Alza’s first New York festival tests how vertical dramas play in a theater

Alza held its inaugural microdrama festival at AMC 19th Street East 6 in New York City from October 16 to 18, bringing stories made for vertical screens into a cinema. The Verge’s account of the screenings found engaged viewers but no packed houses, leaving the audience for the format in theaters an open question.

Founded by former Tribeca Festival chief operating officer Pete Torres, Alza was New York City’s first microdrama film festival, according to The Verge. Its program combined premieres and screenings with industry panels about storytelling designed for vertical screens. The festival described the event as a showcase for that work.

How vertical films played on a cinema screen

Festival staff encouraged viewers to sit near the front for the best viewing experience, The Verge reported. Pulliam-Moore said none of the screenings he attended was packed. He also heard laughter and gasps during some romance-focused dramas. Those observations show how people responded in the room, without establishing attendance or demand across the festival.

The theater setting poses a practical question for a format commonly watched on phones. The Verge reported that most vertical-video and microdrama viewing takes place on mobile devices, although Instagram and Vurt have introduced smart-TV apps for vertical video. Alza put that phone-oriented presentation before viewers watching together on a horizontal cinema screen.

What producers and filmmakers said about the audience

GammaTime founder Bill Block and head of development Amy Sullivan told The Verge that the platform plans programming around viewers’ moods at different times of day. Sullivan said it aims to reach mainstream women who watch on phones, offering easy viewing, romantic comedies and spicier material. Block identified daytime-TV viewers as another audience GammaTime wants to reach.

Director Salvador Paskowitz, whose 90-minute comedy Layover won Alza’s best director award, voiced doubts about whether companies entering the vertical-video business were paying enough attention to viewers. He told The Verge that companies can make such projects without knowing whether people watch them, and argued that filmmakers should focus on work that looks good to audiences.

Paskowitz said Layover was produced traditionally and opposed using generative AI in film production, arguing that it could erode the human element of filmmaking. His criticism points to a separate production choice facing companies pursuing microdramas as they seek an audience.

Alza says submissions for its 2026 festival are closed and directs prospective participants to watch for future programming and submission announcements. It has not announced dates for another festival on its website.