Sleepwalk With Me

"I’m going to tell you a story, and it’s true. . . . I always have to tell people that." So asserts comedian-turned-playwright-turned-filmmaker Mike Birbiglia directly to the viewer at the outset of his autobiographically inspired, fictional feature debut. Birbiglia wears his incisive wit on his sleeve while portraying a cinematic surrogate. We are thrust into the tale of a burgeoning stand-up comedian struggling with the stress of a stalled career, a stale relationship threatening to race out of his control, and the wild spurts of severe sleepwalking he is desperate to ignore..

 

"An endearing indie feature about the day-to-day indecisions and nocturnal perambulations of a commitment-phobic New Yorker... appealing enough to launch Birbiglia in a big way, this warm, perceptive debut should win over auds ...The nice surprise of this screen adaptation (which Birbiglia accomplished with the help of "This American Life's" Ira Glass, his brother Joe Birbiglia and Seth Barrish, director of the original stage production) is that his humor comes across just as strongly in visual terms, with funny observations layered into casting, performance and every aspect of the production. "    - Variety

90 minutes      directed by Mike Birbiglia

Almost in Love

The story of a love triangle in two uninterrupted halves, Almost in Love mixes a naturalistic style with an ambitious new form to create a unique experience. A film that deals with loyalty, friendship and love — and whether a perfect moment can save us from ourselves. Almost in Love is Sam Neave’s third feature but the first to combine the natural intimacy of his previous work with a rigorous formal aesthetic. Using the audio to pull our focus from one conversation to another, one moment to the next, the film is a unique blend of performance and technique. Until very recently, long takes (anything over about 10 minutes) were a technical impossibility. And while the digital revolution has allowed for longer takes, even in the era of HD no film has attempted to marry the sheer bravura element of style with the intimacy of a character-driven drama. The challenge of Almost in Love is to present two continuous takes — two single breaths — in which lives are transformed and characters altered in real time, combining a cinema of emotional intimacy with grand spectacle.

"Terrific... a surprisingly rich meditation on friendship, the difficulty of settling down and the importance of being earnest that is performed in humorous and melancholy shades by an odd assortment of performers, most notably Ms. Neshat, Gary Wilmes, Alan Cumming and Alex Karpovsky... its formal ingenuity and winning cast make it a picture to watch out for." - FILMMAKER MAGAZINE 

 

 

83 minutes      directed by Sam Neave

Incredibly Small

Anne and Amir are an unlikely pair. Amir is an escalator attendant by day and aspiring sculptor by night. Even though he has never sculpted anything before, he hopes to one day fulfill his lifelong dream of making a marble bust of Charles Barkley. Anne comes from a well-to-do family and just started law school where she spends most of her days studying. Against the odds they decide to move into a shabby 300 square foot apartment and try to start a life together. But things don’t exactly go as planned. The combination of their small apartment, their threateningly charming neighbor next door and unexpected visitors from the past make them realize that maybe they aren’t as perfect for each other as they previously had thought.

 

"A splendid Minneapolis-made slacker comedy... Writer/director Dean Peterson's smart microbudget doodle is more fully alive than the last 10 big name Hollywood movies you've seen."    - MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

 

83 minutes      directed by Dean Peterson

Wuss

WUSS is the story of a high school teacher who faces constant ridicule after he’s repeatedly beaten up by several of his own students. Having nowhere else to turn, he eventually teams up with another of his students to fight back. This student, a young girl, is feared school-wide because of a dark family reputation. She also has an unfortunate nickname grafted to her due to her predilection for smoking discarded cigarettes. Bonded in battle, the student and teacher form a friendship that stretches the use of the word inappropriate.

"WUSS manages the challenge of drawing a nebbishy character into unlikely situations without making anyone overly cartoonish. This could so easily be an over-the-top comedy, and yet behind the quirks and near-comic cruelty, Liford and his excellent cast give us a peep into humanity... Liford chooses to dig past the obvious, and Wuss becomes a story about a character struggling to deal with a brutal world, when he lacks the necessary thick skin."  - SLACKERWOOD  

89 minutes      directed by Clay Liford

Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same

Three lesbian aliens are sent to Earth. Their mission? To have their hearts broken by earthlings so their overactive emotions won’t destroy the ozone of their planet. As the fetching extraterrestrials search for romance on the New York lesbian dating scene, one finds love with Jane, an eager stationery store clerk who is oblivious to the fact that she’s dating an alien. The other two, discovering the neediness of earthling women, connect with each other as they reflect on the beauty of a cheesecake in a revolving dessert case. Tightly scripted with lo-fi styling and campy DIY effects that would make Ed Wood envious, Codependent mashes up the B-movie and Men in Black and turns it into a witty, wholly original comedy. First-time feature writer/director Madeleine Olnek (her shorts Hold Up and Countertransference screened at the festival in 2006 and 2009, respectively) embraces the intrinsic hilarity of lesbian life and DIY filmmaking to tell a story about love that transcends galaxies.

 

"Sweet, funny, clever... Olnek's sensibility is singular, and the work of the cast make for a movie that seeks, and earns, affection."   - VARIETY

 

76 minutes      directed by Madeleine Olnek

Tiny Furniture

22-year-old Aura returns home after college to her artist mother’s loft with the following: a useless film theory degree, 357 hits on her YouTube page, and no shoulders to cry on. Starring Dunham and her real-life family, Tiny Furniture is tragicomedy about what does and does not happen when you graduate with no skills, no love life, and a lot of free time.

 

"If you're working with your own family in your own house and depicting passive aggression, selfishness and discontent and you produce a film this good, you can direct just about anybody in just about anything." - Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

 

98 minutes      directed by Lena Dunham      released by IFC Films

Lovers of Hate

In this savage comedy about deceit and sibling rivalry, two estranged brothers, Rudy and Paul, have nothing in common but their love for the same woman. When Paul whisks her away to a romantic mountain retreat, the lovers have no idea that Rudy has made it there first. From the shadows of the posh chalet, Rudy tries desperately to sabotage the relationship in director Bryan Poyser's brilliantly executed game of cat and mouse.

 

"Viciously amusing" - THE NEW YORK TIMES

91 minutes      directed by Bryan Poyser      released by IFC Films

Bass Ackwards

When humble Linas, kicked off of his friend’s couch and spurned by his lover, finds a forgotten van on a llama farm outside Seattle, he begins lurching east with nothing to lose. Slowly, the road eases him out of his relentless longing and into the moment. As his encounters with enigmatic characters take on subtly transcendent qualities, his shame and discomfort at being alone gradually give way to self-acceptance and connection. The dented, off-kilter vehicle, which valiantly, amazingly endures the journey, becomes a colorful metaphor for the human condition—our tenacity and hopefulness always tinged with imperfection.

 

"The kind of introspective road film plenty of aspiring auteurs would probably like to make but few can pull off" - HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

88 minutes      directed by Linas Phillips      released by New Video Group

The Grownups

Someone says the wrong thing at a dinner party.

 

 

4 minutes      directed by Jason Wehling      

Harmony and Me

Bob Byington's hilariously deadpan comedy for the cell phone generation takes place in Austin, Texas, where a voluble young lyricist named Harmony refuses to let go of the heartbreak caused when Jessica, his girlfriend, breaks up with him. Starring musician Justin Rice (MUTUAL APPRECIATION, lead singer of Bishop Allen) as the motor-mouthed Harmony and Kevin Corrigan (PINEAPPLE EXPRESS) as his sidekick Carlos, Byington's film presents a heartfelt portrait of a bright guy and his unsympathetic buddies dealing with heartache.

“Represents much of what is wonderful and fresh about the recent wave of ultra-low-budget American independent filmmaking.” - LOS ANGELES TIMES

82 minutes      directed by Robert Byington      released by Netflix

Beeswax

A marvelous new film from Andrew Bujalski ("Funny Ha Ha", "Mutual Appreciation"), one of the brightest stars in indie film, "Beeswax" revolves around the personal and professional entanglements of twin sisters Jeannie and Lauren. Jeannie co-owns a vintage clothing store with Amanda, a semi-estranged friend who she feras is trying to end their partnerhsip. Lauren leads a looser, less tethered exisstence and is considering getting out of the country altogther. When Jeanne receives and email from Amana threatening a lawsuit, she calls her law-student ex-boyfriend Merrill for help. Eager for distratcion from his own problems, he begins helping the sisters with tehirs. Imbued wh an innate charm, "Beeswax" is a story about families, firneds, lovers and this awkward monets that bring all of them together.

“A remarkably subtle, even elegant movie. Conceals both an ingenious comic structure and a rich emotional subtext (One of the 10 Best Films of 2009)." - THE NEW YORK TIMES

 

100 minutes      directed by Andrew Bujalski      released by The Cinema Guild

The Hole Story

Despite arctic temperatures sheathing Minnesota's lakes in three feet of solid ice, an inexplicable stretch of water surfaces on North Long Lake. Determined to unravel this mystery for a television pilot called 'Provincial Puzzlers', an aspiring director is slowly engulfed in a maniacal search that leads to his own unraveling.

 

"Equal measures Woody Allen and Werner Herzog, The Hole Story is one of the most orginal American comedies we've seen in a long time" - FILMMAKER MAGAZINE

86 minutes      directed by Alex Karpovsky      released by Indiepix