High school reunions can be minefields of trauma, with queen bees and bullies peering through a thin coating of adult civility and every hallway and classroom triggering a PTSD flashback. Yet sometimes the hardest encounter is the one with the former best friend. How could the person with whom you once shared everything have turned into a total stranger?

This Kiss is an alternately comic and serious take on old friends who have grown apart. Juliet is a successful businesswoman, Lucy a happily married stay-at-home mom. But when Juliet knocks on Lucy’s door reunion weekend, it doesn't take long for their assured facades to crack. Quicker than you can say “Another cup of tea?” their mutual insistence that yes, life is just great, begins to falter, and the real truth emerges. In a long, boozy afternoon played out against a sun-drenched Australian landscape, the two friends reveal their doubts and imperfections, share laughter and tears and finally confront an incident from the past that has haunted them both.

Sexy Thing is another look at childhood friendship, this time from a child’s point of view. In this beautifully shot, almost wordless short, two girls find solace in their idle time together, listening to records or sunning themselves on the roof. Can their friendship protect them from the ominous threats of the adult world? — MONICA NOLAN