Starring: Colin Burgess, Clare O’Kane, Anthony Oberbeck, Brian Fiddyment

NoBudge is happy to launch a new screening series of feature films by young and emerging filmmakers, and we couldn’t think of a better inaugural selection than Dad & Step-Dad, made by a team of NoBudge favorites

Dad & Step-Dad is a slow-burn, character-driven family comedy that follows Jim (Dad), Dave (Step-Dad) and Suzie (Mom), three lost souls who spend the weekend together at a cabin upstate in an effort to bond for the sake of their 13-year-old son, Branson. Tensions mount however as differing parenting techniques come to the fore. A symphony of passive aggressive quibbles delivered in hushed tones, furtive glances, and tense silence, the film plays like Frederick Wiseman directing an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Listed in Esquire as one of the “41 Most Anticipated Films of 2023,” Dad & Step-Dad was shot in 4 days during the summer of 2021 with a production budget of only $18,000 and is entirely improvised, based off of a robust outline and several rehearsals.

Starring: Winona Ryder, Jeff Daniels, Laila Robins, Thomas Wilson Brown, Ava Fabian

Having secured her status as morbid weirdo, first as goth Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice (1988), then as Veronica Sawyer in Heathers (1989), Winona Ryder was relatable to a generation of girls who felt ready to embrace their innate strangeness, to break free of conformity to a feminine standard.

In Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, she is at her most scrappy, spending most of the film’s run time in an oversized dyed-black sweater with tangled hair, terrorizing people with her intensity. As Dinky Bosetti, she is a slouching outsider, adopted by parents who disapprove of her, spending most of her time dreaming of escape.

Though it never achieved the cult status of the other films mentioned above, to some, Roxy Carmichael was formative in that it was rare for a character like Dinky – shy, angsty, earnest – to be front and center.

Starring: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Simon Abkarian

Based on Satrapi’s graphic novel about her life in pre and post-revolutionary Iran and then in Europe. The film traces Satrapi’s growth from child to rebellious, punk-loving teenager in Iran. In the background are the growing tensions of the political climate in Iran in the 70s and 80s, with members of her liberal-leaning family detained and then executed, and the background of the disastrous Iran/Iraq war.

Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Evan McGuire, Christen Mooney, Liam Hourican, Mick Lally, Michael McGrath

In the remote Irish woods, Cellach (Brendan Gleeson) prepares a fortress for an impending attack by a Viking war party. Unbeknown to Cellach, his young nephew Brendan (Evan McGuire) — who has no taste for battle — works secretly as an apprentice in the scriptorium of the local monastery, learning the ancient art of calligraphy. As the Vikings approach, revered illuminator Aidan (Mick Lally) arrives at the monastery and recruits Brendan to complete a series of dangerous, magical tasks.

Starring: Miyu Irino, Megumi Han, Yui Ishikawa, Kensho Ono

After being bullied mercilessly, a grade school student transfers to another school. Years later, one of her former tormentors sets out to make amends.

Starring: Gabriela Muskala, Lukasz Simlat, Malgorzata Buczkowska

The Future of Film is Female presents a special screening of Agnieszka Smoczynska’s just released sophomore feature from 2018, FUGUE, along with the director in conversation. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

Alicja suffers from memory loss and has rebuilt her own free spirited way of life. Two years later, she returns to her former family to assume against her will her role as wife, mother and daughter. Her estranged husband and son do not recognize this woman who looks familiar and yet behaves like a stranger. Feelings of alienation, love and revelations rekindle her interior flame.

Agnieszka Smoczynska’s second feature (made between The Lure and The Silent Twins), Fugue evokes the social taboos around motherhood and the pressure on women to accept maternity without hesitation or reflection, as though the biological capacity of giving birth means that every woman should be willing to be a mother.

Starring: Martha Brown, Morgan Campbell, Odinaka Malachi Ezeokoli, Aubin Wise, Nate Wise

In this bittersweet fairy tale about life at a crossroads, Brynn and her boyfriend Laika take an impromptu road trip in an effort to escape the general malaise and melancholy of their dead-end lives in the city. Arriving at her uncle’s cottage in the mountains, she and Laika settle in, enjoying the solitude in their new surroundings. Evening bonfires in the distance and inexplicable movements in the forest suggest they’re not as alone as they think, and soon their suspicions are confirmed when a mysterious masked character arrives at the cottage – Rue, a strange figure from Brynn’s childhood. Feeling an inexplicable pull towards Rue, she follows her friend deeper into the woods where she’s offered the kind of escape she’s been yearning for. But as her two worlds grow further and further apart, Brynn will have to decide whether to face reality and all its shortcomings or disappear into the darkness entirely.

Shot on a shoestring budget in the Blue Ridge Mountains, this debut feature from Peter Collins Campbell acts as a deconstruction of coming of age stories and a slow cinema take on magic realism.

Ivalu
Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan, Denmark, 17 min.

Night Ride
Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen, Norway, 16 min.

Le Pupille
Alice Rohrwacher, Italy, 39 min.

The Red Suitcase
Cyrus Neshvad, Luxembourg, 18 min.

An Irish Goodbye
Tom Berkeley and Ross White, UK, 23 min.

Rating equivalent of PG-13/R. Four of the films are suitable for kids 10 and up, but the final film, MY YEAR OF DICKS, is for adult audiences only

An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It
Lachlan Pendragon, Australia, 12 min.

The Flying Sailor
Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, Canada, 8 min.

Ice Merchants
João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano, Portugal/France/UK, 15 min.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud, UK, 33 min.

My Year of Dicks
Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon, USA, 26 min.