A western novelist makes a noise complaint to his neighbors before getting sucked into their strange orbit. “A Man’s World,” directed by Jens Josephs, is a loopy, rapid-fire comedy wherein a man enters a rabbit hole and struggles to find his way out. After the cowboy-hat-wearing writer slides a n...

Sacha gallops around Florida and gets his heart crushed by an older female. Harleigh Shaw directs “The Day that Sherrie Stopped,” a 3D animated film that’s both dreamy and somber, its surreal visual landscapes filled with color and youthful energy. After getting popsicles in the park with his fri...

In a moment of tense negotiation, Joyce and Mims haggle over a vintage Hank Aaron baseball card inside a sweltering pizzeria. “Card Shark,” directed by Alex Fabry, is an oddball comedy vignette about a should-be simple exchange turning into a strange encounter. Mims arranges a meet-up at his usua...

Two strangers meet by chance and form a romantic connection. Julissa Yasmeen Ramirez directs “Future Memory,” an experimental short (just over 1 minute long), shot on Super 8mm filmed primarily in close-ups of hands. Under a pressing electronic score, the young couple moves through New York City ...

A young woman tries to embrace her sexuality while beginning to question the intimacy with her best friend. Lucy Blumenfield & Arielle Friedman direct “Countdown,” a tender snapshot that finds two friends at different stages of sexual expression. A bedroom conversation establishes Julia as the fr...

A poetic essay film portraying Baltimore in a moment of reckoning, shown uniquely through humble observations and personal recollections. “Diary,” directed by Gillian Waldo, tracks the summer of 2020 with its nationwide cataclysms revolving around Covid-19 and police brutality. The film is presen...

In order to finally be seen, a forlorn teenager takes the biggest action of her life: auditioning to be church cantor at her Christian high school. Kate McCarthy directs “Look, Mira,” a coming-of-age comedy delivered with colorful verve, a sweet-natured take on not fitting in. Overly sensitive fr...

A mechanic in a small midwestern town would do anything to leave her boring life but she can’t seem to break free. Tipper Newton directs and stars in “The Dangerous Type,” an entertaining throwback to 80’s (and before) tropes that renders its snappy banter and B-movie characterizations with style...

When Sandy and Mitra get into trouble, they come to their friend Alyssa for help. “Alyssa Learns to Drive,” written by and starring Sandy Honig, Mitra Jouhari, and Alyssa Stonoha, is an ingeniously silly sketch that cycles through a smorgasbord of random accents, absurd phrasings, botched languag...

A young man with vision problems deals with his caustic friends and a bizarrely ominous influence. “Eyeballs,” directed by Cooper Herzog Olson, is an experimental oddity, a stream-of-consciousness DIY tone poem about learning to see, but not too much. Wandering around a small beach town, Dennis e...

An awkward teenager in Park Slope, Brooklyn goes out one night in search of a boy, any boy, to bring home and prove to her sister she’s actually normal. Sophia Bennett Holmes directs “Big Crush,” a coming-of-age vignette that captures the tentative expressions of a teen girl on a weekend when her...

On her 21st birthday, Alex spends the night partying with friends, looking for more alcohol, and planning her escape from an existential crisis. Christina Offley directs and stars in “Of Age,” a lively coming-of-age comedy about getting wasted and/or entering adulthood. Alex still lives with her ...

Two con women in a romantic relationship take a man prisoner in his own home. “Bandits,” directed by Natalie Fält, is a stylish pulp crime drama, a darkly poetic noir about dissociation and twin flames. After kidnapping and robbing a man, two lovers - Sweetie and Rose - keep him captive in his be...

After revealing something new to her long-term partner, a young couple has an emotionally fraught conversation at the grocery store. “Chores,” directed by Christina Tucker, is a dramatic vignette on the subject of poor communication and hitting personal limits. In the vegetable aisle, Samantha br...

A group of disillusioned L.A. couples compete in an obscure sport to obtain money and social status. “Hill Hikers,“ directed by Elizabeth Godar and Mitch deQuilettes, is a mockumentary about a hiking “race” started by a couple trying to keep their sexual chemistry alive. Vague as the competition ...