The 2025 Allentown Film Festival is back, April 10 - 13, Civic Theatre of Allentown’s Nineteenth Street Theatre and Theatre514, and the Allentown Art Museum.

Screened will be 120 films chosen from nearly 850 films submitted by filmmakers from around the world, including many from the Lehigh Valley.

“This is the highest number of entries we’ve received,” says Allentown Film Festival Director Alan Younkin. “We started taking entries last May after last year’s festival. So, it’s almost a year-round process with review by a panel of judges.

“One of the reasons we got so many entries is because we got five-star reviews from the film-makers. They love Civic Theatre, the Allentown Art Museum. They love the medals,” says Allentown Film Festival President Michael Schelp.

It’s the third annual year for the film festival founded by Younkin and Schelp, who relocated to Allentown from New York City in the midst of the pandemic shutdown.

“They also love networking with other film-makers, learning from each other at the panel discussions and getting feedback about their films from the other film-makers and audience members,” Schelp continues.

“We have a total 120 films that we’re screening. And well over half of those are from local film-makers,” says Younkin.

“Of the screening blocks, we have four blocks that are local, short-film competitions. Those competition films are five minutes or less. There are 59 films in the competition in those four blocks,” Younkin continues.

“In nine other blocks, we have a total of 61 films, ranging from shorts to feature-length films. We have those curated into blocks by genres.

“We have four blocks that are collections of short films. The comedy block has 10 short films. We have a block called ‘Behaving Badly Shorts.’ There are six films in that block.

“We have ‘Psychological Thrillers and Surreal Shorts.’ There are five in that block. We have a block of ‘Horror and Gory Shorts.’ There are 12.

“We have a collection of “Documentary Shorts.’ There’s three in that one.

“At the Allentown Art Museum, we have a collection of art-related films and a collection of Spanish-language films with English subtitles.

“There are three blocks of features, each is anchored by a feature-length film,” says Younkin.

Entries are up from 700 last year and from 600 the first year.

This year’s festival is one weekend, Thursday through Sunday, which was the format for the first year. Last year’s festival was two weekends.

“We found that it made more sense to have it more compact,” Schelp says.

“The Allentown Art Museum screening is always fun. We have the theme of ‘What Is Art?’ One of the films is a six-minute film that is 210 iconic images that define the history of art,” says Schelp.

“Typically, of our 59 local films, most of the film-makers show up. The ones that aren’t local, quite a few of them show up,” Younkin says.

“Some of the films are from Greece, Chile, Netherlands, United Kingdom. And some of the films, from New York City, a lot of people connected with the film show up,” says Schelp.

“Of the 850 films submitted, 50 countries were represented,” says Younkin, who says of festival attendance, ”It’s been growing each year.”

”We have an all-access pass. And those are really doing well,” says Schelp of the 2025 festival.

“With the film festival, obviously, people gather in a theater, the lights go down and they watch a film. The real goal of the festival is to be a community, bring together film-makers, film-lovers, people interested in meeting neighbors, and to build connections. It’s working. People are excited,” says Schelp.

“Before and after each screening block, people mingle in the lobby. And we do have a gala celebration and a closing reception,” Schlep says. He’s most proud of the film festival award, given to each film-maker whose film is screened at the festival.

“Michael made the design,” says Younkin.

“I ran 13 marathons and I was just impressed at how beautiful the medals were. We chose a particular company that designs medals for marathons,” Schelp says.

“Everyone whose film is shown gets a medal. And there cash prizes for short films in the local competition. And then we have prizes for Best Documentary Short, Best Documentary Feature, Best Narrative Short, Best Narrative Feature-Length, Best Music Video, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress,” Younkin says.

The same panel of judges selects submissions and awards prizes. This year, there are 27 judges. The festival has volunteers and partners.

Younkin and Schelp look forward to this year’s and next year’s Allentown Film Festival.

“Paradigm shift is a little much. But I want to have people think about things a little differently. Go to the festival and look at life in a little different way,” says Schelp.

“As we are in our third year, we are discovering our DNA. We’ve been to many film festivals and each has its own DNA. One of our goals is to bring together local film-makers. Many are returning film-makers. It’s really fun to watch the creative film-makers and watch them grow,” Schelp continues.

“Whether from around the world, or regional or local, we chose those films based on well-made, good story lines, well-acted and some might be purely enjoyable, educational, just good, engaging well-made film. We strive for high-quality films to showcase,” says Younkin.

“We’re hoping that people consider making a film and submitting it next year,“ Schelp says.

“Two of our feature films were shot on iPhones: ‘Love Hides in the Open,’ from the UK, and ‘Broken Pieces,’ from New York, and the film-maker of ‘Broken Pieces,’ Justin Ho, will be at the film festival,” says Schelp.

Allentown Film Festival, April 10-13, Civic Theatre of Allentown, Allentown Art Museum. Schedule, ticket information: https://www.allentownfilmfestival.org/allentown-film-festival