By Mo Moshaty
FILE UNDER: HORROR 2025
Curated by Danielle Scruggs, File Under: Horror is a one-night-only showcase of horror shorts by Black women and Nonbinary directors. These films don’t just scare, they cut deep, exploring grief, legacy, rage, survival, and the anxieties shaping how we live today. It’s horror at its sharpest edge, where personal truths and cultural fears collide on screen.
Location: The Final Girl, 7546 Sheridan Road, Kenosha, WI 53143
Date: Saturday, August 30, 2025
Time: 3pm-8pm
3pm – vendor market & food from Uncle Daddy BBQ | 5pm – screening
Black women in horror are here, have always been here, and they’re not just surviving in the genre. They’re thriving, innovating and shaping its future. The stories are fierce, the vision is undeniable, and the only thing missing is you in the seat to witness it.
File Under: Horror is more than a screening, its proof. Proof that horror belongs to those who have been defining and redefining its voice for decades, often without credit, without the spotlight, and without the platform. And that changes here.
So here’s the deal: the lineup is right in front of you, don’t wait for someone else to tell you about it later, show up, be loud, add your energy to the momentum that keeps these artists pushing forward.
You want horror that makes you sweat, squirm and scream? You want originality? You want the future of the genre? It’s happening in Kenosha, WI, August 30th. You should have tickets in hand, eyes on screen, Don’t miss your chance to say ‘I was there when horror history was happening’, ’cause this lineup looks sick!
The Garden of Edette (2023), dir: Guinevere Thomas (AFI graduate)
A lonely Creole woman has to choose between sacrificing herself or a newfound friend to her flesh-eating garden.
The Wounded and the Watcher (2021), dir: Nace DeSanders
Watching a tragedy take place, a mysterious somebody does nothing but react.
Hag (2024), dir: Jay Najeeah (Howard University MFA graduate, she/they pronouns)
A young woman, pregnant with her first child, battles for her mental health and against a hometown urban legend come to life.
Hair Wolf (2018), dir: Mariama Diallo (this film and her feature-length debut Master premiered at Sundance Film Festival)
The staff of a Black hair salon in Brooklyn fend off a terrifying new monster: white women intent on literally sucking the lifeblood from Black culture.
You Were Dead Yesterday (2025), dir: Destiny Cox
A Black family of five struggles to survive a zombie apocalypse and uncover the truth behind the outbreak.
File Under: Horror isn’t just a screening, it’s a movement, and the only thing missing is you. Grab your ticket, take your seat, and be part of the history being written on screen.
‘Black Women Directors is a digital archive spotlighting the incredible work of Black women and Nonbinary filmmakers. We celebrate bold stories, fresh voices, and films that deserve the spotlight. This event is just one way we’re bringing these stories from the archive to IRL.‘
https://www.blackwomendirectors.co/
Mo Moshaty is an acclaimed horror writer, lecturer, and producer whose work combines visceral storytelling with the psychological insight of her Cognitive Behavioral Therapy background. She has lectured internationally, including as a keynote speaker at Nightmares from Monkeypaw: A Jordan Peele Symposium (Prairie View A&M), No Return: A Yellowjackets Symposium (Horror Studies BAFSS Sig), The Whole Damn Swarm: Celebrating 30 Years of Candyman (University of California), and with the Centre for the History of the Gothic (University of Sheffield). Mo has also presented at the BFI, Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, and Final Girls Berlin Film Festival’s Brain Binge on women’s trauma in horror cinema, Cine-Excess on The Creepy Kid Horror Subgenre and Mother/Daughter Trauma in Horror, and Romancing the Gothic on Cosmic Horror’s Havoc on The Body Electric Her short film, 13 Minutes of Horror: Sci-Fi Horror, won the 2022 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Short Film. As a core producer with Nyx Horror Collective, Mo co-created the 13 Minutes of Horror Film Fest and partnered with Shudder in 2021 and 2022, while also establishing a Stowe Story Labs fellowship supporting women creatives over 40+ in horror. A member of the Black Women in Horror Class of 2023 and featured in 160 Black Women in Horror, Mo’s short fiction appears in A Quaint and Curious Volume of Gothic Tales (Brigid’s Gate Press) and 206 Word Stories (Bag O’ Bones Press). Her debut novella, Love the Sinner, was released July 5, 2024, with Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment released in October 2025. The first of her five-volume non-fiction series, The Annex of the Obscure: The Afterlife, will be released in 2027 from Tenebrous Press. As the Editor-in-Chief of NightTide Magazine and founder of Mourning Manor Media, Mo champions marginalized voices in horror. Under her leadership, NightTide plans to launch a film festival in 2028, furthering her mission to reshape the genre through inclusivity and representation.
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