Prelude

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.

Two friends, plagued by bouts of 'existentiality', begin to doubt their existence and spiral into trying to find what life is truly about.

Nine fictitious documentaries and films reflect the mood of late 1970s Germany, particularly the two-month period in 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped by the RAF (Red Army Faction). The kidnap had been made to orchestrate the release of the original leaders of the RAF, aka the Baader-Meinhof.

Two disparate strangers, a Gen Xer and a Millennial, form an unlikely bond on a rooftop after both experiencing traumatic situations.

A conversation between two Ecuadorian friends in the city of Panama.

Two old friends meet for dinner; as one tells anecdotes detailing his experiences, the other notices their differing worldviews.

An elderly woman is approached by a salesman who attempts to manipulate her into signing a contract.

A filmmaker is invited to an actor's house, who is keenly interested in his story. For the story to be told, the characters need to speak for themselves so they began speaking and they said

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.

A man is reunited with his father who has been gone for more than 15 years.

"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

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.

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.

A woman looking for her kidnapped son finds one of the men who took him.

Antoine - a grieving loner - spends his days in a cafe on Place Clichy watching people. Every day, he sees a woman he calls Albertine get out of the subway and go to the movies. Today, he takes it upon himself to talk to her. Thus began Antoine's down-going.

In the final hours before the New Year strikes, Anna and Zoe step away from the party’s chaos and find themselves connecting over shared cigarettes. Their quick break becomes a quiet, intimate moment where confessions surface, doubts are explored, and the dynamic between them begins to shift.

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.

It starts as a one night stand that evolves in a long discussion with infinite subjects between a québécoise and an immigrant.

Four small-town people, tied together by new and old relationships, come together to tangle, fight, sing, talk, smoke, drink, argue, laugh, leave and return - and stumble towards the reality that their lives are finally changing, whether they like it or not.

A woman challenges her husband on his decision to have a female friend stay over.