Tiny Furniture

"Tiny Furniture" (2010) — watch Lena Dunham's debut feature online on iFILM. Shot in her mother's Manhattan loft, with her actual mother — photographer and artist Laurie Simmons — and her real younger brother playing the family, the film follows 22-year-old Aura back to New York after film school with no plan and nowhere to go. Her boyfriend is gone, her YouTube channel has no views, and her mother's art career is doing perfectly well without her input.

The film took the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at SXSW 2010 and gave Dunham the momentum toward HBO's "Girls." Merritt Wever, Jemima Kirke, and Alex Karpovsky fill out the supporting cast. It's a comedy with uncomfortable edges — the kind that lands closer to recognition than punchline. Stream "Tiny Furniture" online on iFILM.