West Chester Film Festival 2017

Save the date for a weekend packed with the best short films around the globe and come down to the West Chester Film Festival!

Presented by the West Chester Business Improvement District, join the West Chester Film Festival for their 13th annual short film festival, April 28th-30th. This is an entire weekend dedicated to the best short films around the world, coming to us from countries as far as Japan and Austria, to as close as our hometown of West Chester.

This year, the screenings will be taken place at the Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center for the first time. Viewings will also take place at the Chester County Historical Society. It doesn’t stop at just viewings. Throughout the weekend, there will be celebrations taking place all through town!

If for some reason you miss a block, there will be a chance for you to see it again. Some of the blocks will be shown a second time, all details are listed below.

Here’s what’s going on all weekend:

For more information on the schedule, you can visit their website.

Friday, April 28th:

Opening Night Party: included with food and drinks at Social Lounge starting at 5pm.

The first set of film screenings will begin at 7:00pm

• 7:00pm: first film block shown at the Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center Bravo Mainstage Theater (second viewing shown Saturday at 2:30pm)
• 7:15pm: film block shown at the Chester County Historical Society (second viewing shown Saturday at 2:15pm)
• 9:15pm: last film block shown at Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center Bravo Mainstage Theater (second viewing shown Sunday at 12:15pm)
• 9:30pm: last film block shown at Chester County Historical Society (second viewing shown Saturday at 7:00pm)

Saturday Morning, April 29th:

Film blocks will start at 9:30am

• 9:30am: family festival at Boxcar Brewpub
• 10:30am: young filmmaker festival at Boxcar Brewpub

Starting at 1:15pm, the West Chester Film Festival will be holding their first workshop of the weekend at the Sprout Music Collective. This workshop is presented by Steven Michael and Artur Lago-V and will be on directing and choreographing an action film. All you action movie buffs get ready, this is definitely a workshop you don’t want to miss!

Saturday Afternoon

After the workshop, film screenings will continue at 2:15pm.

• 2:15pm: the first afternoon film block at Uptown! Knauer Perfomring Arts Center Univest Room (second viewing of Friday’s 7:15pm block)
• 2:30pm: film block at Chester County Historical Society (second viewing of Friday’s 7:00pm block)

At 4:15pm, there will be another workshop on creating a documentary film, presented by Pat Taggart, is offered to everyone again, taking place at Sprout Music Collective. This will be the last workshop offered this weekend. To read more about the two workshops offered, visit the film festival’s website here. 

Saturday Evening

Before the last blocks of films, there will be a meet and greet at 5:30pm at Sprout Music Collective. Here, you can meet some of the filmmakers who created such amazing works that you have been viewing all weekend. Also during this time, you can talk to the filmmakers and ask them any questions you had on their work.

The last block of films will begin at 7:00pm

• 7:00pm: film block at Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center Bravo Mainstage Theater (second viewing of Friday’s 9:30pm block)
• 7:15pm: film block at Chester County Historical Society (second viewing Sunday at 11:30am)
• 9:15pm: film block at Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center Bravo Mainstage Theater (second viewing Sunday at 2:30pm)
• 9:30pm: film block at Chester County Historical Society (second viewing Sunday at 1:45pm)

Sunday, April 30th:

To conclude the weekend, The West Chester Film Festival has a fun filled Sunday planned for you. Included will be film blocks that were shown throughout the weekend, in case you missed one. Film blocks start at 11:30am.

• 11:30am: first film block shown at Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center Univest Room (second viewing of Saturday’s 7:15pm film block)
• 12:00pm: film block shown at the Chester County Historical Society (second viewing of Friday’s 9:15pm film block)
• 1:45pm: film block shown at Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center Univest Room (second viewing of Saturday’s 9:30pm film block)
• 2:15pm: film block shown at the Chester County Historical Society (second viewing of Saturdays’s 9:15pm film block)

To finish it all off, the festival will be holding a closing night party at Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center. Spend the evening at a local awards ceremony. There will be awards given out for nine categories, where winning filmmakers will receive “The Chester”.

Ticket Pricing

Tickets and pricing vary from single block passes to festival passes. You can read about ticket pricing in detail here. Below are all the prices for the weekend:

Single Tickets per 2 hour blocks:

• $9 per 2 hour block of films
• $7 for senior citizen or students (with valid student ID)
• $5 with West Chester Film Festival Membership

Passes:

• $55 for the All Film Block Pass: allows you to get into as many film blocks as you desire.
• $105 for the All Festival Pass: allow you into all the festival events, from the parties to the film blocks.

Tickets for the opening and closing night parities are available for $25. All workshops and the meet and greet are free of charge to everyone!

To purchase your tickets, or for more information, click here.

Don’t miss out on an amazing weekend, filled with short films, parties and workshops. For a full list of films that will be shown during the weekend, click here.