NYWIFT Creative Showcase: Members at the 2026 SOHO International Film Festival

The NYWIFT Member Screening Series comes to SOHO International Film Festival with a selection of six short films showcasing talented members of the New York Women in Film & Television community in key creative roles.

The showcase screening will be followed by a conversation with the artists, moderated by NYWIFT Senior Director, Community & PR Katie Chambers.

Date: Friday, October 9, 2026
Time: 4PM ET
Location: REGAL Union Square Theater 15 (850 Broadway)
Cost: $10 minimum (pay-what-you-can)

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Join us for a reception at the filmmaker lounge at Sugar Mouse (47 Third Ave) after the Q&A!

About the Films

The Knock Shadow

Director: Lauren Sowa
Producer / Line Producer / Legal: Leah Gaydos (NYWIFT Member)
2025, Thriller, 19 min.

In this psychological thriller set in Boston in the 1980’s, Yari Aquino has a demon she calls the Knock Shadow. It’s been attached to her for as long as she can remember. A few months after giving birth to her first child, a beautiful baby girl, Yari tries to kill the demon to protect her daughter. She enters a psychiatric ward where she meets Tara Willard, a therapist, doing all she can to contend with the limiting beliefs about trauma upheld by her colleagues and superiors. As the two begin meeting for counseling, we witness how The Knock Shadow consumes Yari and invades the space; subsequently bumping against Tara’s own history with darkness. Will the demon succeed?

Magan’s Fare

Co-Directors: Dana White (NYWIFT Member) & Chris Knoblock
Producer / Writer / Editor: Dana White (NYWIFT Member)
2025, Drama, 26 min.

On a cold December day, Magan, a ride-share driver, takes Jorani, an older woman with mild dementia, back to her nursing home, only to discover that the facility has given away her bed. With nowhere for her to go, Magan is suddenly faced with a responsibility he never expected. What begins as an ordinary fare becomes a deeply human moral dilemma: How far do we go to help a stranger?

Breaking the Cycle

Director and Producer: NYWIFT Member Farah Otero-Amad
2024, Documentary, 13 min.

Breaking The Cycle offers an intimate portrait of 4Eskuela, a hip-hop school nestled in the hills of Medellín, Colombia, where students and teachers use art, music, and dance to reclaim their stories. As participants prepare to compete for the title of Medellín’s top breakdancer, they discover the power of community and self-expression in a city still healing from its past.

Back to Blackdom

Director: Zoë Colfax
Producer: NYWIFT Board Member Luchina Fisher
2025, Documentary, 15 min.

In 1903, thirteen Black men and their families fled the Jim Crow laws of the South and traveled to southern New Mexico. There, they established Blackdom, the state’s first and only all-Black town. A century later, two families return to the site to reclaim their ancestors’ land and restore the town’s forgotten history.

Babka

Director / Writer / Producer: Serena Dykman (NYWIFT Member)
2025, Dramedy, 17 min.

In the heart of Hasidic Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a newly blind Jewish Orthodox baker forms an unlikely friendship with a Queer Catholic Latino guide dog trainer, embarking on an eye-opening journey to overcome personal and cultural barriers in his quest to reopen his beloved bakery.

mAIve

Director/Exec Producer/Editor/Co-Writer: NYWIFT Member Victoria Duncan
2026, Sci-Fi/Comedy, 10:36 min.

A lonely man becomes addicted to an AI dating concierge that scrapes his digital footprint to optimize every hookup. When the app is suddenly banned, he is forced to confront his own flaws in the pursuit of authentic human connection. mAIve is a queer satirical comedy about modern dating, AI, and consumerism, imagining a world where your dating app doesn’t just tell you who to meet- it tells you what to wear, what to say, and even what to buy to get the outcome you want.

Special thanks to NYWIFT Board Member and VP of Special Events Sibyl Reymundo-Santiago, the Executive Director and Head of Programming at SOHO International Film Festival.