A lonely comedian prepares for a virtual stand up act. Milos Mitrovic directs “wasting time at the end of the world,” co-written by and starring Alex Ateah, a sadly funny glimpse into our new Covid reality and digital connections that fail to replicate the real deal. Just ordering a pizza becomes...

An awkward computer programmer learns to dance to impress his next-door neighbor. With “Yanvalou,” director Angeline Gragasin highlights a dichotomy of cultures — one centered around movement and expression; the other, a digital startup environment that's no less sterile for its balls for chairs ...

A guy basically can’t even right now with this breakup, and she, his girlfriend, literally has no idea. Alex Bliss and Matt Barats present “Let the Lion Out,” a sketch film where an oblivious man deflects and defends during a break up by repeating a mantra over and over again. Kimberly (Eleanore ...

Bren Cukier is a Polish-American writer and director whose short film “CZWARTEK” (Thursday) has screened at festivals worldwide. Currently residing in Los Angeles, her work blends documentary perspective with narrative filmmaking, marrying her experience in fashion and art photography to fully en...

Cheyenne is a teen punk fan trying to convince her friend, Maggie, to come with her to their first show. “This is Not a Love Song,” by director Ursula Ellis, is a MFA student short from Columbia University which captures the raw enthusiasm of teenage rebellion, led by a charismatic lead performan...

Pak Anggir is a rice farmer in Bali living a modest, spiritually-connected existence, intent on passing along ancient Hindu traditions to his grandchildren. This calming documentary portrait directed by Ashleigh Goh Hua captures Anggir in his element, working the fields, blessing the offerings, a...

wormgirl bakes blondies.

wormgirl was inspired by the time-bending isolation that came out of lockdown. with nothing to do and no one to see, the scope of the day shrank from a full life of work commitments and relationships to a lonely, worm-like crawl. wormgirl shows the highs and lows of wor...

Set in 1991, this comedic portrait of a mumbling and indecisive young man trying to collect rent from his eccentric roommates taps into the grand lineage of poor college kids living as weirdo artists in houses with way too many people. It’s tried and true and "White and Lazy" captures it with per...

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....

An actor living on the edge of one of the most polluted zip codes in the United States prepares for a role. Kevin Steen directs “Daron, Daron Colbert,” an atmospheric portrait of a young man’s day-to-day life while he aspires to a career in acting. We’re introduced to Delray, a heavily polluted n...

A young man attempts to get to the bottom of his childhood memories of plywood in this amusingly mundane documentary short by Christian Kozlowski. From as far back as he can remember, Christian’s dad had always used plywood to build houses, and he assumes that he still does. This assumption goes ...

A musicologist and her dog climb a mountain in search of an indecipherable song hoping to understand its meaning. Daniel Witkin directs “The Inconceivable Mountain,” which registers both as an homage and a satire of black and white silent films of the 1930’s, particularly a type of German film co...

After the loss of his dog, a teenager takes out his troubles on the local townspeople. Jordan Alexander’s “Bubblegum and the Texas Belt Buckle,” is a 16mm coming-of-age film, darkly funny yet sincere in its tenderness. The scene sets as a soft piano plays. Garret lives with his aggravated older b...

A young man, on-edge, tries cycling as a way to make friends. Noah Kentis directs “Pedestrian,” an expressionistic character study of a highly volatile call center employee. Working at United Auto Loan Trust, Kehlani gets aggressive on phone calls with people short on cash. A coworker tells Kehla...

A man at the park wants something from a group of teen skaters. Johnny Frohman directs “Trick,” a comedy from a couple of NoBudge regulars that focuses on a shady exchange. Matt Barats stars as a man loitering around a trio of skateboarders, commenting on their form, letting the kids know that ba...

A young woman reminisces about a motorcycle trip she took after dropping out of college. In this impressionistic portrait of scattered memories from a 8,500 mile journey across the United States. Directed by Madeline Leshner. Starring Bailey Swan.

Nandan Rao's second film begins with a 3 minute phone call over a black screen. We gradually hear something about church and then we cut to a quote from an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: "brethren, encourage our young men to marry." Off the quote, we're at a peaceful ...

A shy college student turns invisible through a surreal metamorphosis and decides to follow around her crush from her philosophy class. In Natalie Horberg’s “Knowing Desmond,” animation collides with reality to form a youthful, experimental romance. In their university philosophy class, Desmond m...