
- Film Screening
- Short Film Screening
- Short Films Matinee
Date: February 19, 2026
Time: 1:10 pm – 3:05 pm
Cost: $5
Location:
Regal Union Square Theater 1
850 Broadway
New York, New York 10003
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These films have not been rated and some content may not be appropriate for children.

- Short Film Competition
Debt I Owe
Directed by: Zane Rizvi-Riemer
Country: United States
Minutes: 18
Premiere:
NYC Premiere
Burdened by gambling debts, a Pakistani-American widower searches for redemption while struggling to be a good father to his two daughters.

- Web Series Competition
Forbidden Pond
Directed by: Eric Jenkins-Sahlin
Country: United States
Minutes: 13
For single cellular organisms, life likely ends without a moment for reflection. It’s a didinium eat paramecium world. Retired epidemiologist Deb Kapell, however, immortalizes these tiny creatures with her microscopy art. FORBIDDEN POND accompanies Deb while she pursues her hobby and creates her own meaning of life through the relationships she builds with microscopic inhabitants of this world. The film is a celebration of both science and artistry, and appreciates the natural beauty that is both accessible and inaccessible.
- Short Film Competition
Malka
Directed by: Stacey Maltin
Country: United States
Minutes: 17
Premiere:
US Premiere
Malka, a Holocaust survivor, starts to see visions of her life at the camps during a present-day family seder. As time falls in on itself, Malka must find the hope in the present that she did in the past in order to survive.
- Short Film Competition
Morning Vigil
Directed by: Night Maire
Country: France / United States
Minutes: 11
Premiere:
US Premiere
A pious sister and her inflexible magistrate brother mourn the passing of their beloved mother. To honour her memory, the siblings burn the midnight oil over their mother’s old correspondences with family members whom she so often spoke of, until they come across a letter from someone she had never mentioned.
- Web Series Competition
Sexless in the City
Directed by: Talia Fayaz
Country: United States
Minutes: 18
Nia is a 30-something planner whose life turns upside down when her long-term boyfriend dumps her and ruins her five-year plan for marriage, kids, and a house on Long Island. Staring at a now-empty Google Cal, she invites herself on a night out with the girlfriends she’s ghosted, but is wildly unprepared for their cold shoulders and passive-aggressive attacks as she tries to defend her absence. Nia finds herself at a crossroads: win back her BFFs or chase the boy who left her?
- Short Film Competition
Stranded
Directed by: Luca Floris
Country: Brazil / United States
Minutes: 11
A frustrated investment banker finds purpose in the hair that he is losing.
- Short Film Competition
The Fix
Directed by: Denise Reed, Amanda Greer
Country: United States
Minutes: 19
Premiere:
NYC Premiere
Warning:
Explicit Sexual Situations, Non-Explicit Sexual Situations, Implied Violence, Drug Use, Discussion or Depiction of Rape
A woman engulfed in the cycle of heroin abuse finds herself trapped in a dingy motel room where she must relive the sacrifices she made that informed her drug-filled life, forcing her to acknowledge her demons and exorcise them to grow.
- Short Film Competition
The Gentleman
Directed by: Alireza Sharifi
Country: Iran / United States
Minutes: 10
Premiere:
World Premiere
Warning:
Explicit Sexual Situations, Non-Explicit Sexual Situations
THE GENTLEMAN tells the story of an office worker who leads a double life. Beneath his polished, masculine exterior lies a hidden world of desire and transformation revealed only in private. The film explores identity, repression, and the secret selves that exist behind closed doors.








