Shockfest Film Festival

Shockfest Film Festival: Shock The System brings innovative films, cash prizes, group discussions on surviving in the Entertainment Industry and live entertainment to Peter Norton Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia, Saturday, Dec. 9th 2023.

Special guests include: Lloyd Kaufman (TROMA Entertainment, The Toxic Avenger), Richard Elfman (The Forbidden Zone, Bloody Bridget) and Thavary Krouch, Deputy Director of Film from the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

Movie screenings include:

Exit
Dir. Oriana Ng
A dangerous elevator ride tests a couple’s bond.

Missing in the Midwest
Dir. Harper Brock
Filmmaker Harper Brock journeys back to her roots to learn what happened to her cousin Joelle Lockwood, whose 2014 abduction case shockfed southwestern Indiana. In addition to Joelle’s first ever public interview, this documentary features discussions with law enforcement and her loved ones as they question the lines between good, bad and evil.

Black Maria
Dir. Marcus W. Albino
Ana Morales is the wife of a local gangster, a petty thug with a penchant for violence. When the infamous Allende Brothers darken her doorstep, Ana is forced to confront her husband’s horrifying truth. Black Maria is a matriarchal story of brotherhood and bloodshed, of honor found in a den of thieves.

The Company We Keep
Dir. Jeff C. Edelstein
Carter has recently been released into his mother’s care following an event that turned his life upside down for the past twenty years. While readjusting to life with his abusive mother Diane and her new live in boyfriend, Carter has to navigate a new friendship with a pair of detectives who might be pursuing a serial killer and being reunited with Katie, a childhood friend who is eager to get reacquainted; on top of everything else, the college girl on all of the missing posters around town is hiding in Carter’s closet and wants to meet his mother.

The Molok
Dir. Sam Wilson
Struggling to cope with the death of his father, 10 year old Micah unwittingly falls into the traps of The Molok, an ancient creature who feeds on human memories.

The Book of Light
Dir. Ash McNair
A group of white people join a cult led by an Indian guru with the goal of becoming better allies to people of color. What they achieve however, is far less meaningful…

The Life of Peter Gottlieb
Dir. Sam Centrella
Fresh off a bitter divorce, college professor, Peter Gottlieb, falls for his student, Sabrina Carbonowitz. All Hell breaks loose when Sabrina goes missing and two hard-boiled detectives make Peter public enemy number one in this broken romantic comedy.

The Devil on Derby Street
Dir. Luke St. Germaine
Chelsea receives a nightmarish phone call and realizes her reality is not what it seems.

Split Second
Dir. Gregory Van Voorhis, Nicole Van Voorhis
A mother and father must fight to save their daughter from a doppelganger who has marked her as its next living vessel. The only question is: which one is she?

Bloody Bridget
Dir. Richard Elfman
Voodoo Deity transforms a burlesque dancer into a “Valentine Vampire”. Bloody only wets her appetite—she must hear her victim’s beating hearts. A bloody fun horror/comedy by Director Richard Elfman (The Forbidden Zone), music by Danny Elfman and Ego Plum.

Discussions and presentations will include surviving the entertainment industry as an independent artist, resources available to filmmakers provided by the City of New York, Bloody Burlesque, live music and our Award Ceremony, where cash prizes, custom trophies and laurels will be presented to the winning filmmakers of Shockfest Film Festival 2023!

Shockfest Film Festival: Shock the System is proudly presented by Halloween Adventure, New York’s largest and very best makeup, costume and apparel shop located in the East Village. www.nychalloweenadventure.com

Check out www.shockfilmfest.com for more information on how to become a part of the Shockfest community. Shockfest spends 365 days a year to produce live and virtual events designed to entertain, inform and build community for artists, creatives and filmmakers from around the world. Shockfest pulls open the curtain of the Entertainment Industry to reveal the inner workings of the entertainment world and to provide opportunity to those who wish to leave their mark in media.