Centre Film Festival will return to the century-old cinema palace, The Rowland Theatre, in Philipsburg, PA as well as the historic State Theatre in State College, PA, from November 11 - November 17, 2024

The festival, entering its sixth year, is honored to be an influential, growing international film festival in central Pennsylvania. We aim to screen local films with global impact as well as global films with local impact. Our Lifetime Achievement Awards celebrated Pennsylvania native (or Penn State alum) artists and media activists such as Stan Lathan, Madeline Anderson, Tony Buba, and Gerald Abrams. Our Chandler Legacy Award has been awarded to Gary Farmer and Keegan-Michael Key.

We are committed to intergenerational interchange through film and all aspects of the festival by hosting a slate of kid-friendly films, a high school and university short film competition, as well as including up-and-coming filmmakers in our award-winning jury and selection process.

We also inaugurated our First-Act Script Lab for films set (and will be produced) in central Pennsylvania.

Awards & Prizes

Our award-winning jury select films for any or all of the following categories:
Best Feature Documentary
Best Fiction Feature
Best Cinematography
Gratitude Awards for social-impact Features and Shorts
Best Short Documentary
Best Fiction Short
Best Acting
Best Director, Short Film
Best Director, Feature Film
Best Student Short
Best High School Student Short
Best Made in PA
Best Pride on Screen

We will present the following Youth Jury awards for High School films:

FIRST PRIZE:
Reduced Tuition to the PENN STATE UNIVERSITY SUMMER FILM CAMP
https://bellisario.psu.edu/departments/summer-camps

SECOND PRIZE:
$250 toward the production of your next film

NEW! Made in PA Script Lab Award is $500 toward local production.

Rules & Terms

Please submit all films through FilmFreeway.

All films must be submitted as either an online screener or Vimeo link for consideration. If links are password-protected, passwords must be valid through November 17, 2024 or the submission will be considered be disqualified with no refund.

After submitting, please check your FilmFreeway account to make sure that your submission meets our requirements and has been accepted for consideration.

Films selected for the sixth annual Centre Film Festival will be announced no later than Friday, September 10, 2024.

Productions made after January 1, 2024 may be submitted, with exceptions for 2023 and 2022 films made upon consideration.

Feature Films:
All films above 60 minutes are considered feature films.

Short Films:
All films under 45 minutes are considered short films.

Student Short Films:
All films under 15 minutes made as a university undergraduate or graduate student as of August 2024 will be considered.

High School Shorts:
All films under 8 minutes made by a currently enrolled high school student as of August 2024 will be considered.

Entries previously screened in Centre county or aired on television in Pennsylvania or are publicly available on the web (ie Youtube, Vimeo, etc.) prior to the Festival will not be considered. Exceptions may be made upon consideration.

Do not submit works in progress. Do not submit industrial or instructional works.

All feature films submitted must be available for exhibition in one of the following formats: DCP (preferably unencrypted) or as an approved ProRes digital file, mp4, BLU-RAY or DVD.

All short films submitted must be available for exhibition as an approved ProRes digital file. Short films may be transferred temporarily onto our secure and private hard drive system for presentation in one or more of our compiled short programs.

Filmmakers are responsible for the shipment of the exhibition copy to Centre Film Festival by the requested deadline. Centre Film Festival will cover outbound shipping only.

Centre Film Festival reserves the right to use images from the films selected for marketing purposes (web, print media, and television).
15 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Amity Hoffman

    The Centre Film Festival team was amazing to work with, great communication and extremely hospitable. The State College area is beautiful and very welcoming to filmmakers. The selection of films was top notch and I connected with a number of amazing filmmakers during the festival. We were very honored to have our documentary short not only be selected, but also awarded Best Doc Short.

    January 2024
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  • Beverly Chase

    Centre Film Festival was one of our favorites this season! Festival director Pearl Gluck is incredible. At the filmmaker brunch we had the chance to meet with film industry luminaries who were there to support the filmmakers. The festival runs like a well-oiled machine and Pearl and her team left no stone unturned as far as ensuring a successful festival experience for all in attendance. We would definitely attend this film festival again and strongly encourage those considering it to submit their films. -- Thanks for everything from the entire Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story team.

    December 2023
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  • Kei Rawlins

    We would like to thank the Centre Film Festival for selecting Who's There as one of their Official Selections! Pearl Gluck was kind enough to reach out by phone, which we greatly appreciated. All the best going forward w/your wonderful festival.

    November 2023
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  • INDIe Film School

    So cool! Thanks for the selection!!!

    November 2023
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  • Hank Heimlich

    I had an excellent time at the Centre Film Festival! Their accommodations were more than generous and, while I was unable to attend the week's central events at the Rowland Theatre, the connections and experiences I had at Centre will help inform my career forever.

    November 2023
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