2026 AUDIENCE FAVORITES.
You voted. We listened.
The favorites return to the big screen.
The 7:30 PM screening repeats the 1:30 PM film program.
TICKETS COMING SOON!
Don't miss the audience's favorite films returning to the big screen. Sign up and we'll let you know when tickets go on sale.
NOTIFY ME WHEN TICKETS GO ON SALESCREENING A - Six short films
MAGAN'S FARE
Drama/ 26 min. / USA
DANA WHITE, CHRIS KNOBLOCK
Directors
Dana and Chris create films not only to entertain, but to provoke the audience into questioning their assumptions, moral responsibilities, and relationship to one another—especially to the older adults and those overlooked in our communities. Each of their works is shaped by the belief that cinema is uniquely positioned to illuminate overlooked truths and to ignite public dialogue around systemic issues that remain largely invisible in mainstream storytelling.
Their commitment to portraying underrepresented stories, particularly around ageism, elder neglect, and intergenerational empathy, is key to their approach in independent cinema.
Works include the feature film In the Orchard (2018) which won the Jury Award for Best Feature Film at the 2018 Sonoma International Film Festival, Magan’s Fare (2025), starring Barkhad Abdi. Magan’s Fare premiered at the 2025 Raindance Film Festival, where it was nominated for Best Live Action Short. Involuntary (2023) stars Jack McGee and has Official Selections at festivals such as the 2023 Justice Film Festival and the 2024 Cleveland International Film Festival. Turning Blue (2021), which stars Kathleen Chalfant (Familiar Touch), premiered at the 2021 Cleveland International Film and went on to screen nationally and internationally. Turning Blue was the winner of Best Writer of a Drama at the NYWIFT Awards. Dana is a proud Film Fatales and NY Women in Film & Television member.
Dana and Chris are passionate about the art of film as an agent for change. Their focus is on creating films that stay with their audiences long after seeing them. Generating work that challenges an audience to see the world differently, understand and empathize with others in a new way, and encourage difficult and nuanced conversations about our responsibility to others are the driving forces in Dana and Chris’ films.
LITTLE REBELS CINEMA CLUB
Family Drama / 17 min. / Indonesia
KHOZY RIZAL
Director
BALLOON ANIMALS
Dramedy / 7 min. / USA
ANNA BAUMGARTEN
Director
Her debut feature film, Disfluency, won the Austin Film Festival Jury Prize and an additional 10 jury awards at regional festivals across the country. Disfluency was developed at the inaugural Ben Wiessner & Jim Cummings’ Short to Feature Lab and was a selection of the 10th US in Progress Wroclaw.
Anna has been a core development team member at Pietown Productions, Monami Entertainment, and Superjacket Productions, where she developed TV & film concepts for MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, WeTV, BET, CMT, Amazon, and HGTV. She is also the media partner of SafeBAE, a nonprofit organization that works to provide sexual assault awareness and prevention education to middle, high school, and college students. Anna is an alumna of the University of Michigan.
"UNCONDITIONAL"
Documentary / 22 min. / Petaluma, CA
ALBERT GREGORY / DANICA SIMONET
Directors
Danica Simonet has believed in the transformative power of nonfiction filmmaking since she started producing films in undergrad about the global harms of electronic waste, the spiritual and cultural significance of water, and the concept of home and belonging for migrant and receiving communities. During a brief pause from the world of filmmaking, Simonet worked as the Director of Development and Communications for a Minnesota nonprofit focused on empowering survivors of sex trafficking to rebuild their lives after escaping trafficking. The stories she heard in her work motivated her to return to the power of film. Her stories now focus on underreported social issues and barriers, especially those preventing women from living free lives.
HUNTED
Micro-short / 2 min. / Croatia
DARKO KOKIĆ
Director
Darko Kokić was born in Croatia in 1974.
He graduated in Economics, majoring in marketing, in the United States, and earned a master’s
degree in visual communications design at the Arts Academy in Split.
He has worked at several creative agencies and animation/production studios in
Croatia. He has also taught as an external lecturer at several higher education
institutions in Croatia and abroad.
Darko is the author of 3 short films, with “Hunted” being the last of the three.
His films have been shown at a range of festivals across the world.
SCRATCH
Comedy / 10 min. / USA
ALIYA KAMALOVA
Director
SCREENING B - Six short films
MY MOTHER IS. A COW
Drama / 15 min. / Brazil
MOARA PASSONI
Director
CAMPING IN PARADISE
Comedy / 23 min. / Norway
A philosopher and his girlfriend end up having to spend a night at a nudist camp, which is far beyond their comfort zone. At the camp, they meet an outgoing couple who push every boundary of the visiting couple.
EIRIK TVEITEN
Director
Eirik Tveiten worked as an actor before he made his debut as a playwrite with «The cactus» in 1997. In 2010 he wrote and directed the acclaimed short film «Friendly people». Since then, he has written and directed 14 short films. His work includes different genres and stretches from high realism to stylized comedy.
His last short film, «Night Ride» won best Short Film at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2022 and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2023. His current short film «Camping in Paradise» won both the Jury Prize and Audience Award at the Annapolis Film Festival before going on to screen at Tribeca and a series of Oscar-qualifying festivals. Eirik is currently in development with a feature film project.
CHERUBS
Dramedy / 13 min. / Switzerland
ANNA PIERI ZUERCHER & PIETRO ZUERCHER
Directors
THE PEARL COMB
Thriller / 21 min. / USA
ALI COOK
Director
The Pearl Comb is Cook’s directorial debut. Also and actor, his credits include the BAFTA nominated & BIFA winning film KAJAKI (Dir. Paul Katis), MUSCLE (Dir. Gerard Johnson), HOW TO FAKE A WAR alongside Katherine Parkinson (Dir. Rudolph Herzog) and as series regular DCI Simmons in RAGDOLL for AMC/BBC1
He made “The Pearl Comb” after hearing the unjust, true story of the ‘Edinburgh Seven’. In the 1890’s, seven women qualified to become doctors. However, instead of being celebrated, male doctors perceived them as a threat to their livelihood. The public pelted the women with mud, and they were denied the right to practise medicine. He was thinking about the ‘seven’ around the time he visited Cornwall with his daughters, where they heard the legend of the ‘Pellar family’ – an ancient lineage of esoteric ‘healers’, who claimed that their powers were granted to them by a mermaid.
From there, he concocted a tale about a Victorian, female, doctor who practiced medicine under the guise of being a witch, blessed with healing powers – a narrative her rural community preferred to believe…
BE RIGHT OUT
Comedy / 5 min. / USA
COLIN MILLER
Director
TELL YOUR FACE
Comedy / 14 min. / United Kingdom
haunted by her late mother’s praise of her smooth skin, Chikana hits 30 and begins to obsess over her developing wrinkles. Without the money or motivation for Botox, she concocts an absurd and extreme way to stop them in their tracks.
JILL WORSLEY
Director
Jill Worsley is a multi-award winning and twice BAFTA nominated director. With a career spanning 20 years in the industry, she has directed and scripted a wide range of documentary & drama doc programmes or BBC, ITV C4, Amazon Prime & Disney+.
During Covid lockdown, Jill entered a BBC Writersroom opportunity to script a short film to be filmed entirely on Zoom. Of 6800 scripts entered, ‘Fred Gets Feedback’ was one of 8 chosen to be made, and it was the first fiction script she’d written. It went on to win a Rose D’Or for Best Multiplatform. She has now written and directed multiple shorts. Choked Up, a social satire starring Maxine Peake, as screened at multiple BAFTA & BIFA qualifying film festivals including Aesthetica, Norwich and LOCO. Comedy drama Where To? is screening on Disney+. Horror comedy ARM premiered at Frightfest, played at multiple festivals and won her Best Director at the Dublin International Comedy Film Festival.
Repped by The Artist Partnership, Jill is currently developing two feature scripts and a comedy drama series. Her goal is always to achieve a knife-edge balance of humour and pathos, with characters you want to spend time with, and a compelling story that has to be binged. This is exactly why she was drawn to Olivia’s screenplay ‘Tell Your Face’ because it had all of the above in spades, as well as an endlessly relevant message about the pressures around ageing.
SCREENING A - Six short films (REPEATED BLOCK)
TICKETS COMING SOON!
Don't miss the audience's favorite films returning to the big screen. Sign up and we'll let you know when tickets go on sale.
NOTIFY ME WHEN TICKETS GO ON SALE