NoBudge is happy to present a new program of twelve short films from a group of emerging indie filmmakers mostly based in New York. This edition explores a range of unusual relationships and questionable behavior that finds its characters in modes of scheming and rationalizing. A mix of drama, comedy, and animation, the program moves between naturalistic, strange, absurd, and provocative. Eight of the films are premieres and each director will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A and Afterparty.

NoBudge is an online platform spotlighting the best in low-budget indie filmmaking. “One of the best places to sample what’s happening in low-budget cinema worldwide,” says Glenn Kenny of The New York Times. Its mission is to provide a supportive home for emerging indie filmmakers working with limited resources and without major industry connections, and to be a trusted discovery platform.

Ola Ola
Director Adesola Thomas present.
One evening in Brooklyn, two queer Nigerian cousins have a meditative evening after one returns from a tumultuous party.
(9 min)

Angel Wings and Open Wounds
NYC Premiere
Director Mathilde Hauducoeur present.
Maud, 13 and devilishly charming, is the leader of her group of girlfriends in the 7th grade. When she abuses her power during a game, her friends turn against her.
(13 min)

Rumpelstiltskin
Director Ethan Fuirst present.
A filmmaker compares his love life to the Rumpelstiltskin fable.
(8 min)

Telling George
U.S. Premiere
Directed by Fergus Campbell.
Anton writes to George about isolation at his uncle’s castle-mansion-faux-mountain estate.
(2 min)

Wise Words
NYC Premiere
Director Samuel Centore present.
After hearing a priest’s uncanny sermon to “help the strippers,” Peter decides to focus all his energy on a birder named Maude.
(15 min)

A Men
NYC Premiere
Director Ava Burka present
A young Jewish woman does not know the mourner’s kaddish. She is also sleeping with a lot of sadistic catholic men.
(5 min)

Oh Man Magdalena
U.S. Premiere
Director Ryan Wagner present.
Magdalena runs out of things to talk about with her therapist.
(8 min)

Francesca
U.S. Premiere
Actor Francesca D’Uva present.
Francesca practices a wedding speech for her sister’s wedding.
(6 min)

Telling George Again
U.S Premiere
Directed by Fergus Campbell.
Anton writes to George about spending New Year’s at his uncle’s fantastical castle-canyon-modernist complex.
(2 min)

Normal Guys
Brooklyn Premiere
Director Michael Rees present.
Will channels his genius into a money-making scheme, meanwhile, Kyle commits a faux pas at the park.
(9 min)

Scotty’s Vag
Director Chaconne Martin-Berkowicz present.
On the night of a sorority hazing event, a college freshman learns just how far she’s willing to go to impress an older girl.
(16 min)

The Event
Co-director Hugo De Sousa present.
It’s 2 AM and Vince just wants to know why his best friend hasn’t watched his short film yet.
(11 min)

Warning: Images are not from the movies we’re showing. Trust us, you can’t imagine what we’re showing!

This Sunday on Fire delivers a two-fisted, high caliber exploitation flick from one of Hong Kong’s (and Hollywood’s) most famous filmmakers before he became famous. This director’s name has become an adjective, and here’s your chance to see him before he got polished up and put on a shelf, delivering a raw, uncompromising “men on a mission” movie that punches you in the face with dynamite fists.

Shot in Thailand, where the stunt crew used real bullets and real explosives in a lot of the action sequences, you’ll gasp when you learn that no one died during the making of this film, because they sure seem to come close. The grue strewn carnage nestles next to scenes of wakka-wakka comedy, but the end result is tougher than old leather and meaner than a junkyard dog. We’re not telling you the title of this one until it’s too late, so fasten your seatbelt, put on your flak jacket, and get ready to get fragged.

Starring: Steve Guttenberg, Jami Gertz, Shelley Long, Kyle MacLachlan, Mädchen Amick

Gus (Steve Guttenberg) is a live-action Ziggy who transforms into an overconfident, mulleted New Zealand biker named Lobo Marunga. In between, the Gutte is his usual charming self while his pesky sister (romance novelist Shelley Long) attempts to give him a Down Under makeover in this misguided romantic comedy starring a repurposed Mad Max costume.

Can Guttenberg pass as a legitimate Vegemite lover? Will the “Gusbuster” get his buster dusted by reluctant reporter Jami Gertz? All will be revealed at this pre- (possibly anti-) Valentine’s Day screening!

Starring: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Slim Pickens, Harvey Korman, Mel Brooks

In this satirical take on Westerns, crafty railroad worker Bart (Cleavon Little) becomes the first black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new railroad. Initially, the people of Rock Ridge harbor a racial bias toward their new leader. However, they warm to him after realizing that Bart and his perpetually drunk gunfighter friend (Gene Wilder) are the only defense against a wave of thugs sent to rid the town of its population.

Starring: Yvette Yzon, Alvin Anson, Paul Holmes, James Gregory Paolleli, BB Johnson

An evil corporation sends a team of marines led by the sole survivor of a previous attack on a rescue mission to a remote Pacific Island following a zombie outbreak stemming from nefarious scientific experiments. It all goes bad really fast.

Plot sound familiar? It should, as this is the final film from legendary Italian horror director Bruno Mattei (Hell of the Living Dead, Zombie 3, Rats: Night of Terror) who made a career of high energy knock offs of Hollywood hits featuring his unique splatter signature.

In the final years of his career, Mattei made several shot-on-video movies for the international market, and this was one of the best of them – featuring the plot lifted from James Cameron’s Aliens, mixed with elements of his own 1980 knock off of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. What follows is a third world acid trip from hell, with Grand Guignol gore, high-caliber weapons, mutated rugrats and goopy tentacles all colliding in a Calabrian casserole of spaghetti sauce-slathered greatness.

Starring: Kinder Hunt, Maegen, Jesse Lizarraga, Jeff Burr, Scott Pierce, Judith Montgomery

They are creatures created by the evils of men!

In this sick and slimy SOV monster anthology, a man’s mistress is trapped by his gun-wielding wife, who subjects her to two tales as a twisted form of revenge. In the first, a would-be brothel owner and crew face off against a puritanical mayor with a mysterious box housing an ancient creature he uses as punishment. In the second, a woman’s nightmares about her abusive husband slowly come to life as she tries to escape the real monster growing inside him.

From prolific indie producer David S. Sterling (Camp Blood, Demonicus, Witchcraft) and directed by Jay Woelfel (Beyond Dream’s Door), Dennis Devine (Fatal Images), and Eugene James (Dead Girls), Things spares no exploitation trope or gross-out practical effect in telling it’s tawdry and oozy tales of inhumanity in all its analog glory.

Starring: Toni Collette, Bill Hunter, Rachel Griffiths, Jeanie Drynan, Gennie Nevinson, Daniel Lapaine

Print courtesy of The Library of Congress

Socially awkward Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette) wants nothing more than to get married. Unfortunately, due to her oppressive politician father (Bill Hunter), Muriel has never even been on a date. Ostracized by her more socially adept friends, Muriel runs into fellow outcast Rhonda Epinstalk (Rachel Griffiths), and the two move from their small Australian town to the big city of Sydney, where Muriel changes her name and begins the arduous task of redesigning her life to match her fantasies.

Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr., Rachael Leigh Cook, Matthew Lillard, Paul Walker, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, Kevin Pollak

High school hotshot Zach Siler (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is the envy of his peers. But his popularity declines sharply when his cheerleader girlfriend, Taylor (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe), leaves him for sleazy reality-television star Brock Hudson (Matthew Lillard). Desperate to revive his fading reputation, Siler agrees to a seemingly impossible challenge. He has six weeks to gain the trust of nerdy outcast Laney Boggs (Rachael Leigh Cook) — and help her to become the school’s next prom queen.

Starring: Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz, Rupert Everett, Philip Bosco, M. Emmet Walsh

Childhood friends Julianne Potter (Julia Roberts) and Michael O’Neal (Dermot Mulroney) had a deal to marry each other if they were still single by age 28. Now, four days before her 28th birthday, O’Neil announces that he’s marrying a gorgeous 20-year-old named Kimberly (Cameron Diaz). Suddenly realizing that she’s actually in love with him, Julianne vows to stop the wedding at all costs. However, when she is appointed maid of honor, things get even more complex.

Starring: Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Kristin Scott Thomas, Simon Callow, Rowan Atkinson, James Fleet

Lovable Englishman Charles (Hugh Grant) and his group of friends seem to be unlucky in love. When Charles meets a beautiful American named Carrie (Andie MacDowell) at a wedding, he thinks his luck may have changed. But, after one magical night, Carrie returns to the States, ending what might have been. As Charles and Carrie’s paths continue to cross — over a handful of nuptials and one funeral — he comes to believe they are meant to be together, even if their timing always seems to be off.