College Town Film Festival celebrates independent film

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The fourth annual College Town Film Festival, a juried festival of independent films, will run for four days — March 16-19 — at the State Theatre in State College and on the University Park campus.

The festival features 13 feature-length films and about 60 shorts of all kinds (comedy, documentary, drama, horror, romance) from filmmakers all around the world. In addition, nearly two-dozen filmmakers will work with faculty members from across the University to address issues and themes presented by films and to participate in community conversations after some of the screenings.

Films will be screened at the State Theatre all four days of the festival — except for Friday, March 18, when films will be shown at Freeman Auditorium in the HUB-Robeson Center (7 p.m.) and in Carnegie Cinema (2:30 and 9 p.m.). A complete schedule and program may be found at collegetownfilmfestival.com. 

Tickets to all sessions are free for students and cost $4 for the general public.

“The films have gotten better every year, and filmmakers are excited to participate in the original format we created for this festival,” said Matt Jordan, an associate professor in the Department of Film-Video and Media Studies and president of the festival’s board of directors. The festival was created, in part, as a celebration of independent film.

The festival is sponsored by Student Affairs, the College of Communications, the Center for Global Studies, the Paterno Fellows Program, the Social Thought Program, the Institute for Arts and Humanities and the Center for Women Students. Other key partners include the Borough of State College and the State Theatre.