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Summer is slipping away, but it feels like we are just warming up! So much news to share!

Shawna Shea Film Festival Update

SSFF took place in July this year and it was an exciting line-up. Probably one of our most important too.

Between live screenings in Worcester and on our Patreon Program we screened the features City Exterminator by Christophe Karabache (Lebanon), No Baby on Board by Julia Kots (Ukraine), Seems Like Love by Yana Klimova-Yusupova (Russian Federation) and the shorts Meow by Sarah Meital Benjamin (Israel), Home Base by Amit Kra (Israel), Adas Falasteen by Hamdi Khalil Elhusseini & Samar Taher Lulu (Palestine), Filkool by Maral Forouzesh (Iran), Frame by Farshad Sharifi (Iran), Pica by Sepide Berenji (Iran) and The Myth of Sysiphus by Elahe Saberi (Iran).

Being able to program the work of filmmakers from countries in conflict simply shows us that all of our stories are human stories. We all celebrate joys, suffer loss, deal with trauma, find love, all things that are a part of our shared humanity. We're all connected. It was an honor to show these movies.

It was equally an honor to screen the World Premiere of a film by our 2025 Women in Film Fellow, Amelia Favata’s amazing horror short Manic. I can see it will be hitting the festival circuit now, so don’t miss your chance to see it.

SSFF moves to April next year so get your submissions in early!

https://filmfreeway.com/TheShawnaSheaFilmFestival

Photo caption: SSFF2026 award winners took a beat for a photo. What a great crew! Congratulations to all!

Women In Film Fellowship Keeps Going Strong

Speaking of Women in Film Fellowship, we are excited to announce that Jasmine Patrick is our new Fellow!

Jasmine Patrick is a filmmaker from Massachusetts. She earned her BA in Communications with a minor in Cinema Studies from the University of Massachusetts Boston, where she was a runner-up in a campus wide six-word story competition. During her undergraduate studies, she worked and volunteered with the Independent Film Festival Boston and the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival, progressing from front-of-house roles to assisting with film screenings and event photography. Her work spans film programming, production, editing and photography.  

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jasmine relocated to Maryland, where she began graduate studies at Morgan State University before transferring to The New School. She completed her MA in Media Studies with a concentration in filmmaking. During this time, she interned under her professor, Jim Browne at Argot Pictures, gaining hands-on experience in film production and distribution.

Jasmine is currently a Programming Associate at the Maryland Film Festival where she specializes in supporting emerging voices in independent cinema with a particular focus on curating short film programs. In addition to her work in film programming, she is a photographer specializing in street photography (Style/Fashion/Foods/live music events) particularly within local Afro Punk/Ska scenes. She is also deeply invested in expanding representation in filmmaking and advocates for greater inclusion of Afro-Latina and Caribbean women within the industry.

We look forward to working with her!

Photo caption: Three of our Women in Film Fellows joined up at SSFF last month. From left are Christine Celozzi, Emma MacKenzie, and Amelia Favata. Always wonderful to see these ladies!

Poetry Rebooted: The Shivering Mouse Poetry Salon Coming Your Way!

The Shawna Foundation’s poetry program returns with a new look, the Shivering Mouse Poetry Salon which will take place on the first Tuesday of the Month at the home of our new host, Art Dubois.

Salons began in the Middle East in the 7th Century with a rich history, that became immortalized by Gertrude Stein hosting salons in her Paris apartment in the 1900s where she gathered modernist poets and painters to reinvent avant-garde writing.

No matter when or where. these gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to please or to educate” and we are no different.

Host Art Dubois has been writing poetry for most of his life and recently recommitted himself to the art form with his first publication, Desperate Souls, Hopeful Hearts, a heartfelt collection of poems that gently explores life's struggles, losses, and pains with raw honesty and a voice uniquely Art’s. He has also been published in the Shawns Foundation’s publication, the Shivering Mouse Art & Poetry Review: Volume One.

He is a fixture at poetry readings throughout Central Massachusetts and his poem “Senses”, took 3rd Prize at the Worcester County Poetry Association’s Frank O’Hara Poetry Contest in 2024.

It is only fitting that he is our first feature as we introduce the Salon.

The reading format will consist of a feature and open mic segments. 

Shivering Mouse Poetry Salon will take place on September 8, with the reading starting at 6:30PM. Venue address: 446 East St, Uxbridge, MA 01569.

Shivering Mouse Publications

We are still accepting submissions for the Shivering Mouse Art & Poetry Review: Volume Two.

Submit right here!

And don’t forget to pick up a copy of the Shivering Mouse Art & Poetry Review: Volume One right here.

UnderGround Thursday Exclusively on Patreon

Curated by Skip Shea

"What do Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United States have in common?"

This month, on UnderGround Thursday exclusively on Patreon, we’re traveling around the world with a theme I'm especially excited about: Dreams and Shadows.

We'll begin in Germany with The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), the oldest surviving animated feature film—a breathtaking work of imagination created entirely with silhouette animation.

From there, we'll journey to Japan for A Page of Madness (1926), one of the most daring psychological films ever made, a movie that feels decades if not centuries ahead of its time.

Our third stop is Sweden with Victor Sjöström's masterpiece The Phantom Carriage (1921), a haunting story of death, redemption, and the choices that define our lives.

And we'll conclude in the United States with The Amazing Mr. X (1948), a beautiful supernatural mystery that asks whether the greatest ghosts live around us... or within us.

As I was putting this month's program together, I realized these films all share something in common. They explore dreams and memory, light and darkness, faith and doubt—the very ideas that fascinated Ingmar Bergman throughout his career. In many ways, this month feels like a journey through the kinds of questions that cinema asks at its very best.

I hope you'll join us every Thursday this August on Patreon as we discover four remarkable films from four different countries, and celebrate the power of cinema to transport us, challenge us, and remind us that every great story begins with a light shining into the darkness.

So grab a flashlight and I'll see you in the UnderGround!

Subscribe to our Patreon Page for only $10 a month for these exclusive screenings.

All money raised from subscription fees goes directly to the Shawna Foundation.

Gearing Up for the "Remembering Shawna Fundraiser"

Our Annual August Appeal

On August 11, we will launch our annual Remembering Shawna Fundraising Campaign. August 11 is the day we lost Shawna in 1999. And no matter how long ago, it is still unimaginable.

Yet here we are, doing all of this work in her honor and memory. And none of it can be done with your help.

You can help us jump start the fundraiser by donating today! Link and scan code below.

And watch for the official launch on all our platforms, including this newsletter! We have big goals!

With deepest gratitude from all of us at the Shawna Foundation.