Seven Lehigh Valley-based filmmakers were honored with awards for their work during the third-annual Greater Lehigh Valley Filmmaker Festival (GLVFF), which took place Oct. 31- Nov.2 at the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas at SteelStacks. The awards were presented at the conclusion of the festival, which featured more than 15 different shorts and feature films produced by filmmakers from throughout the region.

The 2013 GLVFF award winners are:
Best Feature:
The Backyard Philly Project
Amanda Danzinger (Allentown)

Best Documentary:
The Backyard Philly Project
Amanda Danzinger (Allentown)

Best Short 15-50min:
The First Four
Meghan Barwick, Laura Casale, Liana Prodorutti & Nadia Sasso (Bethlehem/Lehigh University)

Best Short <15min:
Painted Love
John General (Hackettstown)

Best Web Series:
The Flighty Ducks
Dan Maher (Bethlehem)

Honorable Mention, Documentary:
Pulling Teeth
Jennifer Suwak & Steve Abruzzese (Bangor)

Audience Award:
April Grace
Andrew Hutcheson (Washington)

“The GLVFF is a yearly reminder that there is filmmaking talent of all ages here in the Lehigh Valley. We were honored to be able to showcase these films and all of the talented people who made them,” said Ryan Hill, ArtsQuest Programming Manager in charge of Cinema and Comedy.

Hill also announced at the GLVFF that the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas would host three ‘open cinema’ nights in 2014. Local filmmakers will be allowed to screen their work for an audience, and neither the filmmaker nor audience will have to pay to be a part of it. Filmmakers will have to register beforehand and the first open cinema night will be on April 21, 2014.