrequited crushes and too much cocaine. “Blacklisted,” directed by Jo Steinhart is a sharp-edged comedy about queer women navigating volatile college relationships. (“Would you say you’ve fucked every dyke at this ...

A group of friends go to the beach, but Nora isn’t having fun. This anxious drama from director Ryan Martin Brown throws us into the interior life of a young woman who’s starving, dehydrated, and perturbed about the lack of plans amongst her friends. A film about group dynamics — being stuck on o...

In a non-traditional approach to live performance, MAURICE performs three songs in a production teetering on the brink of collapse. “3 Songs,” directed and performed by Devan Joseph and Jason Gaines, is a dynamic music video that frames potent performances with kinetic editing. Breaking down the ...

College roommates / cinephiles in Vancouver discuss cinema, et al, casually planning to make a piece of their own. But they're at the stage where plans blow away so the thing is to capture 'now.' Turn on the camera, point it at the couch, let it roll till the card is full. Or as 'director,' 'acto...

A strange advertisement sends a young woman on a journey of memory loss and vampirism. “Oh! A Phantom All My Life,” directed by Ellena Eshraghi, is a coming-of-age reflection coded in darkness and fantasy. A young woman recounts the story her parents once told her—when she was a young child, she ...

Over the course of several months, a Colombian immigrant working as a cleaner in New York converses with her grandmother in a series of phone calls and voice messages. Natalia Luque directs the tender portrait, “The Virgin, The Old Lady, The Journey,” a richly drawn study on familial bonds and lo...

A guileless woman named Turyn is taken for a surrealist ride to visit “The Club.” An absurd mini-short about the social habits of the young, the archetypes involved, and the dangers lurking. | Directed by Lauren Ireland. Starring Lauren Ireland, Haley Rawson, John Trowbridge.

A lonely man sets out in search of his soul mate after what he believes to be a fateful encounter with a banana. “Loveseat,” directed by Grace Kim, expresses its tale of longing with quirky, surreal gestures. The crossword-puzzle obsessed Jared is going about his daily life when he gets a mysteri...

A woman is having a mental breakdown in her bathroom when her past and future selves appear in the mirror. Ella May Sahlman and Kyle Kallman direct “Crimson Mirror,” experimental horror crafted with gothic flourish built around an intensely despairing lead performance from Flora Wildes. The young...

A high school senior in his final days of school must come to terms with the death of a friend. “Lay Me by the Shore,” directed by David Findlay, is a gorgeously photographed, impeccably crafted tone poem about bottled confusion, regret and shame. As graduation looms for Noah, he spends his days ...

Fed up with her dating prospects, Jess invites a nice guy from work over for dinner, only to find out he is even more problematic than the others. A stylized dark comedy about a young woman enduring a thirsty man’s “sweetness.” Written & Produced by Allie Scully. Directed by Alley Leinweber. Star...

On Rockaway Beach, a young woman named Teresa borrows money from a teenage skateboarder in return a provocative kiss. She pulls a similar routine with another man working at a deli promising a sexual favor in exchange for keys to the register. These aren’t isolated incidents but a destructive pat...