In honor of the holiday that surely hosts the most limbs lost in a single day, July fourth, the NewFilmmakers Series is throwing together a batch of shorts and features that are centered around things that have nothing to do with July fourth.  But, they are still great.

What peaked my interest this go-around were the more descriptive entries on the website.  The first, Fanboy, directed by Brian Tomaselli, is about two nerds of the opposite sex, both of whom are lovers of comics and have less than stellar love lives, that decide to combine their powers and form a bond like no other (aka, an intimate relationship).  The problem is that Alex (the dude) becomes obsessed with his new found love powers and gets carried away with a stripper one night.  Beth (the dudette) finds the pair in the morning and leaves distraught.  Alex now has to win her back.  It might sound sort of formulaic, but one thing about independent/amateur flicks of this nature is that they tend to take conventions and through their own guerilla/gritty style, make it accessible and real; just one of the many reasons I love films in this vein.  And another thing: this one is genuinely funny and with its low budgetness, it takes the loser gets girl theme and makes it perfectly familiar and, at times, painfully relatable.

The other is a documentary (which I haven't seen) about a World Yoga Champion (yeah, I didn't think that was possible either) named Esak Garcia.  One thing I look for in documentaries these days are pieces that make seemingly boring and most likely anti-climatic subjects and turn them into gripping dramas through their genuine experiences (The King of Kong being #1 on that particular list of mine).  Can Yoga, Inc. (by John Philp) meet said expectations?  After all, it is about how Yoga is becoming a franchise pastime...and the main man of the flick is nicknamed the "Bad Boy of Yoga".  And with a setup like that, this has to be faux-badass.  Or, it could be completely deflating and infuriating, in that "I can't believe this is real" sort of way.  Either way, it gets you out of your cramped, overpriced NYC pad on a Wednesday night.

Check the NewFilmmakers site for schedules, times, and other goodies.