2023 Shawna Shea Film Fest Returns With New Features, Location

WORCESTER, MA — The annual Shawna Shea Film Festival will return to screens this month with 94 films and shorts playing across three locations in Southbridge and Worcester. The festival honors Shea, an Uxbridge teen who died in a car crash in 1999 and who was known for her creative streak.

Here's more from a Shawna Shea Foundation news release:

The 2023 Shawna Shea Film Festival (SSFF2023) opens Wednesday, Sept. 20, at starlite, 39 Hamilton Street, Southbridge, at 7 p.m. and continues Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 21-23 at the Hilton Garden Inn, 35 Major Taylor Blvd.; The Front Room at WCUW Radio, 910 Main St. in Worcester.

We have a packed schedule check it out here; and for tickets, go to https://filmfreeway.com/TheShawnaSheaFilmFestival/tickets. It’s always a good idea to buy tickets early, some of our popular film blocks sell out pretty fast. Tickets are also available at the door, $10, cash only.

We are excited to screen the premiere of a film by our 2022 Women in Film Fellow Courtney Sanello of Atlantic Beach, NY, who has been working all year on her first film. This Shawna Foundation program is one of our first and is near and dear to our hearts. Since 2015, we have awarded 13 Fellowship awards.

A new feature this year! If you’d like to hear from some of our filmmakers follow our YouTube page right here and see our host with the most Patrick Bracken interview some of the filmmakers. https://www.youtube.com/@shawnasheafilmfestival4450.

This year we will be screening 94 features and shorts made locally or as far away as Japan. We will have 11 World Premieres including a locally produced feature Wallie’s Gals by Mary C. Ferrara and The Wheel of Heaven by cult filmmaker Joe Badon.

Six of the shorts were made by first-time filmmakers. It’s an exciting lineup and, as it is with each festival every year, the films submitted drive the theme.

And this year, the theme that emerged is one that tackles overcoming troubles and obstacles in life with a more positive outlook. A vastly different experience than with the last festival while we were in the middle of the pandemic. This year the theme is hope.

But... we always have our popular Horror Shorts Block and well as our Experimental Block where sometimes things aren’t so sunny.

We cannot go without mentioning our panel of judges for the hundreds of film submissions we receive. They watch every single one! They are brilliant and we couldn’t put together such a fine four-day schedule without them.

And to cap SSFF2023, we will have a special UnderGround Wednesday at starlite, 39 Hamilton St in Southbridge on Sept. 27 where we will be screening the Italian silent classic L’Inferno based on Dante’s Inferno with live musical accompaniment by Alec K. Redfearn. Screening starts at 7 p.m. and it is free!!