Centre Film Festival returns as destination event for filmmakers and film fans

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A celebration of community and impact, thanks to the power of filmmaking, runs throughout much of the first half of November with the seventh annual Centre Film Festival — which offers hundreds of viewing options along with question-and-answer sessions with filmmakers, special themes and much more.

The festival officially runs Nov. 10-16 and pre-festival events begin Nov. 4 with an on-campus screening.

Films will be shown at five venues during the festival — Carnegie Cinema (113 Carnegie Building), Foster Auditorium of Paterno Library, the Rowland Theater in Philipsburg, and the State Theatre and UEC Theatre 12 in State College.

A complete schedule of events and screenings may be found on the festival website. Tickets for the festival are free for students, $10 for individual sessions or $60 for an all-access pass.

Festival lineup

The lineup includes 90 films making Pennsylvania premieres, 26 of which were made in the state. Twenty-two films will be making their U.S. premieres and 18 others will be making their world premieres at the festival. Three films in the festival have been submitted for Academy Award consideration.

Organizers and supporters said the quality and quantity of the films — and the festival itself — represents an investment in the film community on campus and in Centre County. They see the growing festival as an important part of the community, with the potential to affect big changes.

“We’re starting to create this ecosystem here,” said Fritz Smith, president and CEO of the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, which provides financial support for the festival. “My vision is someday we become Hollywood east. My vision is that students don’t have to go make their living in Atlanta or New York or California but that they can stay right here.”

Pre-festival screenings, scheduled at 6 p.m. Nov. 4 and Nov. 6 at Foster Auditorium, feature the documentaries “How To Build A Library” and "The Librarians,” respectively.

An annual Tailgate Screening honoring Penn State student and alumni filmmakers is scheduled at 6 p.m Nov. 9 in Carnegie Cinema.

Opening night

The festival officially launches Nov. 10 with “Free Leonard Peltier” as the opening night feature. The film, directed by Jesse Short Bull and David France, focuses on Leonard Peltier, one of the surviving leaders of the American Indian Movement, who has been in prison for 50 years following a contentious conviction.

A post-screening question-and-answer session will feature Short Bull and representatives from the Prison Journalism Project, a national, independent, nonprofit initiative that publishes and teaches journalism to incarcerated writers. Shaheen Pasha, an assistant teaching professor in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, is a cofounder and co-executive director of the project.

Throughout the festival, there are morning screenings at UEC Theatre 12 and lunchtime screenings at Foster Auditorium.

“If you want to binge all week, we’re here with so many options,” said Pearl Gluck, a founding codirector of the festival and an associate professor of film production at Penn State. “The lineup is diverse with so much quality. There’s a little something for everyone.”

The Rowland Theatre and State Theatre will host evening screenings. Gluck said the 108-year-old Rowland Theater always makes an impact on visitors.

“When the filmmakers come and to show their films there, they are absolutely over the moon because it’s so stunning,” she said.

Additional themes include "Disability on Screen," "Pride on Screen," "Sports on Screen," "Made in PA" and "Industry Awards."

The festival also includes:

• A Sneak Peak with WPSU featuring “The American Revolution.”
• A first-ever virtual reality collaboration with the Palmer Museum of Art, featuring immersive experiences from France, Germany, South Africa and the United States. That event, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 13, was curated by Diane Akpovwa, senior in the College of Information Sciences and Technology.
• An awards ceremony culminates the festival Nov. 16 and honors films screened during the week, along with presenting two major awards to Penn State alumni — the Chandler Living Legacy Award to Jerrie Johnson, an award-winning actor, creator and writer who earned her bachelor’s degree from the University in 2016, and the Lifetime Achievement Award to Don Roy King, a 13-time Emmy Award-winning television production legend whose career spanned more than five decades. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn State in 1969.

A full schedule along with information about all films and related events can be found on the festival website.

Along with the Bellisario College and the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, the festival gets support from the State College borough and several Penn State entities — the College of Arts and Architecture, the School of Theatre, the Jewish Studies Program and the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity.