World Webfest Mania returns to theaters in its fourth year featuring a remarkable lineup of socially and culturally significant web content from independent filmmakers across the globe!

The two-day festival runs from Thursday, August 4th to Friday, August 5th, at the Wild Project Theaters located in Lower East Side. This festival is a hybrid format; We are screening 25 selections in-person and 4 selections throughout the week online through XerbTV.  Festivalgoers can expect post-screening Q&As after each block, where our filmmakers offer further insight into their films and audience members can ask questions. Our festival features 12 international selections staying true to its mission of championing diverse, inclusive, and original content from independent filmmakers worldwide. Our global reach this year extends to regions such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and the Russian Federation. We’re also keeping to our mission by keeping web content front and center at our festival; we’ll be screening a total of 20 unique and imaginative web series and episodic content for World Webfest Mania 2022. This year’s Official Selections feature a vast selection of genres ranging from documentary, narrative, comedy, drama, horror, science fiction, suspense, and romance. 

World Webfest Mania 2022 is home to the NYC premiere of “Olympus: A Retrospective.” This comedic docu-series tells the behind-the-scenes story of the 70s Sci-fi TV sensation “The Olympus Chronicles”. 

Viewers can expect several docu-series and documentaries that challenge societal structures and provide necessary social commentary through the lens of BIPOC voices. Jonathan Fisher’s “In A Whole New Way” is a powerfully relevant documentary that focuses on the evolution of probation as a second chance to a means that feeds mass incarceration in America. In the documentary, he follows a group of people of color working to change this. From our neighboring country, Canada, Ky Vy Le Duc’s “Decolonizing History” is a docu-series that shines a light on Quebec’s and Canada’s white-washed history by offering more inclusive historical depictions and retellings. Told from the vantage point of BIPOC communities and individuals, this 10-part series offers insight into historical facts, figures, and significant events.

Audience members can expect to see narrative stories about life’s ups and down told through personable characters and relatable situations. The web series “Codependent” directed by rising stars Deena ElGenaidi and Jenny Irving, follows three millennial women of color living in Philadelphia, trying to navigate situational life circumstances, such as grad school, microaggressions, relationships with men, and friendships. (mis)placed directed by Adam Olson and Erin Roberts is another new-age web series about the intersecting lives of twenty-somethings, all searching for love, work, and meaning in the world today. In the comedy series “Scratch This: The Series,” directed by award-winning director Jody Miller, three self-centered sisters make a futile effort to overcome their sibling rivalry. Luke Eve’s “Cancelled” transports its viewers back in time to the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. His series was inspired by real-life events that transpired at the beginning of lockdown and is a transparent account of a couple’s managing the fallout of their sudden wedding cancellation all while living with their mother-in-law. 

The festival features selections outside the comedic and situational lens as well. Patrons should expect creative and unique storytelling from our selections falling in the psychological thrillers, science fiction, mystery, and suspense categories. In Wade Gibb’s “Eye Must,” the selection follows a struggling artist who begins incorporating human eyes in her painting after a creative breakthrough. Our festival opener, “Welcome to Soulshine” directed by emerging filmmaker Mélanie Charbonneau, psychological dark comedy that follows a social media content moderator who develops an obsession with a mysterious kitten killer. Our day two opener, Visitation directed by Patrick Devaney is a three-part sci-fi web series detailing the consequences of a group of NASA researchers going against protocols and investigating a strange signal originating from outside the solar system.

Tickets are STILL available. Our in-person ticket options include admission per block and day passes. Our virtual ticket options include all-access passes and tickets per selection. In-person showings will take place in two blocks, running from 6 PM to 8 PM and 8 PM to 10 PM each day. Doors open at 5:45 PM.

The full festival lineup for each day with the film synopsis is below:

Festival Background Information:

World Webfest Mania is a sister festival to the Katra Film Series. Now in its 4th year, the New York City-based international festival continues to champion short-form and long-form videos/films and screenplays, including features, shorts, docs, animation, and web content from around the world.

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Major Festival Partners and Sponsors:

Digital Ocean, Freelancers Union, UKW Media, Urbn/TV, GPop TV, JMR Rentals, BKLYN Commons, Brooklyn Brewery, Media Makers, ReelWorks, NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment

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