NoBudge is happy to present a new program of nine short films from a group of emerging indie filmmakers based in New York. In this edition, we’re focused on young characters searching for new lives or reckoning with old ones. Ranging from day-to-day struggles to dystopian visions, there’s an unsettled feeling running through the lineup, along with a sense of guilt or desperation. Each of the films are New York 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.

End of the Boardwalk
New York Premiere
Director Theo Belci in person.
A new Russian immigrant looks for life beyond busking at the Brighton Beach boardwalk
(9 min)

Working Summer
New York Premiere
Director Lily Weisberg in person.
When Deborah’s daughter Nora stops by unannounced she is taken aback to discover the fullness and independence of her mother’s life.
(14 min)

Discharge
New York Premiere
Director Aidan Macaluso in person.
A grandson relieves himself of guilt.
(3 min)

Recluse
New York Premiere
Director Alexis Sundman in person.
After a year of isolation, a young woman reluctantly ventures out from her small studio apartment to host a funeral for her friend’s pet.
(7 min)

Show Tonight
New York Premiere
Director Emily DeForest in person.
A story about a girl who has a show tonight that no one wants to go to.
(5 min)

Daughter of Wands
Brooklyn Premiere
Director Emma Hall-Martin in person.
On an afternoon at a skatepark, a 17-year-old girl makes an effort to fit in with her edgier friends while also tending to her shaky relationship with her younger sister.
(11 min)

Citizen Zero
New York Premiere
Director Veronica Rutledge and writer/star Isabella Jackson in person.
Set against an industrial wasteland sometime in the near future, Lulu desperately seeks a job. Her prospects aren’t great and rent is due.
(18 min)

Unturned
New York Premiere
Directors Jessica Apatow & Kyra McConnell in person.
An aimless young woman befriends an up-and-coming actress and their relationship grows strange and tumultuous.
(20 min)

Traveling Man
New York Premiere
Director Graham Mason in person.
A guy named Doug strikes a deal with a mysterious man he meets at the park.
(15 min)

Starring: Sakura Tange, Aya Hisakawa, Junko Iwao, Motoko Kumai, Tomokazu Seki, Megumi Ogata

Ten-year old Sakura Avalon, Cardcaptor of the elusive, magical Clow Cards, unexpectedly wins a trip to Hong Kong where strange dreams lead her to an imprisoned sorceress with close connections to the creator of the cards.

Starring: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden

Simple-minded Chance (Peter Sellers), a gardener who has resided in the Washington, D.C., townhouse of his wealthy employer for his entire life and been educated only by television, is forced to vacate his home when his boss dies. While wandering the streets, he encounters business mogul Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas), who assumes Chance to be a fellow upper-class gentleman. Soon Chance is ushered into high society, and his unaffected gardening wisdom makes him the talk of the town.

Starring: Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Ray Liotta, Michael Peña, Dan Bakkedahl, Jesse Plemons

Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen) is many things: Head of Security at an Albuquerque-area Mall; an Aspiring Police Officer; a Dutiful Son to a burned-out Alcoholic Mother; a man totally in love with a co-worker (Anna Faris) who barely remembers he exists. But above all, he is angry. Alone. And he is ready to be noticed. Fortune smiles on Ronnie and frowns at the rest of the mall when a serial flasher begins stalking the parking lots, drawing the attentions of the local news and the Hot-headed Police Higher-up Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), while igniting in Ronnie the ambition long-buried under his regime of Bi-Polar suppressing meds and schlubby appearance: he will be the hero this mall needs. He will catch this pervert. He will blow the brains out of all darkness in the world and save the day. Or he will die trying.

Zeroing in on one of the many discontented American lives that often quietly pass by in the margins of most folks’ vision, Observe and Report basically grafts the soul of Taxi Driver onto the bones of one of the Judd Apatow-ian bawdy comedies that still ruled the theatrical landscape back in ‘09, producing an alarmingly prescient portrait of an Incel on the rise back when these types were referred to as “Guys who Buy Swords at the Mall.” Hilarious and shockingly bleak while maintaining an insane kind of high-wire empathy for all the suburban souls caught in his camera, writer/director Jody Hill deploys the slo-mo dad-rock poetry that made shows like Eastbound and Down and Vice Principals 21st century comedy touchstones to totally place the audience in Ronnie’s deeply deluded POV without ever allowing us to comfortably view him as an anti-hero (unlike certain other Taxi Driver riffs focusing on supervillian clowns). Rogen gleefully rips the stuffing out of his freshly cultivated Teddy Bear screen persona to hide a ticking time bomb within while Farris, Liotta and an absolutely on-fire Michael Peña put in some of the best work of their careers to keep this brazen balancing act of pothead chuckles, sudden violence and deep seated misery afloat.

Greeted by well-earned controversy and a war for public awareness following in the wake of the unfortunate success of Paul Blart: Mall Cop (which was rushed through production to beat this very film to theaters), Observe and Report was ignored by the public and split critics right down the center: “If you thought Abu Ghraib was a laugh riot, then you’ll love Observe and Report” -Manhola Dargis; “A crazy mosaic of Americana with tiles scattered and missing. A-” -Liza Schwarzbaum. As the Ronnie Banhardts of the world became major cultural forces over the past 15 years and Jody Hill and co. moved on to HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones, the film’s 51% on Rotten Tomatoes has held fast making this 15th anniversary a ripe moment to Re-consider! the whiplash genius of this undervalued masterpiece of American malaise, assuming we all survive the untethered lunacy of the film’s final reel.

Starring: Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, Brian Blessed, Glenn Close, Nigel Hawthorne, Lance Henriksen, Wayne Knight, Alex D. Linz, Rosie O’Donnell

In this Disney animated tale, the orphaned Tarzan (Tony Goldwyn) grows up in the remote African wilderness, raised by the gentle gorilla Kala (Glenn Close). When a British expedition enters the jungle, Tarzan encounters the beautiful Jane (Minnie Driver) and recognizes that, like her, he’s human. Falling in love with Jane, Tarzan is torn between embracing civilization and staying with his gorilla family, which becomes threatened by the ruthless hunter Clayton (Brian Blessed).

Starring: Meiko Kaji, Kayoko Shiraishi, Kuniko Ishii, Yuki Aresa, Fumio Watanabe

After being used and betrayed by the detective she had fallen in love with, young Matsu is sent to a female prison full of sadistic guards and disobedient prisoners.

Starring: Grace Glowicki, Garrick Bernard, Heather Matarazzo

Join the Future of Film is Female for a special preview screening of Mary Dauterman’s BOOGER. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

After the death of her best friend Izzy, Anna focuses all her attention on Booger, the stray cat which she and Izzy took in. When Booger bites her, she begins to undergo a strange transformation.

Film Screening and Conversation with Director Steven Jenkins

Spanning decades and musical styles, this far-ranging one-hour program of short films and videos from the Bob Dylan Archive features rare and previously unreleased clips of Dylan on stage and in the studio. Selections include Dylan’s first film soundtrack for 1961’s “Autopsy on Operation Abolition;” a devastating solo rendition of “Ballad of Hollis Brown” from the 1963 TV special “Folk Songs and More Folk Songs;” a rollicking 1976 take on “I Pity the Poor Immigrant” with Joan Baez; a gospel-infused “Blowin’ in the Wind;” an apocalyptically rocking “When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky” with Dylan backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; loving tributes to Johnny Cash and Tony Bennett; a glimpse into the Archive’s film restoration project with never-before-seen footage of “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” from 1966; and many more treasures from the Archive.

Bob Dylan Center Director Steven Jenkins will present the films and engage in a post-screening discussion and audience Q&A with Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo. The Bob Dylan Center gratefully acknowledges the generous support of The Salisbury Fund in making this program possible.

The mission of the Bob Dylan Center is to inspire and celebrate fearless creativity by exploring the music and artistry of the Nobel Prize–winning singer-songwriter as a catalyst for personal expression and cultural change.

All screening attendees are eligible to enter a free raffle for two complimentary round-trip plane tickets to Tulsa—redeemable within one year on American Airlines or Delta—and a tour of the Bob Dylan Center. Offer courtesy of Experience Tulsa and the Bob Dylan Center.

Starring: Hunter Schafer, Jan Bluthardt, Marton Csokas, Jessica Henwick, Dan Stevens, Mila Lieu

Seventeen-year-old Gretchen reluctantly leaves America to live with her father at a resort in the German Alps. Plagued by strange noises and bloody visions, she soon discovers a shocking secret that concerns her own family.

Starring: Jean Reno, Adriana Barraza, Rochi Hernández, Nicolás Francella, Alexia Moyano

A heartbroken fisherman finds a penguin drifting alone in the ocean, drenched in oil from a spill. He not only rescues the sea creature, but takes it under his wing, finding a sense of joy for the first time in years.