NoBudge is happy to present a program of eight short films from a group of emerging indie filmmakers mostly based in New York. A mix of comedy, drama, documentary, and experimental filmmaking, the lineup explores strange pursuits and unusual relationships. Thematically varied and visually intriguing, often in lo-fi ways, the short films are filled with idiosyncratic personality and self-assured vision. Each film is a NYC or Brooklyn premiere 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.

36 hour walk
New York Premiere
Director Legyaan Thapa in person.
A college student attempts to walk from his dorm room in midtown Manhattan to the end of Long Island in 36 hours.
(10 min)

Manpower 4 Hire
Brooklyn Premiere
Director Ella Sinskey in person.
A woman finds a strange rock on the beach. A landscaper is down on his luck. A man licks his girlfriend.
(14 min)

Twin Flame
Brooklyn Premiere
Director Stella Gatti in person.
A young woman pays an online psychic to draw a portrait of her soulmate.
(11 min)

Handball
New York Premiere
Director Eli Beutel in person.
When his girlfriend expresses interest in opening their relationship, Charley turns to a handball rival for advice.
(9 min)

What Is You Laughin For?
New York Premiere
Director David Dunnington in person.
Four friends live in a toxic state of limbo until world events change everything.
(15 min)

Tradition
New York Premiere
Director Akari Alishio in person.
When Max’s ex comes over to pick up the last of her belongings, Max asks her for help with a self tape.
(13 min)

Recreational Social Interaction
New York Premiere
Director Alex Sovoda in person.
Two people go on a date and everything is perfect and they fall in love.
(18 min)

NADIR: A documentary about surfing in Newport, Rhode Island in the summer and most of the other times as well
New York Premiere
Director Jack Galvin in person.
What begins as a documentary about surfing evolves into a comedy about a guy trying to get rid of a surfboard.
(18 min)

Electronic Body Music is the dance floor evolution of Industrial music, with deep roots into Post Punk and Neue Deutsche Welle. It all started in Germany and Belgium in the early 1980s, when seminal bands such as Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, Front 242 and Liaisons Dangereuses laid the foundations for this new music style, marked out by thumping beats, aggressive vocals and sequenced synth bass lines. Adrenaline-filled live shows, controversial lyrics and provocative looks shocked the music press and fueled the audience imagination, leaving a burning mark on the hearts and minds of their followers.

Electronic Body Movie is the first documentary film ever made about E.B.M. history and rediscovery. Hear from the voice of the E.B.M. pioneers and prime movers how they shaped and developed their music. Meet some of today’s most cutting edge DJs and producers still inspired and influenced by them. A visual journey into E.B.M. iconic sound, filled with rare archive videos, unreleased live footage and exclusive interviews which will reveal the secrets behind its longevity and show the impact it still has
on contemporary electronic music.

Starring: Wes Miller, David Weldon, Mary Wascavage, Dave Bonavita

From the creator of the legendary Suburban Sasquatch!

Deep within a tranquil forest, five strangers meet at a secluded bed and breakfast. But one of these guests happens to be a mad scientist, who uses his vacation to accidentally create an army of killer mushrooms. Now unleashed on the other guests, and with the body count quickly piling up, it’s up to the survivors to arm themselves and fight back against these slaughtering shrooms in hopes of stopping them from world domination!

From Dave Wascavage, the writer/ director of Rifftrax and Red Letter Media favorite Suburban Sasquatch comes a film that somehow manages to outdo and out-WTF that movie in almost every department, with jaw-dropping mushroom samurai fighting, puppet karate decapitations and near interdimensional level CGI alchemy that will have viewers believing they have actually ingested mushrooms, the good kind.

Starring: Tao Zhao, Fan Liao, Zheng Xu, Casper Liang

Qiao (Zhao Tao) is in love with her boyfriend Bin (Liao Fan), a small-time gangster. During a fight between rival gangs, she fires a gun to protect him. Qiao gets five years in prison for this act of loyalty. Upon her release, she goes looking for Bin to pick up where they left off.

Starring: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck, William Tubbs, Véra Clouzot, Folco Lulli

4K restoration

In a squalid South American oil town, four desperate men (Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Folco Lulli, and Peter van Eyck) sign on for a suicide mission to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over a treacherous mountain route. As they ferry their explosive cargo to a faraway oil fire, each bump and jolt tests their courage, their friendship, and their nerves. The result is one of the greatest thrillers ever committed to celluloid, a white-knuckle ride from France’s legendary master of suspense, Henri-Georges Clouzot.

Starring: Libe Barer, Ariela Barer, Chelsea Alden, Dylan Arnold, Travis Tope, Kimiko Singer, Molly Hagan, Ricky Wayne, Diana DeLaCruz, Wayne David Parker

Followed by a Q&A with writer/director Anna Baumgarten and actors Libe Barer, Ariela Barer, Dylan Arnold, and Chelsea Alden. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

To everyone’s surprise, “Jane the Brain” flunks her final college class and retreats to her Michigan hometown by the lake. Her parents, sister, townie friends, and an old high school crush soften the burden of failure, and it’s long before this misstep feels more like an opportunity at one last care-free summer vacation. She rekindles a friendship with her neighbor Amber, a single mother with a difficult toddler, and utilizes her skills as a linguistics student–including American Sign Language–to help Amber connect with her son. Despite her best efforts, however, Jane can’t keep the real reason that caused her academic disruption bottled up. She struggles with imposter syndrome, and her PTSD boils over. With the support of those around her, Jane unravels herself and starts the never-ending process of healing.

Starring: Elizabeth Yu, Emma Raimi, Maya Schnake, Taylor Kinkead, Billy Chengary, Ryder McDaniel

The Future of Film is Female presents the New York premiere of Lauren Loesberg’s YEAR ONE. To make a $10 donation to the Red Cross, in support of those affected by the LA fires, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

Make an additional donation to the Red Cross

Ruby’s freshman year of college doesn’t go as planned. Despite her best efforts, she struggles to make friends other than her complicated roommate, Selene, and experiences both academic and social rejection. But Selene bears problems of her own when her severe anxiety and inability to care for herself seep into Ruby’s everyday life. Soon, Ruby finds herself in a downward spiral, marked by dreams and the appearance of her glamorous alter ego, Ruby II, who begins to live the life that Ruby thinks she is expected to have.

For the first screening of 2025, The Future of Film is Female presents an essential documentary about motherhood, witches, and mental health by Elizabeth Sankey. To make a $10 donation to Baby2Baby, supporting children and families affected by the LA fires, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

Make an additional donation to Baby2Baby

Witches are figures of solace in this intimate documentary, which unravels the social stigmas that women have endured across centuries. Between affecting interviews and vividly illustrative film clips, Elizabeth Sankey concocts a potion that brims with courage, compassion, and healing insight.

“Ushering her own long-standing obsession with movies to the fore, Sankey draws on a wealth of footage spanning the entirety of film history- with clips as far ranging as THE WIZARD OF OZ , GIRL, INTERRUPTED, and ROSEMARY’S BABY – to make that point that our shared cultural representation of witches says a lot more about how we view women, motherhood, and mental health. Sankey places her own personal experiences alongside interviews with academics and other women with shared experiences within a larger historical context that relates back to the witch hunts of past centuries and up to the way contemporary cultural norms continue to fail women. Witches functions simultaneously as stirring personal testimony, critical ode to cinephilia, and a vital feminist history lesson” .––Cara Cusumano, Tribeca Festival

Before Witches, we’ll screen a short written and directed by FOFIF filmmaker Richa Rudola:
COW HEAVY AND FLORAL (2024)
A postpartum writer struggles to make a deadline as she experiences an identity crisis between her various personas. (15 min)

Starring: Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Pat Healy, Griffin Gluck, Mary Lynn Rajskub

An on-the-lam punk rocker and a young woman obsessed with his band embark on a series of misadventures through the decaying suburbs of the American Midwest.