The Urbanite Arts & Film Festival’s mission is to foster the next generation of filmmakers that are underrepresented in the film industry. In its fourth year, the Urbanite Arts & Film Festival 2025 will highlight underrepresented voices including, but not limited to, young women, BIPOC, Latinx, LGBTQIA, people with disabilities, and the neurodiverse communities. Through exhibition of their art, we create a platform for a diverse range of young artists to express themselves creatively and launch creative careers.
This year's festival will be held at the Studio Theater in Exile @ Hudson Valley MOCA in Peekskill, NY.
Friday, August 1, 2025 - Film Screenings
12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
SCHEDULE TBA
Each film block is preceded by a 15 minute break.
Saturday, August 2, 2025 - Film Screenings
12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
SCHEDULE TBA
Each film block is preceded by a 15 minute break.
Sunday, August 3, 2025 - Awards Ceremony & Poetry Workshop
12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
The afternoon will begin with a reception and refreshments, followed by an awards ceremony, special film screening, and a poetry workshop.
Freeing Art from Internalized Oppression: Using Poetry to Re-Imagine Ourselves with Dr. Nicholas Powers
Are you, you? Can you feel all of your emotions? Can you imagine all of your reality? Too many people, especially artists are bogged down by internalized oppression that are visible in symptoms like: addressing the wrong reader, status seeking, working with caricatures and fear of experiencing their natural rhythms which are the very fertile soil that art grows in like a bright rose. In this workshop, we will review the literature and literary criticism of "Othered" artists and how they found their way to their truth. Next we do creative exercises to re-root our craft in our bodies and breath and dreams.
The full digital program will be viewable on the Urbanite Arts & Film Festival website in July 2025.
The Urbanite Arts & Film Festival is supported by a grant from The Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry.
The Urbanite Arts and Film Festival is a vibrant showcase of smartphone photography, filmmaking, poetry, screenplay writing, and music videos. Now in our fourth year, we will allow submissions with any camera form as well as smartphone options.
To learn more about The Urbanite Arts and Film Festival, please click this link: www.urbanitefest.org
