ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Lights, camera, Lehigh Valley.
Movie fans, get ready: The Allentown Film Festival, which will feature hundreds of short and feature films, will run Thursday, April 13, through Sunday, April 16, at select theaters.
- The inaugural Allentown Film Festival features hundreds of short and feature films made by international and local filmmakers
- Screenings take place at the 19th Street Theatre, Allentown Art Museum, Theater514 and Miller Symphony Hall's Lyric Room
- Tickets cost $10 per screening or $50 for eight tickets
Filling a gap
Husbands Michael Schelp and Alan Younkin co-founded the event after noticing the area lacked a major film festival, despite its vibrant, growing arts community.
"The city needs a film festival," Schelp said. "It's interesting, Philadelphia has something like 40 festivals and Allentown doesn't have any."
The couple, who co-chairs the city's Art in the Park event, built the festival from the ground up and were in charge of hand-picking the films, with nearly 600 submissions received from filmmakers in more than 40 countries.
Most of the films were uploaded to the FilmFreeway website, where individuals can submit their work to hundreds of film festivals worldwide.
"We had a panel of judges, but Alan watched all the films," Schelp said.
The films were divided into categories including best narrative feature, best documentary feature, best narrative short, best documentary short and best music video.
Homegrown talent
Local residents also submitted films in three categories: K-12 students, college students and nonstudents.
"Filmmaking is an important communication tool, which we're hoping to help people develop their talents and to encourage on a local level."Michael Schelp, co-chair of the city's Art in the Park event
"The wonderful thing about film festivals is that you can expose people to different cultures, places and ideas," Schelp said.
"Filmmaking is an important communication tool, which we're hoping to help people develop their talents and to encourage on a local level."
Schelp's "Rainbow Speed Dating" is among the dozens of shorts premiering during the Lehigh Valley filmmaker shorts competition finalists' screening at 8 p.m. Friday at the 19th Street Theatre.
"I was thinking of the craziest thing I’ve ever done was probably speed dating in terms of drama," he said.
"I thought about what would happen if someone sat down and met five or six people and what would they say to each other, but instead of doing it in person, I decided to write it online."
Also debuting the same night: "Married to the Mayor" stars Karen Tuerk, who discusses her upbringing and what it's like being married to Allentown's first Latino mayor, Matt Tuerk.
The couple is expected to attend the festivities and Karen will participate in a Q&A panel discussion.
Steel stories
Joining Karen Tuerk on stage will be Bethlehem-based filmmaker Matt Heffner, who directed "Forged in Steel," an eight-minute short featuring former Bethlehem Steel workers Joe Mayer and Lester Clore. Both are currently board members of the Steelworkers' Archives.
"The story details the company's history, how they got started and what they were famous for," Heffner said.
"It gives you a complete picture of how they helped build America from the ground up. How they contributed to events such as World War I, World War II and building famous monuments like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Verrazano."
Heffner said he plans to follow up the short with a longer documentary to also include interviews with the women who worked at the company during World War II.
"One part that I want to represent more is the female workforce at the Bethlehem Steel Plant and how they were helpful in World War II," he said.
"They were armed with pistols as a form of security against espionage and were known as the "Pistol Packin' Mamas.""
Cine en Español
In an effort to connect with the Latino community, there will be a handful of movies screening in Spanish, including an uplifting short about Philadelphia muralist Danny Torres, Schelp said.
"I am Danny Torres" will premiere at 1 p.m. Saturday at Allentown Art Museum and tells the story of Torres's upbringing in Puerto Rico.
"We also have movies from Argentina, Brazil and Mexico," Schelp said. "The audience will get to see a lot of different perspectives and cultures."
Tickets to the film screenings cost $10, or $50 for eight tickets. For a complete schedule, go to Allentown Film Festival's website.
