ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Inside the Allentown Civic Theater, all eyes are on the big screen at the Allentown Film Festival, including Emmylou Diaz’s “A Peculiar Morning”. She won best director at a festival with a lot of talent.
“It really blew my mind the level of talent and the engagement here with the audience with the films,” said Diaz.
Alan Younkin is the director of the fourth annual festival.
“We have a collection of short films, we have feature length films, various different genres and so we’re not a festival that just has one theme,” said Younkin.
For actress Syd Stauffer, it is a chance to connect with other film workers sharing the same passion.
“Seeing all the films, especially what local filmmakers are doing I think that’s really important for us all to support one another,” said Stauffer.
Ethan Baron is a filmmaker who is about to graduate from DeSales University.
“Screening your film in front of an audience, I mean first of all, it’s an incredible feeling because you’re getting a lot of feedback, people are watching your films,” said Baron.
It is Rich Drees’ second Allentown Film Festival. He said Star Wars is what inspired him to make movies.
“Just seeing that and then discovering how they made that by reading about film, history and stuff like that it’s just as a kid all absorbed into me,” said Drees.
Nicholas Luciano said it is a great way to see creative work on the big screen.
“We watch so much content like siloed on our phones and stuff and I think a film festival really brings community together,” said Luciano.
The Allentown Film Festival runs through Sunday.