Phoenicia Festival of the Arts

The Phoenicia Festival of the Arts (PFOTA) is an annual, multi-day celebration in Phoenicia, NY—an Upstate New York hamlet in the heart of the Catskills—that transforms the town into an open-air arts haven. Now entering its fourth year, PFOTA brings together visual art, live music, film, performance, workshops, and interactive installations that celebrate creativity, place, and community. Produced by VARGA Gallery founder Christina Varga, the festival features local and regional artists across multiple venues and public spaces throughout Phoenicia. What began as a small arts gathering has grown into one of Upstate New York’s most anticipated cultural events.

Film Screenings were introduced at the 3rd Annual Phoenicia Festival of the Arts in 2025, featuring award-winning short films presented at the historic Phoenicia Playhouse. The festival soft-launched the Phoenicia Film Festival as a dedicated Film Screening Series focused on short-form cinema. The Second Annual Film Screening Series will take place as part of PFOTA from Friday, August 21 through Sunday, August 23, 2026, and now includes a formal application process for filmmakers.

Screenings take place at the Phoenicia Playhouse, home of the Shandaken Theatrical Society—a 40+ year-old nonprofit organization dedicated to community theater in Shandaken and surrounding areas. Located at 10 Church Street in the heart of Phoenicia, the Playhouse was originally constructed in 1887 by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 2025, the venue installed a permanent film screen which allowed the PFOTA to introduce film screenings at the playhouse and expanding the playhouse's role as a vibrant center for cinematic and performing arts. Over its 138-year history, the building has served as a fraternal hall, auction house, movie theater, and performance space, making it one of the Catskill region’s longest-lived cultural institutions.

The 4th Annual Phoenicia Festival of the Arts returns August 21–23, 2026, presenting three days of inspiring and unforgettable art, music, dance, film, and performance throughout Phoenicia—just two hours north of New York City. Beyond film screenings, the festival offers intimate panels, filmmaker Q&As, creative art and writing workshops, and multiple exhibitions and installations.

We welcome films of all genres and subjects and look forward to discovering bold, original, and meaningful work.

If your film offers opportunities to create a special event around its screening, we would love to celebrate it as part of the festival experience. Examples include:

A musician, performer, or artist featured in your film who could attend or perform

A filmmaker, subject, or collaborator who could participate in a Q&A or panel

A unique activity, discussion, or audience engagement that complements your screening

Please include these ideas in your cover letter or application.

The Phoenicia Festival of the Arts is an all-encompassing, community-driven event, and we strive to celebrate and amplify creative projects—and the people behind them.

Featured Filmmaker: Gustavo Von Ha
Gustavo von Ha (b. 1977, Brazil) is a Brazilian visual artist whose multidisciplinary practice unfolds across and beyond traditional art systems, operating through diverse platforms of image circulation including the internet, cinemas, libraries, street commerce, and public space. Structured through performative actions, his work inhabits the liminal territories between reality and fiction, art and market, public and private space, authorship and the cultural industry.

Von Ha’s research surfaces images, concepts, and narratives often silenced within Brazilian academic discourse and art history, reflecting a sustained interest in perspectives that move beyond hegemonic narratives. His projects frequently challenge institutional boundaries while engaging critically with systems of visibility, power, and cultural production.

His work has been commissioned and exhibited widely across Brazil, Europe, and the United States. International exhibitions include the Yerevan Biennial; the Bienal do Mercosul; the DA Z Festival at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich; and presentations at major Brazilian institutions including the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da USP (MAC-USP), the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP), the Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), and the Museu Oscar Niemeyer (MON).

Von Ha’s work is included in prominent public collections such as the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Museu de Arte do Rio, Museu de Arte Contemporânea da USP, Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Instituto Cervantes, and Nassau Community College, among others.

Programming Coordinator: Jack Warren
Jack Warren is a New York–based nonbinary filmmaker, programmer, writer, and actor hailing from the haunted hills of Phoenicia in the Hudson Valley. Deeply rooted in the Catskills arts community, Jack’s work bridges regional storytelling and international genre cinema, combining a passion for local filmmaking with a dynamic presence on the global festival circuit.

Their award-winning short film ARTEMIS screened internationally and across the United States, including at the Woodstock Film Festival and the Fringe! Queer Film and Arts Fest. Their recent short, When the Man Comes Around, began its festival run at the Rome International Film Festival and most recently screened at the Hudson Valley Film Fest. Additional festival highlights include the Fantasia International Film Festival, Soho Horror Festival, and the PROOF Film Festival at the American Cinematheque. As a director, Jack has also collaborated on music videos with acclaimed artists including Machan Taylor, and cult horror auteur Larry Fessenden.

Beyond their filmmaking practice, Jack is a dedicated arts organizer and programmer committed to strengthening exhibition opportunities for independent film in the Hudson Valley. By day, they organize screenings through the Cellar Door Cinema Club, partnering with organizations such as ArtPort Kingston, the Open Eye Theater, and the Phoenicia Playhouse to bring high-quality local and independent cinema to regional audiences. They curate and organize the ongoing Emerging Hudson Valley Filmmakers series with ArtPort Kingston, showcasing work by filmmakers with local roots and fostering a vibrant creative ecosystem in the Mid-Hudson region.

Jack’s programming experience extends to national and international platforms. They have worked with Gunpowder & Sky, helping to curate horror and science fiction content for the free ad-supported television channels Horror by ALTER and Alien Nation by DUST, as well as the widely followed ALTER and DUST digital platforms, which reach millions of viewers monthly. Their work has included curating short films and features in genre, documentary, and social impact cinema.

Since 2022, Jack has collaborated with Kait Halibozek Consulting to coordinate grassroots screening campaigns for award-winning documentaries including War Game, The Quiet Epidemic, and The Class, connecting urgent stories about political violence, public health, and economic inequality with communities across the country.
Through their dual roles as filmmaker and programmer, Jack Warren is committed to building sustainable exhibition platforms for independent artists. Their leadership in launching the Phoenicia Festival of the Arts Film Screening Series—and piloting the Phoenicia Film Festival—reflects a deep investment in cultivating accessible, community-centered film culture in the Hudson Valley and beyond.