The red carpet will be rolled out, and the atmosphere in downtown Williamsport near the AMC Theater will resemble a glitzy Hollywood movie premiere when the Second Annual River Valley Film Festival kicks off on Friday evening, July 17, beginning at 5 p.m.
The event will feature vendors, music, food, and a literal red-carpet experience in downtown Williamsport before the first screenings begin. Modeled on Lycoming Arts’ popular First Friday events, Red Carpet Friday has quickly become a signature way to welcome visiting filmmakers and local audiences alike to “Hollywood on the streets of Williamsport.”
Presented by Lycoming Arts, RVFF’s 2026 program features 36 official selections across narratives and documentaries, features, shorts, and music videos. Building on a 2025 debut that brought 20 films from four countries and a full weekend of screenings and Q&As to downtown Williamsport, the 2026 edition continues RVFF’s evolution as a rising destination for independent storytellers seeking both discovery and real audience connection.
Following all of this, the festival will open its 2026 screenings with a Pennsylvania documentary double feature. The feature documentary Il Mio Posto a Tavola (My Place at the Table) explores Readingbased filmmaker Santo D. Marabella’s firstperson journey as an adoptee born in Italy, exploring identity, belonging, and the legacies of the “Baby Scoop Era” through an intimate, Pennsylvaniarooted lens. Paired with it is The Dying Business, a short documentary directed by Joe Duca that turns its lens on an Italian American family funeral home in Johnstown, PA, and the challenges of sustaining a generational business and connecting regional history to universal questions of loss, work, and legacy.
“The first year of the festival showcased what we have to offer locally,” Festival Director Cory Baney told Webb Weekly. “Year two builds on that to include a larger lineup of films, industry panels, and even more independent films.”
Beyond opening night, this year’s program showcases a broad range of voices and forms, from narratives and documentaries, features and shorts, and music videos. Also debuting this year are our Late-Night screening and industry panels. The PA Narrative Shorts block will spotlight short films produced in PA or by PA filmmakers, giving audiences a chance to discover new talent grounded in the landscapes, cities, and communities they know.
“The most important part of the River Valley Film Festival is showcasing our local community and the filmmaking community,” said Senior Producer Jonathan Decker. “It’s the integration of these two communities that really makes RVFF such an amazing event.”
RVFF’s firstyear jury, featuring Academy Award-winning Williamsport native Tom Woodruff Jr., entertainment journalists Ethan Alter and Megan McLachlan, cartoonist and “comic maven” Emily Flake, and publishing executive John Shableski, helped establish the festival’s reputation as a serious yet welcoming indie showcase. Those jury traditions continue in 2026, with competitive awards for Best Narrative Feature, Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Documentary Short. Alongside audience awards and the festival’s distinctive Millionaire Award for the overall crowd favorite, a nod to Williamsport’s storied past.
“It’s so exciting to be able to continue to highlight the best of the independent film community,” stated Noah Beiter, committee chair for the Wild Valleys Film Office of Pennsylvania. “We truly believe in the power of independent film and the stories these filmmakers tell. The River Valley Film Festival is a great way to introduce the filmmaking community to what we have to offer as locations, history, and community, and encourage them to use Williamsport as the backlot for their next film.”
Gianna Rupert, Senior Programmer for the Festival, said this about the submissions. “After watching all the submissions for the River Valley Film Festival, I’m excited to be part of the team to showcase these stories. It was a difficult process to narrow down all the submissions to our final selections, but I’m confident the community will love what we have in store.”
Founded in 2019 by Williamsport native and film publicist Cory Baney, the River Valley Film Festival is an annual independent film festival in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, presented by Lycoming Arts. After a pandemic-related delay, RVFF launched its inaugural festival in July 2025 with 20 films from four countries, a jury of industry veterans, and the debut of Red-Carpet Friday. This street-festival-style opening-night event drew engaged audiences and visiting filmmakers to downtown. RVFF celebrates both established and emerging filmmakers through competitive jury awards, audience awards, and the Millionaire Award, and is committed to building a vibrant film community, one frame at a time.”
Screenings will run from Friday evening through Sunday, July 17-19, 2026, at the AMC CLASSIC Williamsport 11 in downtown Williamsport. Tickets, festival passes, and day passes will be available via FilmFreeway. All official selections, schedule information, and additional panels or events are available on the River Valley Film Festival website.
Schedule for the Festival:
Friday, 8 p.m.
Opening Night Double Feature
– “Il Mio Posto a Tavola (My Place at the Table)
– The Dying Business
Saturday, July 18
10 a.m.: Hometown Filmmaking Panel – Hosted at Otto Bookstore
11 a.m.: Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story
1 p.m.: Crime & Parody
3 p.m.: Narrative Shorts Block – Batter Up, Queen! | Brotherly Hypocrisy | Dobrina | In the Middle of Something | Plush Monkey | SAARI (Eng. Island) | Saba | Sunset Smudge | yer smackin
5 p.m.: Delco: The Movie
7 p.m.: Raging Midlife
9 p.m.: Take From Me
11 p.m.: Late Night Shorts Block – Grizzly Peak | High Stakes | The Hunt for the SaraYetti | Something Else Tonight | Tuna Tartare | Where’s My Ghost
Sunday July 19
10 a.m.: The Art of Film Publicity Panel – Hosted at Otto Bookstore
11 a.m.: Documentary Shorts Block – Friends of Duke Lake | On the Flip Side | PEST | Shucking Tradition
12:30 p.m.: Rotten Apple
2 p.m.: The Witchdoctor and the Windmill
3:30 p.m.: On Borrowed Time
5:30 p.m.: PA Narrative Shorts Block – Baby Love | Do Evil Thoughts Make an Evil Man? | IMMOLATION | Job 51 | TAPES | Tetrarch
7:30 p.m.: Awards Ceremony & Closing Night Party, hosted by TBC
