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NoBudge Live #42

NoBudge is happy to present a program of nine short films from a group of emerging indie filmmakers based in New York. A mix of drama, comedy, documentary, and experimental filmmaking, the lineup explores settings or destinations, and often plays with/against expectations. Serious character studies flow into oddball sketches filled with irreverent humor. Seven of the films are 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.

believeme53
New York Premiere
Director Tyler Finnie in person.
A hallucinogenic portrait of a fictional person and place.
(10 min)

Chinatown Cowboy
Director Jaafar Alnabi in person.
A Cantonese Neo-Noir Western set in New York City’s Chinatown.
(13 min)

Intruder
New York Premiere
Director Camille Casmier in person.
A young man questions his decision to let a downstairs neighbor use his fire escape.
(13 min)

It’s All Happening
New York Premiere
Director Sammy Grand in person.
A young woman teeters on the brink of adulthood while trying to grapple with the heartbreak that comes from a drifting friendship.

(14 min)

Blatant Interest
New York Premiere
Director Liam Barton in person.
A glimpse into the life of a 21-year-old in Brooklyn, as interrupted by a sojourn home to North Carolina.
(10 min)

Massage Vest
New York Premiere
Director Victoria Pandeirada in person.
While waiting for a delayed bus, a woman kills time in Downtown Brooklyn and is confronted with her dependence on a massage vest.
(5 min)

His Parents Never Taught Him
New York Premiere
Director Michael Rees in person.
Kyle and Liam are taking a weekend getaway to address a major problem; meanwhile four girls have booked the same Airbnb.
(12 min)

Grey Day
New York Premiere
Director Brian Fiddyment in person.
Two crazed young men gather a group of like-minded people to greet extraterrestrial visitors in Richmond, Virginia.
(12 min)

Favorite Daughter

Director Dana Reilly in person.
The story of an intergenerational odd couple sheltering-in-place in lower Manhattan during the COVID-19 pandemic.
(19 min)

Moments Like This Never Last

Moments Like This Never Last is a filmic exploration of the life and legacy of the late artist Dash Snow. Born Dashiell Alexander Whitney Snow, Dash Snow rejected a life of privilege to make his own way as an artist on the streets of downtown New York City in the late 1990s. Developing from a notorious graffiti tagger into an international art star, he documented his drug- and alcohol-fueled nights with the surrogate family he formed with friends and fellow artists Ryan McGinley, Dan Colen and Kunle Martins before his death by heroin overdose in an East Village hotel room at the age of 27. Downtown was an abandoned wasteland that became ripe for artists to have their way, drawing the attention of the art world ready to cash in on it. High stakes, drugs and the pressure to keep producing took its toll becoming a cautionary tale and forever changing the course of art history.

I Still Hide to Smoke

Starring: Hiam Abbass, Nassima Benchicou, Nadia Kaci, Biyouna, Fadila Belkebla

Nine women of various backgrounds gather in an Algerian hammam to talk about their lives.

La Strada

Starring: Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart, Aldo Silvani, Marcella Rovena

4K restoration

When Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina), a naïve young woman, is purchased from her impoverished mother by brutish circus strongman Zampanò (Anthony Quinn) to be his wife and partner, she loyally endures her husband’s coldness and abuse as they travel the Italian countryside performing together. Soon Zampanò must deal with his jealousy and conflicted feelings about Gelsomina when she finds a kindred spirit in Il Matto (Richard Basehart), the carefree circus fool, and contemplates leaving Zampanò.

Seven Samurai

Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Daisuke Katô, Isao Kimura, Minoru Chiaki, Seiji Miyaguchi

There will be a 15 minute intermission about halfway through the film

A samurai answers a village’s request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food. A giant battle occurs when 40 bandits attack the village.

The Bad Seed

Starring: William Hopper, Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Evelyn Varden

Air Force Colonel Kenneth Penmark (William Hopper) and his wife, Christine (Nancy Kelly), dote on their pig-tailed daughter, Rhoda (Patty McCormack) — as does their lonely landlady, Monica Breedlove (Evelyn Varden). But self-centered Rhoda has a secret tendency for selfishness and loves to accumulate gifts, whether given or stolen, in her room. Christine keeps her knowledge of her daughter’s darker side to herself, but when a schoolmate of Rhoda’s dies mysteriously, her self-deception unravels.

The New York Ripper

Starring: Jack Hedley, Almanta Suska, Howard Ross, Andrea Occhipinti

A burned-out New York police detective teams up with a college psychoanalyst to track down a vicious serial killer randomly stalking and killing various young women around the city.

Manhattan Baby

Starring: Christopher Connelly, Laura Lenzi, Brigitta Boccoli, Giovanni Frezza, Cinzia de Ponti

An archaeologist opens an Egyptian tomb and accidently releases an evil spirit. His young daughter becomes possessed by the freed entity and, upon their arrival back in New York, the gory murders begin.

Bloodthirsty Cannibal Demons AKA Splatter Theater

Starring: Auggi Alvarez, Jody Rovick, Jerry Angell, Carol Barta, Rodney Joiner

Vinyl DJ set pre-party at 7:30

Members of a teenage street gang break into an abandoned movie theater, kill the owners, and dump their bodies in the basement. But by doing so they have unknowingly awakened an army of satanic beasts led by an ancient witch named Haggis, who have been waiting over 100 years to escape the theater and destroy all life on earth. The gang must fight to the last drop during a gore-soused night of slaughter to stop the demons from breaking loose, while they are torn to pieces and devoured!

Director/ producer/ co-writer Todd Sheets graduates with full honors from his SOV undergrad work in his previous Zombie Rampage and Moonchild with this 1993 opus, that is stuffed to the edges with action, clever camera and lighting work, and truckloads of the sloppy red stuff that would become his trademark in the low budget realm. He outdoes himself at every turn with the splatter set pieces and inventive kills, and gives nods to everything from Deadbeat at Dawn, Hellraiser and Demons, all set in the ultimate filming location – an actual vintage movie palace.

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills

The landmark documentary that sparked an international movement to “Free the West Memphis Three,” Paradise Lost investigates the gruesome 1993 murder of three eight-year-old boys and the three teenagers accused of killing them as part of a Satanic ritual.