For the last two years, Matt Croyle, a filmmaker and Founder and Director of the Oil Valley Film Festival, has provided a growing platform for the filmmakers in Venago County and the Oil Region in western Pennsylvania. The festival is a mixture of American and International films (dramatic and documentary) in both feature and short length categories - as well as a "curated block of out-of-competition selections." The festival also boasts a screenwriting and pilot teleplay competitions for screenwriters.

This three-day festival is complete with networking events and educational panels and it culminates in a $1,000 prize awarded for the "audience favorite" Feature Film and juried awards.

"This is the first International Film Festival of its kind in the region," says Croyle, whose own feature length film, "Potential Inertia," was shot in the area with the help of some "extremely dedicated people."

With Oil City being half way between Pittsburgh and Erie, Croyle understands the region is an under-represented area for indie film and hopes to bring an art house cinematic experience to the region outside of local multiplexes. In its first two seasons, the festival received submissions from twenty-one countries around the globe and had succeeded in bridging filmmakers with resources they may not have had access to otherwise. The festival has doubled in attendance over its first two seasons and looks to grow even further due to the attention from established publications and organizations such as Videomaker Magazine, iPitchTV, Inktip, and The Writer's Store.

"As we grow as a film festival, we are going to get a lot more large-scale productions who will be influenced by the Film Tax Credit," says Croyle.

Submissions for the 2018 Oil Valley Film Festival can be made on their website or through Freeway.

http://oilvalleyfilmfestival.weebly.com
https://filmfreeway.com/OilValleyFilmFestival