A father takes his son to the woods for a rite of passage. “Sylvain’s Hunt,” directed by Theo Cohn, is an unsettling portrait of father-son bonding built with inventive mixed-media images (see: miniature sets) and a Lynchian tone. Early one morning, a son is awoken by his dad and they drive to so...

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...

It's 2 AM and Vince just wants to know why his best friend hasn’t watched his short film yet. Hugo De Sousa and Frank Mosley direct “The Event,” a painfully awkward dark comedy about the deep speculation and confusion of not feeling supported in an artistic pursuit. Incisively written and perfect...

A lonely woman with boundary issues steals a dog. India Donaldson directs “If Found,” a minimalist drama set at an off-season beach town that’s built with striking wintry visuals and a tone swaying between lightly comedic and disturbing. She lives on a boat with a friend who seems alarmed by her ...

In this surreal odyssey, a young boy walks through a series of doors opening up visions of the past and future. “Mi,” made by Masayoshi Nakamura and Zak Engel, is beautifully animated, vibrating with color, shape and possibility. Emerging from abstract geometric landscapes, we lock in on a boy wi...

A young man cycles through a series of personas in a manic attempt to find himself. “Yamashiro LIVE!”, directed by Blake James Reid and Max Frumkin, is a fever dream odyssey carved from pure provocation, a melting-down outsider vision of an ineffectual shape-shifter. The man floods each of his un...

A passionate young photographer in Berlin fixates on a series of self-portraits as her boyfriend questions her approach. A mediation on artistic process and ambition, “Spiegel,” directed by Ewan Waddell, is a stylistically assured character study that gets deep into the head of a hip but vulnerab...

A man's life spirals out of control when he embarrasses himself on a hidden camera reality TV show. “Pussybaby,” directed by Derek Milton, is a satirical comedy about a poor soul who becomes a meme and the chaotic media landscape that makes it possible. Shaliek is an aspiring creator in the proce...

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 documentary following two couples with kids, and a third contemplating a family. Capt...

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 tale of sibling betrayal and revenge as told by a ranch horse. “Horse Brothers,” directed by Milos Mitrovic and Fabian Velasco, is a surreal fantasy tale and family melodrama built with inventive lo-fi visuals and a fever dream tone. After an absence, Frodo arrives back to the family farm in a ...

Jeremiah tries to console Kevin after a bad day. “I am hungry,” directed by Jeremiah Durian-Williams and Kevin Fielding, is a break-up film that turns sharply into the realm of absurdist comedy. Over a montage of Kevin going about his normal morning, a voicemail delivers the news that his girlfri...