Social & External
João
Mauro
An anthology of eleven vignettes featuring star-studded casts of extremely unique individuals who all share the common activities of conversing while drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes.
"A socially anxious college student reluctantly heads to a party attempting to make new friends. Nande Walters directs “Who Are You Really?”, an experimental portrait of insecurity characterized by a raw, youthful energy. Anya walks into the room and immediately feels like everyone is judging her. Eventually she strikes up a conversation with a young man, but neither really knows what to say and it doesn’t go anywhere. After struggling through the awkward night, she’s surprised to learn that an extroverted friend didn’t fare much better. Walters is only 19 years old, one of the youngest we’ve ever featured on NoBudge, and her film is the work of an artist still learning her craft but she clearly knows the feeling she’s after and captures it with pops of style and a touching closing monologue." -Kentucker Audley
Before heading off to college, an overthinking teenager asks out a former girlfriend in an effort to reconnect and hold on to his past.
When Gabriel and Emilie meet by chance, he offers her a ride, and they spend the evening talking, laughing and getting along famously. At the end of the night, Emilie declines Gabriel's offer of "a kiss without consequences". Emilie admonishes him that the kiss could have unexpected consequences, and tells him a story, unfolding in flashbacks, about the impossibility of indulging your desires without affecting someone else's life.
As Samay nears his thirtieth birthday, he and his girlfriend Meenakshi embark on a road trip to a tranquil hill spot on a Saturday afternoon. Between winding roads and quiet moments, their conversations unravel reflections on life’s twists and turns—career choices, societal expectations, relationships, and the delicate balance between personal aspirations and external pressures. A journey filled with warmth, scenic beauty, and unfiltered thoughts, Tree Roots Through Concrete captures the essence of love, change, and the pursuit of meaning.
The film does not have a plot per se; it mixes documentary footage, along with standard movie scenes, to give the audience the mood of Germany during the late 1970s. The movie covers the two-month time period during 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped and later murdered by the left-wing terrorists known as the RAF-Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Fraction). The businessman had been kidnapped in an effort to secure the release of the original leaders of the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang. When the kidnapping effort and a plane hijacking effort failed, the three most prominent leaders of the RAF, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe, all committed suicide in prison. It has become an article of faith within the left-wing community that these three were actually murdered by the state.
A woman looking for her kidnapped son finds one of the men who took him.
Two friends explore the meaning of anxiety.
Two strangers visit the penthouse of a recently deceased lover, only to find themselves learning more about each other.
Several lost-soul night-owls, including a nightclub owner, a talk radio relationship counselor, and an itinerant stranger have encounters that expose their contradictions and anxieties about love and acceptance.
Two old friends meet for dinner; as one tells anecdotes detailing his experiences, the other notices their differing worldviews.
A day in the life of several drifting characters, both friends and strangers, hanging out in the suburbs of Richmond Hill, Ontario.
Two university students gain insight into life and love as they get to know each other during a road trip across Europe.
A lowly comic book shop owner discovers a mysterious young woman loitering in his shop, leading to an unlikely friendship.
Two friends resort to playing Rock, Paper, Scissors, flipping a coin, and detailed, yet petty analyzation of their friendship to determine which of them will call the mother of their recently deceased best friend, informing her of his demise.
Jackie and Michael are coworkers at a large law firm. They decide to meet at Jackie's for dinner one night.
The day begins with an exchange of favours. An interview, a football game, cigarettes after cigarettes. Routine fragments of those who live in an isolated space which labels and conditions life choices.
Teenage years, the best and worst years of our lives. Jeremy is an ordinary teenager, living an ordinary teenage life. Because of his shyness, he fantasizes conversations with his crush, Sean. But what happens when he loses control of something completely in his mind?
It starts as a one night stand that evolves in a long discussion with infinite subjects between a québécoise and an immigrant.
Two friends, Mia and Teo, meet up one evening and over a glass of wine, they debate the philosophy of love into its very depths. Being polar opposites, Mia argues over the inevitable end and pain that comes with the start of every relationship while Teo is more concerned with the loss of self and the change that occurs in someone over a relationship. By trying to preserve a memory that will forever exist in their minds, they choose to play pretend for the evening and live out the perfect relationship. The film offers a quick glimpse into an alternate universe where after years spent together, Mia moves out of the apartment where Teo and her lived together. A short peek into what could have been and also asking - would it have even been worth it in the end? However, once the hour has passed, they have to return to reality.
