Philadelphia Film Center
1412 Chestnut St.
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Film Society.
By Shara Talia Taylor
East Coast film festivals, each focused on different goals for their attendees, have stirred up interest and created opportunities for filmmakers and community members as fall begins.
Locally, the 33rd Philadelphia Film Festival, presented by the Philadelphia Film Society, will be held Oct 17 – 27. The Diversity & Inclusion Film Festival (DIFF) is expected to return to New York City in November. Nearby, the Mystic Film Festival happened in September in Connecticut, and the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival (AoBFF) took place in Brooklyn last June. These festivals have been opportunities for community involvement and aspiring filmmakers to share their work; event organizers and participants share why.
J. Andrew Greenblatt, CEO & Executive Director, Philadelphia Film Society
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Film Society.
“I think every great city is designed in part by its arts and culture and you can’t have a great city without a great orchestra and opera, and performing arts, live arts, and a great film festival,” said Andrew Greenblatt, CEO and executive director of the Philadelphia Film Society (PFS) which produces the Philadelphia film festival.
The festival is in its 33rd year of operation.
“I think it was a missing piece to the city at the time,” Greenblatt said. He expected about 25,000 patrons to buy badges and tickets to the festival and attend the screenings. The event is for everyone — the community and artists who gain awareness for their films and more, he said.
“The chance to experience it on a huge screen with a very friendly, eager, and excited audience (and) the ability to network with other filmmakers,” Greenblatt said.
According to their website, PFS at the Film Society Center, is located at 1412 Chestnut Street.
PFS hosts monthly community screenings at the Film Society Center. With these screenings, the Film Society partners with local arts and advocacy organizations to amplify community voices while making film accessible to new audiences.
Neighborhood crowds enjoy PFS’s Movies on the Block summer event.
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Film Society.
Screenings are free, open to the public, and include post-film engagement activities, like quizzo, art projects, and talk backs.The Philadelphia Film Society is a proud Art-Reach ACCESS partner.
Moviegoers can use their ACCESS Cards for admission to PFS programs at the Film Society Center, our theater located at 1412 Chestnut St. ACCESS Cardholders can attend all curated programming at the Film Society Center Theater for $2 per ticket.
Movies on the Block is another free, summer screening program that brings groundbreaking films to neighborhoods across Philadelphia. This past summer, Movies on the Block offered award-winning films, “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” “Creed,” “Men in Black,” “Sing,” and “42”at various Philadelphia neighborhoods. Events are free and open to the public.
Planned in partnership with local community groups and organizations, each event creates space for meaningful conversation and engagement through carefully curated films paired with interactive activities, performances, educational demonstrations, and more. The film festival will be held at theaters the Philadelphia Film Society operates, including the Philadelphia Film Center.
The 62nd New York Film Festival started Sept. 27 and continues until Oct. 14.
The Diversity and Inclusion Film Festival
Sola Fasehun: Diversity & Inclusion Film Festival (DIFF) Founder
(Photo provided by Sola Fasehun)
Another film festival held in New York City recently started grassroots efforts to make a difference in the industry — the first Diversity and Inclusion Film Festival (DIFF) took place in New York City in 2022.
Photo provided by Sola Fasehun/credit to Getty Images)
“I created the festival to support the inclusion of people of all backgrounds in the film festival and entertainment worlds,” said DIFF founder Sola Fasehun. “Also, to provide a platform to screen where they don’t have to worry about if there is a major name involved in their film. As long as their film is great, they have a chance to screen it at the festival.”
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Newsroom pointed to the latest Hollywood Diversity report last March to indicate changes in the film world reflecting the importance of diversity.
“Box-office numbers demonstrate the power and profits wielded by audiences of color and women: People of color dominated opening weekend sales for 14 of the top 20 films in 2023, while women led the charge among ticket buyers with three films in the top 10, according to the latest Hollywood Diversity Report,” the story stated.
Fasehun anticipated the return of the DIFF festival this November on Veterans Day weekend.
Others have focused on creating opportunities for local talent.
The Mystic Film Festival
The Mystic Film Festival took place September 19-22 in Mystic, Connecticut. It was an event for filmmakers, screenwriters, and the community. The festival screened films from all over the world and aimed to promote new voices in storytelling.
W. Main St. in Mystic, CT
Photo provided by Shara Talia Taylor
“New England and this greater Connecticut area has a ton of writers,” said executive director and festival founder Shareen Anderson. “So, we’re trying to provide more resources for our writers in the area.”
Artists submitted films and scripts for the competitions. There were no monetary awards, but filmmakers and screenwriters received trophies. Winners also received various prizes including consultations and a table read from Women in Film New England, an organization that supports female and under-recognized voices in film through networking, mentorship, and education.
First photo, from left: Wendy S. Wilkins, co-executive director and screen writing competition director; Shareen Anderson, executive director and founder of Festival. Second photo, from left: Eric Ibarra,”Viva Extra,” cinematographer; Kevin Samar, “Viva Extra,” director/writer.
Photo provided by Shara Talia Taylor
“When you have actors reading your script and then a narrator reads the action, you get a better feel of ‘oh that doesn’t sound right’ or ‘that didn’t flow right’ in a conversation,” said Wendy S. Wilkins, co-executive director of the Mystics Film Festival and Screenwriting competition. “The actors are usually very beneficial in providing feedback on how they felt about their character.”
She said the main purpose for writers is networking and feedback.
Over the four days of the festival, panels, films, workshops, and special networking events for both artists and the community took place. Classes were led by well-known artists like director and producer Susan Sidleman, known for her work on “Desperately Seeking Susan” with Madonna and early episodes of “Sex in the City,” and screenwriter Janet Roach, who is from Connecticut.
These workshops were on topics such as how to take a general meeting and how to score your film and work with a composer. Anderson, who directed and produced “Face to Face with Scott Peterson” with Po Kutchins, held a class on directing documentaries, and another workshop was led by Roadmap Writers, a company that provides screenwriting education and a training platform for people pursuing guidance in their path for a successful career in writing for film and TV.
Gabriel Theis, director of digital marketing and brand management attended the Mystic Film Festival as a representative for Roadmap Writers. His workshop was on how to be outstanding in a general meeting.
“We always like to just encourage our writers to really put themselves out there,” he said. “The value of face-to-face networking really can’t be overstated.” Theis also said that festivals create opportunities to meet fellow creatives — some of the most passionate and disciplined people in their profession — which is important, because making films is a team effort and takes a collaborative mindset.
Director and writer Kevin Samar of Boston teamed up with friends, including past Emerson College classmate cinematographer, Eric Ibarra, to make their film, “Viva Extra.” They screened their film at the Mystic Film Festival as well.
“It’s a black comedy crime drama,” Samar said regarding the film, which is about a failed energy drink salesman who becomes involved in a criminal situation to solve his financial troubles, but things go wrong. “We had a bunch of positive feedback and then we got some good laughs in the theater. A lot of people came up to us afterwards, because I’m a visual effects artist for work, so I was able to do a few things in ours, like at a professional level of VFX (visual effects), so I think people were surprised by that and starting asking us sort of how we did certain things.”
The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival
Actor and writer Rosie McDonald of Lake Arrowhead, California also attested to a positive experience in June after she participated in the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival (AoBFF), “an award-winning international film festival designed to connect Brooklyn’s vibrant indie scene with their peers around the world.”
The 14TH AoBFF took place May 30-June 9.
McDonald won several awards, including Outstanding Performance in a Feature Film and Outstanding Narrative Feature for her role in the film, “A/way,” which she co-wrote and submitted after teaming up with director Derek Shane Garcia of Brooklyn, who also won an award for the film.
The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival closing ceremony; Rosie McDonald : actor and writer of “A/way”
Photo provided by Shara Talia Taylor
McDonald’s story, part narrative, and part documentary, follows a journalist who takes a trip to Martinique after the loss of her mother and is restored by her experience.
“I feel so honored,” McDonald said back in June. “It really has been such a wonderful festival to be a part of. In the process of making a film there’s so much doubt that goes into it as you are crafting it. I know, I can sort of speak for Derek, who was the director and edited it as well. When it’s just you sort of working on something you don’t really know how it’s going to be received and so it was so beautiful to be able to play here and to be received so well.”
Roadmap Writers also partnered with AoBFF. Entries for the 2025 AoBFF opens this month.
Tickets still available for the upcoming Philadelphia Film Festival
The Philadelphia Film festival will not have workshops or panels but aims at providing an experience for attendees.
The public can buy tickets online, starting at $12 for a weekday matinee or $17 for an evening screening. Members of the film society receive $5 off any ticket price. There are also $10 tickets for the rush line, available for cash only. More information about the event and how to submit films can be found online at: https://filmadelphia.org/33rd-philadelphia-film-festival/.
Source: filmadelphia.org
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