New England Local Showcase

​July 16, 2026
THE BRATTLE • 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA

The Trip — Ayla Hadimi Ladha, Sarah Feldman
Out of Hand — Anne Ciecko
Pallbearers — Tati Chavitage
I'd Like To Thank My Wife — Sarah Greenleaf
Sticky — Naomi Ash
The Life of Death — Charlotte Benoit
You Are Not a Memorial — Jaina Cipriano
Our Loving Arms — Jayla Spears
27A 1928 — Rachel Blackman
The Cream — Bre Vergara
My Summers in Italy — Matilda Morales

Tickets

The Trip — Ayla Hadimi Ladha, Sarah Feldman
​Best friends Toby and Lola are having a great night until they must journey across campus to their college's one and only printer. Let's just say it's a trip.

Inspired by their own experiences, Sarah Feldman and Ayla Hadimi Ladha made The Trip during their junior year at Smith College. They plan to continue collaborating on creative projects, telling stories centering friendship and queer joy. 

Out of Hand — Anne Ciecko
​Stop motion interactions between shaped ceramics and malleable clay create both a meditative ritual and moments of surprise through shifting perspectives, dimensions, timings, directional movements, and expectations.

​Anne Ciecko is a maker, writer, and educator. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she currently lives and works in towns in western Massachusetts. Her poetry films/videopoems and experimental short works have been screened at festivals worldwide.

Pallbearers — Tati Chavitage
​Pallbearers is an experimental personal documentary that follows the literal and emotional journey of my best friend Phoebe Ferguson and I, as we travel to see her mother’s grave for the first time in her life. Traveling by plane, car, and train from Portland, Oregon to Dublin, Texas, the film follows our ten day journey to reunite mother and daughter.

​Tati Chavitage is a Boston based filmmaker working in nonfiction and experimental film. They have an MFA in Film and Media Arts from Emerson College and a BA in Film and Digital Media from the University of California, Santa Cruz. They're a founding member of the Bedratz Art Collective and the Burning Down the House Music and Arts Festival. They're passionate about community arts events and things that are supposed to be ugly.

I'd Like To Thank My Wife — Sarah Greenleaf
​An experimental exploration of the extensive work done by women in the service of their husbands that results in little to no credit.

​Sarah Greenleaf is a writer, video maker, and digital marketer based in Providence, RI. She holds an M.F.A. in Film and Media Arts from Temple University, taught filmmaking at elite Los Angeles private schools for five years, and now works in digital marketing and writes for a hyper-local Jewish newspaper. She has run a film festival, served on the board of directors of a youth filmmaking non-profit, and once taught a class of 14 Freshman and Sophomore boys.

Sticky — Naomi Ash
​After getting fired from her job, Emi steals a memento from her first love on the night of their final goodbye.

​My name is Naomi Ash, and I am a writer and filmmaker from Culver City, California. Growing up as a queer kid with an affinity for punk music, video art, graphic novels, and bittersweet fiction; I have always found that telling stories has given me a power to navigate a world that doesn’t always seem to make sense. Whether it be an essay, play, screenplay, or short story, my work focuses on the confusion that comes with growing up on the margins, zooming in on everyday stories that often go overlooked. I hope to find glimmers of beauty within grief, working mostly in the coming of age and dark comedy genres. In my filmmaking practice I take aesthetic inspiration from experimental and underground artists pushing the boundaries of form. I work in 16mm, hi-8 video, hand drawn and stop motion animation. I am a recent graduate of Emerson College.

The Life of Death — Charlotte Benoit
​The Grim Reaper learns what it means to be human with the help of a friendly ghost.

​Charlotte Benoit is a filmmaker based in Boston. After graduating from Vassar College, she returned to her home state of Maine to study at Maine Media Workshops + College. She thinks that most ghosts are probably kind. 

You Are Not a Memorial — Jaina Cipriano
​You do not have to burn others names into your skin to be remembered.

​Jaina Cipriano is a photographer, filmmaker, and experiential designer whose work delves into the emotional complexities of religious and romantic entrapment. Through her immersive worlds, she invites viewers to reconnect with their neglected inner child, using explosive colors, elements of elevated play, and a dynamic interplay of light and dark to evoke deep, often unspoken emotions.

Our Loving Arms — Jayla Spears
​As a new friendship blossoms, the emotional tensions between two best friends turns volatile.

Jayla Spears, grew up near Chicago and moved to Boston to study filmmaking. After working on several short films as a student, Jayla explains "Our Loving Arms" as the first film she made the way she wanted to. Curating a group of other female filmmakers, Jayla created a space where everyone could exercise their personhood. She will continue to create independent films and work on bringing out artistic expression among the youth population in the future.

27A 1928 — Rachel Blackman
​After three long years as a couple, Florence and Lucille prepare to host a Halloween party, each hoping for a chance to distract themselves from the glaringly obvious problems in their relationship. Both are unwilling to let go of the relationship, scared of revealing what they each truly value in one another. The two try to save face in front of their guests while arguing throughout the evening, but their frustrations with each other and the state of their partnership boil over as one of their friends accidentally reveals to Lucille that Florence is planning on pursuing a new opportunity far away from the life they've built together.

​Rachel Blackman is a student at Emerson College, majoring in Visual and Media Arts. With a background primarily in screenwriting, Rachel strives to bring forward stories that represent the Queer community, with the goal in mind of showcasing and celebrating all facets of Queer life. She has honed her skills as a Producer on student film sets, most often leading teams working on thesis films. She is very proud to be among other artists showcasing their work at this festival.

The Cream — Bre Vergara
​A music video to the song "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything" by Bauhaus set in Florence Italy.

​Bre was born on the Big Island of Hawai'i currently based in Somerville, Massachusetts. After creating music videos/skits with her friends, she was inspired to write her first narrative short coming later this year. Her work focuses on abstract, dream-like visuals and offers a unique sense of humor. 

My Summers in Italy — Matilda Morales
​sometimes families span oceans.
a tender documentary about home—here and there, then and now.

Matilda Morales is someone who dreams up movies when she can't sleep. She started her journey into film by making music videos for artists she met at basement concerts in Boston. Her first two music videos, “do you want me to” by Video Days and “Holyoke” by warmachine, were projects she shot, directed, and edited entirely on her own.
It didn’t take her very long to realize that creating and completing a project on her own brought her little satisfaction and moreover, she wanted to share her successes with fellow creatives. Thus, she ventured into the world of narrative filmmaking, a notoriously collaborative medium.
She jumped into this world by directing a short film for the 48 hour film project, and a few months later she shot and directed her first real short film, “ROBOT”. In the intervening time, she helped establish FL1X, a DIY filmmaking collective based in Boston, MA with her longtime collaborator Ro Subramonian.
She continues to release short and long-form content through the FL1X youtube channel and Instagram.