While recuperating from cosmetic surgery, an actress stops in a small town expecting peace and quiet, but instead finds herself absorbed in a local legend. “Pure Immersion,” directed by Dave Biddle and Dave Ehrenreich, is a strangely engrossing tale of a young woman covered in face bandages makin...

A queer sci-fi about 10 aliens in human host bodies learning how to be men. Joseph Sackett directs “Dominant Species,” a profound and strangely funny exploration of what it means to be a man, and a commentary on social conformity and masculinity as dictated by narrow cultural and biological stand...

A young artist struggles to make a movie about a young artist who struggles to make a movie. Zenzelé Soa-Clarke directs and stars in “An Independent Movie About a Young Artist,” a meta breakdown on the tropes of slice-of-life indie filmmaking (“mumblecore, character driven, all the shit”), and an...

At the cusp of her Quinceañera, Pacurí must decide where her loyalties lie: with her devoted family or her wealthy friends. “Pacurí,” directed by Gustavo René, is a coming-of-age drama about a Paraguayan-American teenager expressing independence while her family fixates on a culturally important ...

A film about romance, scams, and romance scams. The enigmatic “Your Security,” by Elias ZX, finds a young couple communicating in security questions, “what was the name of your first pet?”, “your best friend growing up?” etc. The reason they are doing so may require some digging but it registers ...

When Nina fails to meet her goal in the final week of weight loss camp, she considers drastic alternatives. “Bye Bye Body,” directed by Charlotte Benbeniste, is a tender snapshot about body image and self-esteem delivered with wonderfully natural performances and lovely 35mm images. At a weigh-in...

In New York City, a man named Lenny looks after his mother who is experiencing memory loss and hallucinations. “I’ll Be Here For Awhile,” directed by Dylan and Dakota Pailes-Friedman, is an elliptical drama told with quietly evocative visuals about identity loss and the burdens shouldered by love...

A struggling actor suffering from an ear infection takes his pain out on the world. “Ear Ache” is an uncomfortably engrossing dark comedy directed by Alex Kavutskiy carried by a potent, on-the-edge performance from DeMorge Brown. Twice a year, Frederik Beltran can have a surgery on his ear that t...

A Loss and Prevention officer faces a difficult moral decision in Alexander Etseyatse’s “LP.” An attempted theft leads to a tense back-room stand-off in this riveting drama, placing complex characters in an agonizing dilemma. While it stays grounded as a personal account, it also raises larger qu...