Centre Film Festival returns for second year, with dozens of selections to view from your home

The Centre Film Festival is back for its sophomore year this weekend, bringing superstar filmmakers from around the world to central Pennsylvania in a new way.

“Festivals are for the community,” said Pearl Gluck, co-founder of the cinematic competition. “Festivals are ways in which people can get to know people that may not otherwise come here. Our intention is to bring some attention to a small town like Philipsburg and really commit to bringing good art here.”

Last year, the Rowland Theatre in Phillipsburg hosted the inaugural event weekend. Due to COVID-19, this year’s festival will be virtual. But Curt Chandler, co-founder of the festival, says the timing couldn’t be better.

“Everybody is stressed out about elections, stressed out about the local football team, and they’ve watched everything that’s on Netflix,” Chandler said. “So this is a chance to completely escape.”

This year’s Centre Film Festival will feature 50 different films from all different genres. There will be children’s shorts, documentaries, and sports pieces, to name a few. Horror flicks will take center stage as the festival kicks off on Friday the 13th.

There will also be live question and answer segments with the filmmakers.

Organizers created a suggested viewing schedule, but since this year’s event is virtual, festivalgoers can watch the films at their leisure all weekend long via a virtual streaming platform. Some films in the competition are bound for major platforms like HBO, while others are student films.

Gluck and Chandler are both on the faculty at Penn State’s Bellisario College of Communications. They say having both student and professional films on deck is a great way to engage the town and gown relationship in Happy Valley.

“It’s a way to support student filmmaking,” Gluck said. “It’s a way for the community to say ‘Yes, we are so glad you are here as part of our community.’”

And if you think you’ve had your fill of streaming services during the pandemic, don’t worry. The festival boasts exclusive features that aren’t available to the public yet.

“We can guarantee you haven’t seen these,” Gluck said. “If people are really binged out and feel like they’ve seen everything on Amazon and everything on Netflix, I can tell you, you haven’t seen these films.”

Tickets for the 2020 Centre Film Festival are $30. This year, a portion of the proceeds will go to supporting local arts organizations, including The State Theatre, the Rowland Theatre, and 3 Dots. Penn State student tickets are free. Tickets can be purchased at www.centrefilm.org.

Even though the pandemic presented some unique challenges for this year’s event, organizers plan on making the Centre Film Festival a long-lasting local tradition.

“We’re really interested in keeping the momentum going,” Chandler said. “Since we have to be virtual, we are embracing the virtual, but we are really looking forward to bringing people back to the Rowland next year. We want to keep the arts community here viable and exciting.”

The festival is supported in part by a Happy Valley Adventure Bureau grant. Like Chandler, HVAB President and CEO Fritz Smith said he’s looking forward to the event becoming an annual staple.

“The Centre Film Festival has the opportunity to become a signature event that could make Centre County a mecca for independent filmmakers and film buffs,” Smith said.

This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 10:20 AM.