Film & Cinema · Friday, October 16, 2026
Alza Festival
About
ALZA Festival is an inaugural vertical storytelling festival running over the weekend of October 16 to 18, 2026, at the AMC 19th St. East 6 cinema near Union Square in Manhattan. Vertical video is the format made for phones, and the festival puts its creators on a cinema screen. The festival site describes series premieres, cinema-quality screenings, creator spotlights, live conversations and immersive activations, with separate Film and Industry programmes; our listing adds masterclasses and industry talks. The home page prints no schedule, session times or speaker names, so check alzafestival.com for what plays when. It suits vertical-video creators, filmmakers and producers curious about short-form series, and anyone who wants to see how phone-first storytelling looks in a theatre. No minimum age is printed on the page. Tickets: the site names All Access, Industry and single-ticket passes but prints no prices. Our listing records single tickets at $20 to $25, with passes also available. Confirm current prices and terms on the festival site before you buy. Getting there: the 14 St–Union Sq station (4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R, W) is the nearest big interchange, a short walk from the cinema. Elsewhere on the calendar that week, the Urbanworld Film Festival's NYC debut screening of Shift Happens plays at Regal Union Square on October 15, and a Chelsea Film Festival screening runs at Regal Battery Park on October 16.