Short Film Screenings 2026
The following films will be screened during the Albany Film Festival in the Campus Center West Boardroom and the Republic Records Music Hall (Campus Center West Auditorium).
​
Short Film Award winners to be announced at the Ironweed & Short Film Award Ceremony in the Republic Records Music Hall (Campus Center West Auditorium) on March 28th at 6:00 p.m.
Experimental Short Films
Campus Center West Boardroom
11:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
21st CENTURY PROPHET/DADA
Directed by:
Steven Surprenant
Experimental Short Film
The film is a direct result of collaging multiple ideas and visual languages together, including pop culture iconography, urban, natural and dreamlike landscapes, archival footage, and elements of graphic design.
ALL-AMERICAN RUINS: UNIVERSAL ATLAS CEMENT PLANT
Directed by:
Angel Gates Fonseca
Experimental Short Film
Follow multidisciplinary artist Blake Pfeil as he recounts the bittersweet end of a relationship while exploring the abandoned Universal Atlas Cement Plant that overlooks the banks of the Hudson River.
BACK 2 ME
Directed by: Jaire Marshall
Experimental Short Film
Through the frequency of her radio, a young woman in 1985 travels to the modern day while reflecting back on her past as she's out for her daily run.
FALLEN PETALS
Directed by:
Lucas Walzer
Experimental Short Film
A woman attempts to save her relationship with a man by using an item from their past.
HAPPY WAR
Directed by: Dale Zhou
Experimental Short Film
A video work that uses programming video and game shooting screen to synthesize each other. It consists of three parts: Color Minigun, Color Cannon, and Color Bombs. The bullets, shells, and bombs that hit the screen are all gorgeous colors and the sound of guns. into fun.
INVISIBLE RIVERS TRIPTYCH
Directed by: Marilyn McCabe
Experimental Short Film
A three-part videopoem reflecting on the changing world, the changing self, the changing river.
REFRESH
Directed by: Aimée Gladding
Experimental Short Film
Two girls discuss important matters in the kitchen.
STEPHEN HAWKING 'S TIME TRAVEL PARTY
Directed by: Caio F. Legname
Experimental Short Film
Inspired by Stephen Hawking’s time-travel party, this short film intercuts documentary-style interview and fiction to explore time, and the possibility that if someone really showed up to Hawking’s time travel party, we would have no idea.
Animated Short Films
Campus Center West Boardroom
12:15 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
A KISS FROM A FISH, A MERMAID WISH
Directed by:
Olivia (Oli) Landsman
Animated Short Film
This short illustrates the delicate process of developing oneself beyond family identity through moving-image collages and a mother’s recitation of her daughter’s original poem.
CUMULUS REVERIE
Directed by:
Breanna Carpico
Animated Short Film
A short 2D animated film that follows the whimsical imagination of Bambi, a young girl who loves to lose herself in the shapes of passing clouds.
ROOTED
Directed by:
Sangeeta Greenwald & Mikayla Kresco
Animated Short Film
A teenage girl, Leena, struggles to cope with her father's unwillingness to listen to her. She takes her anguish out on the forest, but it is more alive than she thinks.
STUCK AT THE SPACEPORT
Directed by: John Semerad
Animated Short Film
It’s Lore’s first day as a navigator, and she’s eager to start her new job—if only her ship would show up. Stranded at a spaceport full of eccentric aliens, malfunctioning tech, and interstellar bureaucracy, she quickly learns that deep space might be the least of her worries. ​​
THE GOLEM SMASHES ALL WALLS
Directed by:
Nathan Meltz
Animated Short Film
In a world of automatons and stylized mechanical plants and architecture, three playful robot friends look for a place to play and come upon a mysterious border wall. When one of the trio becomes the victim of militaristic violence, the remaining friends summon their protector, the golem, who smashes walls and armies alike in this moody, stop-motion animation.
Documentary Short Films
Campus Center West Boardroom
1:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
GOOD NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT
Directed by: Claire Beseler
Documentary Short Film
An observational exploration of the ceremonial nature of bedtime stories.
KING'S RANSOM
Directed by:
Halle Jones
Documentary Short Film
A short observational documentary following a charismatic chess player in New York City.
QUEEN OF THE CATSKILLS
Directed by:
Jamie Kennard
Documentary Short Film
After a series of traumatic events, a high school English teacher in the South Bronx begins retreating to the mountains looking to heal.
RADICAL ROCHESTER
Directed by: Peter Rafalow
Documentary Short Film
In 1848, Rochester, NY hosted the SECOND grassroots women's rights convention in the United States just 10 days after the ground-breaking 'First Woman's Rights Convention' in Seneca Falls.
TWO TREES
Directed by:
Callahan Mainzer &
Adam Tinkle
Documentary Short Film
Inspired by the Mohawk story of the Peacemaker, Chief Jake Swamp (1949-2010) planted trees worldwide to spread a message of peace.
WALKING ON A SHIPWRECK
Directed by: Peter J. Pepe
Documentary Short Film
In 2023, eight volunteers spent 17 days painting a 1:1 scale replica of a sunken 1758 British bateau from Lake George, onto a Fort William Henry Museum floor, so visitors could “walk on a shipwreck.”
Horror Short Films
Republic Records Music Hall (Campus Center West Auditorium)
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
DISSECTION DAY
Directed by:
Rachel Thomas-Medwid
Horror Short Film
When a traumatized college student is paired in a biology lab with her assailant, a routine pig dissection transforms into a battleground that blurs the line between reality and a dark fairytale.
LIVE.COM
Directed by:
Noah Manglapus
Horror Short Film
Late at night, two girls discover a voyeuristic website with horrifying consequences.
ON BROKEN GLASS
Directed by:
Timothy Troy
Horror Short Film
After a messy breakup, Jess takes matters to the extreme when her ex comes begging for forgiveness.
PIZZA CUTTER
Directed by:
Noah Manglapus
Horror Short Film
Alone on the 4th of July, Jessie is hankering for a snack. But her hunger might lead her into the clutches of a sinister Pizza Delivery Man.
STAKEOUT
Directed by:
Micah Khan
Horror Short Film
On a tense stakeout, two weary cops debate the value of their work—unaware that something sinister stalks the streets… and them.
THE PURSUIT
Directed by:
Nathaniel Massuh, Briola Nugent, & Prince Sprauve
Horror Short Film
A young woman named Nina is being pursued through a public park by an unseen stalker. No one else can see the Stalker or feel its presence except her.
Dramatic Part 1
Republic Records Music Hall (Campus Center West Auditorium)
1:00 p.m. - 2:20 p.m.
BACK THEN
Directed by: Jun Hyeok Kim
Dramatic Short Film
Haneul greets his parents and heads to college. While in a taxi to New York, a diminishing past memory is brought up — through one old, crumbled Leche Frita wrapper.
BLACK BEAR
Directed by:
Gabrielle Davenport
Dramatic Short Film
A rural waitress must find a way to keep her childhood home before she loses both her land and her mind.
FORSAKEN
Directed by: Elaina Couse
& Alice Carroll
Dramatic Short Film
A lonely man with a deteriorating mind longs for connection with his estranged son, what will the forest show him?
MODERATION
Directed by:
Elizabeth Kobylak
Dramatic Short Film
In this 1800s period piece we follow Alice who is struggling with pregnancy, her husbands infidelity, and the societal pressures to conform and hide ones true self.
RAT PARK
Directed by:
Elizabeth Bluhm
Dramatic Short Film
Friends who become frenemies. Three people who meet together for the holidays become adversaries.
Comedic Short Films
Republic Records Music Hall (Campus Center West Auditorium)
2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
CHICKEN HOUSE
Directed by: Jacob French
Comedic Short Film
A reclusive man moves to the suburbs and starts receiving visits from mysterious strangers... dressed as chickens.
COMPLEMENTARY COLORS
Directed by: Elijah Gaddy
Comedic Short Film
While mingling at a karaoke bar, two best friends realize maybe they're a bit too similar.
HOT BOY SUMMER
Directed by: Ian Roach
Comedic Short Film
In the midst of an apocalyptic climate meltdown, two upper middle class teenagers are forced to check their privilege when an AC malfunction threatens their lives.
PHONE SEX, THE SECOND OLDEST PROFESSION
Directed by:
Larry Weissman
Comedic Short Film
A short video where a guy gets the surprise of his life when he calls a phone sex hotline and gets a 90-year-old woman.
SCHERZO
Directed by:
Daniel Shillinglaw
Comedic Short Film
When Damon meets Maya's parents, a simple dinner unravels into a night of unexpected surprises and difficult choices.
Dramatic Part 2
Republic Records Music Hall (Campus Center West Auditorium)
4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
CIPHER IN THE CLOUDS
Directed by:
Logan S Dorfman
Dramatic Short Film
Inspired by the mystery around D.B. Cooper, two relentless detectives' interview a flight attendant trying to crack the case for what truly happened on board of flight 305.
THE DAY ELVIS DIED
Directed by:
Elizabeth Stuelke
Dramatic Short Film
It is August 1977 and Elvis Presley is dead. The domestic violence movement has just started to slow burn across the country, spotlighting abuse, long since kept secret.
NEVER AGAIN
Directed by: Leigh LeFevre
& Bill Murray III
Dramatic Short Film
Two best friends set out for a fun filled night. It is soon interrupted by someone whose behavior becomes increasingly threatening.
SOMETHING ELSE TONIGHT
Directed by: Tyler Brooks
Dramatic Short Film
It's a typical night of work for lonesome, by-the-book triggerman, Cade. Until he meets the lovely Billie. Then it's not.
STARFISHER
Directed by:
Anthony Ferraro
Dramatic Short Film
Aging and adrift, a spacefisher gets one final shot at greatness when a long-lost comrade tips him off to a mythical catch — a moment that would rewrite the meaning of his entire life.