5 films not to miss at Indie Grits

The Indie Grits festival starts Thursday, April 14, and there’s a ton to do and see.

On the movie side, there are four feature films, eight feature documentaries, 37 shorts, five student films, three music videos and two animated films. Don’t worry if you don’t have time to watch all 1,355 minutes, because we’ve highlighted five you shouldn’t miss.

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If you like: Avoiding adulting

See: “Paperback,” 9:30 p.m. Friday, April 15 and 2 p.m. Saturday, April 16

Seven years after college, a pizza-maker struggles with post-grad malaise while trying to understand the millennials in his college town. Alternate title: “Adulting is Hard.”

If you like: ESPN 30 for 30s

See: “I Am Yup’ik,” 8 p.m. Thursday, April 14 and noon Saturday, April 16

Turns out, people in rural Alaska love their basketball. But getting to games when there are no roads means chartering small planes or hopping on snowmobiles. Now that’s dedication to your sport.

If you like: Trying strange foods

See: “Eat White Dirt,” 11:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, April 16

Grilled scorpion and chitterlings may be palatable, but what about dirt? This is a food trend you may not want to get behind. The documentary follows the strange people who eat dirt and the scientists who study them.

If you like: “Paranormal Activity” (or “Anchorman”)

See: “Lamp: A Ghost Story;” 11:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, April 16

I love lamp. So did this old man from Kentucky. He thought he snagged a good deal on a lamp at a flea market, until it started haunting him in his sleep.

If you like: Those rare sightings of Boombox Guy on the University of South Carolina campus

See: “The Boombox Guy,” 9:30 p.m. Friday, April 15 and 2 p.m. Saturday, April 16

There’s a movie about him now! It’s only four minutes – a song-length glimpse of JJ Shepherd spreading his love of old-school mix tapes around Columbia.

Honorable mentions

If you like: That sad part in “Gravity” when George Clooney drifts hopelessly off into space

See: “Glove,” 5:45 p.m. Friday, April 15 and 8:15 p.m. Sunday, April 17

In this animated short, an astronaut’s glove becomes an emblem of jaunty existentialism after it drifts away into the vacuum of space.

If you like: “Blade Runner,” “I Am Legend” or [insert robots vs. humans movie here]

See: “Target,” 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 15 and 6 p.m. Sunday, April 17

In this experimental short, robots usurp their frail human counterparts in a mashup of educational and science fiction films from the 1970s and 1980s.

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This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 5:13 PM with the headline "5 films not to miss at Indie Grits."