Schedule

Program 1:

Shorts Block 1 + Live Podcast

4:00pm to 6:15pm

Shorts Block 1: “Womb to Tomb” + Post-screening Q&A with filmmakers

A bold shorts collection exploring bodies, birth, identity, and the human lifecycle

  • Director/Writer: Ariel McCleese

    Country: United States

    Duration: 15:24 min

    Genre: Horror, Queer, Coming‑of‑Age
    Content Warnings: Bodily Fluids, Experimental Soundscapes.

    Logline

    When Iris thinks of Ellie, she gets wet. Very wet. She’s heard it’s normal, but this seems different. And when you’re in high school, different is dangerous.

    Iris learned about wet dreams in health class, but when she dreams about Ellie she gets really, really wet. When her first hookup takes a deadly turn, she learns the truth: she’s dangerous.  Now Iris must confront the unique contours of her sexuality before she drowns the girl of her dreams.

  • Director: Grace Rex

    Country: United States

    Duration: 13:45 min

    Genre: Romance, Horror

    Content Warnings: Mental Health Themes, Bodily Harm/Gore, Other Bodily Fluids, Animal Trauma or Harm

    Logline:
    An audiobook narrator’s attempt to finish a western erotica novel in her closet is disrupted by unsettling disturbances.

  • Director: Jessica Barr

    Country: United States

    Duration: 12:54

    Content Warnings: Forthcoming

    Logline:
    A woman struggling with sexual pleasure after childbirth reconnects with an old coping habit—body horror meets maternal grief.

  • Director: Maureen McEly

    Country: United States

    Duration: 05:34 min

    Social Media: Instagram

    Content Warnings: Death/Dying

    Logline:
    A grieving mother's reunion with her daughter comes at a price she cannot afford.

Live Podcast Recording: “Blerdy Massacre” - Hosts Sharai and Xero bring horror, humor, and hot takes

[A smiling person with medium brown skin and short dark hair wears a red top over a black tank. A pencil is tucked behind their ear. They stand against a black background with a relaxed pose.]

Sharai the Slayer

[A person with short curly green hair and winged eyeliner wears a black denim vest covered in pins, silver chains, and hoop earrings. A green outline surrounds them on a dark background.]

Xero Gravity

Black + Nerd = Blerd. Join hosts Xero Gravity & Sharai The Slayer as they Blerd out all over nerd earth through chaotic, topical conversations that any nerd of color would peel an ear for.

Break

6:15 - 7:30pm

Grab dinner, socialize with other attendees, or just rest

Program 2:

Shorts Block 2 + Awards

7:30pm to 10:00pm

Shorts Block 2: "Flesh of My Flesh" + Q&A with filmmakers

Visceral shorts probing beauty, fear, and transformation beneath the skin

  • Director: Rebecca Culverhouse
    Country: United Kingdom

    Duration: 03:38

    Social Media:Instagram, Facebook

    Genre: Horror, Drama, Noir, Experimental
    Content Warnings: Mental Health Themes, Eating Disorders, Bodily Harm/Gore, Experimental Soundscapes.


    Logline:
    Anna, a successful product photographer obsessed with curated perfection, is overtaken by a literal hunger driven by social media-induced insanity, leading her to “consume” everything—including her dates. A critique on digital dopamine addiction and capitalist perfectionism.

  • Director: Arts collective: Are we Artists or Cops?

    Country: Canada

    Duration: 03:35

    Genre: Experimental
    Content Warnings: Experimental Soundscapes, Flashing/Strobing

    Logline:
    A quadruple amputee and a seamstress metamorphose into a giant mound of writhing flesh—an unsettling commentary on disability and societal stigma.

  • Director: Julianna Romanyk

    Country: Canada

    Duration: 03:16 min

    Social Media: Instagram

    Genre: Horror, Poetry, Experimental

    Content Warnings: Ableism, Mental Health Themes, Bodily Harm/Gore, Drug Use, Experimental Soundscapes.


    Logline:
    Medical trauma is torture—this experimental short challenges the medical gaze and the disabled body as a freak. Brutal and haunting.

  • Director: Maude Michaud

    Country: Canada

    Duration: 07:47 min

    Social Media:Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

    Content Warnings: Mental Health Themes, Bodily Harm/Gore


    Logline:
    A woman is tormented by a menacing creature that tries to take control of her body.

  • Director: Amir Moini

    Country: United States

    Duration: 12:17

    Trailer: YouTube

    Social Media: Instagram

    Content Warnings: Stalking, Graphic Violence, Bodily Harm/Gore, Death/Dying

    Logline / Synopsis:
    In a remote mountain cabin, a young man escaping heartbreak is stalked by a ruthless killer he met via dating app—modern isolation meets classic slasher fear.

  • Director/co-writer: Daisy Rosato

    Writer/Actor: Sophie Sagan-Gutherz

    Country: United States

    Duration: 15:00 min

    Social Media: Website, Instagram

    Content Warnings: Racism (anti-Blackness, islamophobia, etc.), Ableism, Death/Dying, Animal Trauma or Harm, Experimental Soundscapes.

    Logline:
    When the leader of an artist residency kills a possum that’s been eating their cauliflower, the residents reach a shocking consensus.

Silent Auction & Paddle Raise

Live bid on iconic items and experiences while supporting accessible, inclusive horror.

Access:Horror Awards Ceremony

Celebrating excellence and accessibility in horror with awards and community recognition.

[White laurel graphics on black background of skeletal arms holding on to each other, circling the tesxt: August 1, 2025 Access:Horror DCTV Firehouse NYC]