80 films, celebrity guests and more: Centre Film Festival to return and expand for third year

When Penn State professor Pearl Gluck started the Centre Film Festival in 2019, she couldn’t have anticipated how different the festival would look in its second year.

But when the coronavirus pandemic forced the festival to go virtual in 2020, Gluck and her co-founder, Curt Chandler, took the opportunity to expand the festival’s offerings, screening 40 films instead of 20.

Now, in the festival’s third year, “we threw that playbook out” yet again, Gluck said. Festival attendees can watch movies virtually or at three different theaters, and the number of films available to watch has doubled to 80. There will also be an awards ceremony on Nov. 7, with honorees that include Penn State graduate Keegan-Michael Key.

Gluck said the festival’s growth — expanding its number of films and where to watch them, adding an industry jury and, this year, increasing its awards — was guided by its mission: multi-generation celebration of central Pennsylvania’s filmmaking in its historic theaters.

Gluck said she was inspired to start the festival largely because of the Rowland Theatre, a historic single-screen movie theater, because most single-screen movie theaters have been destroyed. For Rebecca Inlow, a members of the Rowland’s board of directors, the festival brings welcomed exposure and attention to the theater.

At the 2019 festival, she was happy to see students in the audience.

“They actually had shuttle buses from the HUB bring bus loads of students over from Penn State,” Inlow said. “It was nice to introduce our theater to people who we haven’t seen before.”

This year, the festival is also screening movies at The State Theatre in State College and the Mishler Theatre in Altoona.

“It’s exciting for us because we’re meeting new business owners that care about the arts, and culture, and high schoolers, and community engagement,” Gluck said.

The festival is also screening films online, using a website called eventive, which can only be accessed in Pennsylvania.

According to a press release for the festival, the more than 80 films this year include “comedy, horror, comedy, sports, horror, drama, kid flicks and documentary.” Prospective attendees can view the films on the festival’s website.

Gluck said she couldn’t choose just one film at the festival to highlight. But she mentioned a few documentaries, including “The Last Out,” a documentary about a group of Cubans trying to join the MLB; “Death and Bowling,” a narrative feature about a trans man dealing with the death of a member of his bowling league; and “Kili Big,” a documentary about a group of “plus sized women” climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

Inlow is excited to see “Julia,” a documentary about Julia Child, which will premiere at the Rowland at the same time as it’s released worldwide.

The festival will also be screening films from central Pennsylvania filmmakers receiving awards this year or attending as special guests. This includes ‘60s and ‘70s films “I am Somebody” and “Integration Report 1,” directed by Madeline Anderson, who will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Key will appear via video to accept the festival’s first-ever Chandler Living Legacy Award, which is named after festival co-founder and Penn State journalism professor Curt Chandler.

The film “Driver X,” from Penn State alumnus and “Better Call Saul” actor Patrick Fabian, will be screened at the Rowland Theatre, where Fabian’s mother worked as an usher in her teens.

“Driver X” is about a father who loses his job and becomes an Uber driver. Fabian described the film as a “coming of middle age story.”

“Life doesn’t work out the way you planned it, and so what are you going to do about it? How (does that) affect your life and your relationships, your marriage and your sense of worth?” he said.

Fabian, who will hold a Q&A with the audience after the film screens, said he and his family in Philipsburg are using the screening as a sort of family reunion.

He is an example of the filmmaking talent and history of central Pennsylvania that the festival seeks to highlight, Gluck said.

The festival will run from Nov. 1-7 and tickets can be purchased at centrefilm.org. Tickets for students are free.