NoBudge is happy to present a program of ten short films from a group of emerging indie filmmakers mostly based in New York. A mix of comedy, drama, and experimental filmmaking, the lineup explores extreme behavior within unconventional narratives. An eclectic mix of tones and textures, the lineup delivers rebellious spirit and incisive commentary in one-of-a-kind visions. Eight of the films are NYC or Brooklyn premieres and all filmmakers 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.

Ender
New York Premiere
Director Rhodri Beynon in person.
Shot entirely on mini DV tape, this film follows a skater grappling with his mental health, documented through the lens of his best friend’s camera.
(7 min)

Difficult Woman
New York Premiere
Director Summer Benowitz in person.
In this dreamlike and surreal micro short, a woman is accused of over-narrativizing her life and makes that accusation into a narrative.
(3 min)

Dolphin Boy
New York Premiere
Directors Arielle Bordow and Tyler Zonies in person.
While wallowing at the beach, DB finds a girl washed up on the shore.
(11 min)

Living Reality
Director Philip Thompson in person.
A tonal shift occurs inside the world of an American sitcom resulting in the disruption of the show’s rhythm.
(16 min)

Life in the Cage
New York Premiere
Director David Cardoza in person.
A quiet and cool box-office employee deals with a hot-tempered patron who’ll do anything to try and get into the movies without a ticket.
(4 min)

Brain Job: Perception
New York Premiere
Director Clare Ruddy in person.
A satirical parody of psychology edutainment programs.
(11 min)

Sweet Sorghum
New York Premiere
Director Brendan Lee Hickey in person.
Three young men escape city life for the serenity of the woods but something is amiss.
(10 min)

Pillow Talk
Writers and actors, Elizabeth O’Donnell and Annalisa Plumb, in person.
Two unnerving experiences with “good guys” highlight the ways that Margot and Cami react to the gray areas within sex and desire. 
(16 min)

Shithead
New York Premiere
Director Riley Donigan in person
A man with shit for brains struggles to cope with his strange condition.
(8 min)

A Joyful Process
New York Premiere
Producer Graham Mason in person.
Two old-timey fellas meet up by the pond to do some fishing and determine what’s normal.
(11 min)

Cast: John Earl Jelks, Michelle A. Banks, Nirvana Cobb, Kevin L. Davis, Christopher Smith

4K restoration

The Future of Film is Female continues its year-long celebration of 90s cinema with a screening of the newly-restored COMPENSATION. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

“As a word, Compensation evokes labor. In the director Zeinabu irene Davis’s beautifully woven drama of the same name, work does get its close-ups. But it is the loves, labors and vulnerabilities two couples in two different eras experience that make this black-and-white film from 1999 such an elegant and presciently inventive work. … Davis pays homage to the work of at least two of her predecessors from the University of California, Los Angeles: Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep and Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust. The U.C.L.A. movement was tagged the “L.A. Rebellion.” The arrival of this restored beauty — which was entered into the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry last year) proves that Davis knows how to rebel in her own distinctive way.” — Lisa Kennedy, The New York Times, Feb. 20, 2025

Starring: Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, Gaby Hoffmann, Ashleigh Aston Moore, Melanie Griffith, Demi Moore, Rosie O’Donnell, Rita Wilson

The Future of Film is Female continues its year-long celebration of 90s cinema with the cult-classic coming-of-age NOW AND THEN. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

Under appreciated by critics but beloved by young people upon its initial release, NOW AND THEN has become a cultural touchstone for its exploration of childhood female friendships, irresistible soundtrack, and its dizzyingly stacked cast. Set in the summer of 1970—a summer that changes everything for these four young friends—the film treats the woes of their twelve-year old lives with an aching tenderness.

Starring: Ally Sheedy, Radha Mitchell, Patricia Clarkson

4K restoration

The Future of Film is Female continues its year-long celebration of 90s cinema with the sexy-sad classic HIGH ART. Happy Pride, this one’s for the girls. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

“Lucy knows about both sorts of high. She’s a junkie, joined at the crotch to fellow addict Greta, a German actress still heroically mourning the death of Rainer Fassbinder. Greta is also Lucy’s muse – the dazed centre of her “cutting edge” photography. But the arrival of straight-in-every-way Syd (she lives downstairs and only pops up to fix a leak) disturbs their equilibrium.” –Charlotte O’Sullivan, The Independent, April 8, 1999

Starring: Laurel Holloman, Nicole Ari Parker, Maggie Moore, Dale Dickey

The Future of Film is Female continues its year-long celebration of 90s cinema with the lesbian coming-of-age classic THE INCREDIBLY TRUE ADVENTURE OF TWO GIRLS IN LOVE. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

“As its blithe title suggests, The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love is a coming-of-age comedy, a polished movie that resembles a lesbian version of Risky Business. One of the heroines is Randy Dean (Laurel Holloman), who looks boyish and is the subject of pointed gossip by other girls at her high school. ‘Did you hear about her family?’ one of them asks. ‘They’re, like, all lesbians there!’ They are. The film loads its premise even more, with every possible racial, sexual and economic conflict.

“The first feature written and directed by Maria Maggenti, Two Girls exists in a place where almost everyone is gay or potentially gay, a mirror-world of most mainstream movies. But having established that world, Ms. Maggenti leaves politics behind. With great confidence, wit and charm, she builds a universal story about first love, adolescent rebellion and sexual awakening.” – Caryn James, The New York Times, June 16, 1995

Starring: Radhika Apte, Ashok Pathak, Chhaya Kadam, Smita Tambe

The Future of Film is Female presents a special screening of director Karan Kandhari’s SISTER MIDNIGHT, winner of Best Picture: Next Wave at Fantastic Fest 2024, with a pre-recorded intro by actor Radhika Apte. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

In SISTER MIDNIGHT, the audacious debut feature from London based Indian artist and filmmaker Karan Kandhari, rebellious small-town misfit Uma (acclaimed Indian actress Radhika Apte) arrives in Mumbai to find herself totally unsuited to life as a housewife. At odds with her prying neighbors and under the constant oppressive noise and heat of the city, she decides to break free from the shackles of domesticity and follow her own path in this bold, unpredictable, and darkly funny debut. Featuring an eclectic soundtrack (Interpol frontman Paul Banks makes his debut as composer) and singular visual aesthetic, the film world-premiered in Cannes’ Directors Fortnight and won the award for Best Film in the Next Wave section at Fantastic Fest.

Starring: Ella Rubin, Odessa A’zion, Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo

One year after her sister Melanie mysteriously disappeared, Clover and her friends head into the remote valley where she vanished in search of answers. Exploring an abandoned visitor center, they find themselves stalked by a masked killer and horrifically murdered one by one…only to wake up and find themselves back at the beginning of the same evening.

Starring: Vincent Price, Joseph Cotten, Virginia North, Terry-Thomas, Sean Bury, Susan Travers

In a desperate attempt to reach his ill wife, organist Anton Phibes (Vincent Price) is horrifically disfigured in a car accident and presumed dead. When he learns that his wife died during an operation, Phibes blames her surgeons and plots an elaborate revenge to punish them for their incompetence. With the help of a mute assistant (Virginia North), Phibes creates a mask resembling his own face and murders the surgeons one by one using bizarre methods inspired by the biblical plagues.

Starring: Brian Thompson, Oliver Reed, George Kennedy, José Ferrer, Michelle Moffett, Barbara Niven, Jordana Capra, Kendall Conrad, Kim Lonsdale, Jude Mussetter, Penelope Reed-Woods

Explosions that defy logic and gravity, fierce women in high heels brandishing machine guns, fashion that literally kills – all this and more await you in Hired to Kill!

Mercenary Frank Ryan (played by beefcake Brian Thompson, the lead villain in Cobra) goes undercover as a fashion photographer leading a team of deadly lady commandos posing as models on a mission to overthrow a dictator. It’s like America’s Next Top Model meets The Expendables, with just a dash of questionable geopolitics and featuring an outrageous cast of legends that includes Oliver Reed, George Kennedy and José Ferrer.

Starring: Susan Chardy, Elizabeth Chisela, Roy Chisha, Blessings Bhamjee

On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As the funeral unfolds, the cousins unveil the buried secrets of their Zambian family in a vibrant reckoning with the lies we tell ourselves.