Movie pageant being held in Allentown this April | Lehigh Valley Regional Information

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A brand new Allentown pageant, which is able to characteristic a mixture of worldwide, American, and Lehigh Valley movies, will premiere in April.

Organizers of the nonprofit Allentown Movie Pageant, who’ve been quietly working to ascertain the occasion over the previous few months, introduced Monday that the pageant will display screen dozens of quick and have movies, together with a number of world premieres.

The 2 Civic Theatre venues – the Artwork Deco Nineteenth Avenue Theatre and the Theatre514 throughout the road, within the metropolis’s West Finish Theatre District – would be the main areas, with screenings from April 14-16, in keeping with a information launch from the nonprofit Allentown Movie Pageant.

The Allentown Artwork Museum will present movies on April 15 through the pageant weekend, whereas the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Group Heart will kick off the pageant with motion pictures April 1. The pageant will award money prizes to the very best entries within the Lehigh Valley Shorts classes, in keeping with the information launch.

The nonprofit says movies from American and worldwide filmmakers are being thought of. Moreover, Lehigh Valley residents can submit movies – from one to 5 minutes in size – in three classes: Ok-12 college students, school college students, and nonstudents.

“The aim is to establish and encourage compelling, thought-provoking unbiased movies,” stated pageant director Alan Younkin. “The Allentown Movie Pageant is not going to solely enhance Lehigh Valley delight but in addition remind folks within the Mid-Atlantic area that Allentown is a vibrant, much-closer-than-you-think arts mecca.”

Pageant chief advertising officer Michael Schelp added that it’s time to carry a movie pageant within the metropolis. “Allentown wants a movie pageant. In response to FilmFreeway, the main pageant submissions web site, Philadelphia has nearly 40. Pittsburgh, 20. Even tiny Milford within the Poconos has the great Black Bear Movie Pageant.”

“Folks have been speaking about beginning a movie pageant for years,” Civic Theatre creative director William Sanders stated. “We’re thrilled to host what we hope will change into a highly-anticipated annual custom.”

“We’re going to placed on a extremely enjoyable present with VIP red-carpet events, nice movies, partaking panel discussions, and an actual sense of group,” Younkin stated.

Younkin and Schelp, West Finish Allentown residents, co-chair the annual Artwork In The Park, a preferred occasion which takes place in September within the metropolis’s West Park.

The pageant has acquired greater than 330 entries from filmmakers in over 40 nations and has accepted a number of dozen movies to date. Classes are Finest Narrative Characteristic, Finest Documentary Characteristic, Finest Narrative Brief, Finest Documentary Brief, and Finest Music Video.

Whereas there may be an entry price for these classes, there isn’t a cost for 1-5 minute quick movie entries from the Lehigh Valley, in keeping with the information launch.

“Lehigh Valley filmmakers, please submit your quick movies,” Schelp stated.

Entries should be submitted by establishing a free account at FilmFreeway.com/AllentownFilmFestival and importing a movie.

Deadline for entries is March 1.

Pageant organizers proceed to hunt pageant sponsors. Screening occasions and admission costs might be introduced later.

Schelp and Younkin made the documentary movie “BROKE(N)” about Allentown residents coping with financial hardships that was proven on the Nineteenth Avenue Theatre in September.

BROKE(N) was additionally chosen in 16 movie festivals, which impressed them to ascertain a movie pageant in Allentown.

“We discovered how movie festivals are run and the way movies are submitted. That prompted us to suppose how enjoyable it might be to have one in Allentown,” Younkin stated. Schelp stated the pageant can introduce Allentown and the Lehigh Valley to folks unfamiliar with the area.

“Lots of North America’s largest cities are lower than a half-day’s drive from Allentown,” he stated. “We wish to unfold the phrase – Allentown is much more than a Billy Joel track about post-industrial angst.”

The Allentown Movie Pageant emblem options fonts that intention to pay homage to town’s industrial historical past. Capping the emblem is the stepped profile of the enduring PPL Constructing, the home windows of which echo the sq. sprocket holes of the movie strip beneath during which “FILM FESTIVAL” is carved. A stylized Liberty Bell is hid within the “A” of FESTIVAL, a reference to Allentown’s historic function in safeguarding the precise Liberty Bell through the American Revolutionary Warfare when it was hidden from the British in a neighborhood church.

Allentown Movie Pageant particulars

April 1: Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Group Heart, 522 W. Maple St.

April 14-16: Civic Theatre, 527 N. nineteenth St.

April 15: Allentown Artwork Museum, 31 N. Fifth St.

Twitter.com/AllentownFilm @AllentownFilm

Instagram.com/AllentownFilmFestival

Fb: Allentown Movie Pageant

Web site: allentownfilmfestival.org/

How you can enter:

FilmFreeway.com/AllentownFilmFestival Lehigh Valley residents submit 1 to five minute shorts at no cost.