FirstGlance Film Festival, Philadelphia’s longest-running competitive indie film festival, programs a curated selection of thirty-five new independent films by professional, emerging, and student filmmakers at their 28th annual event. Celebrate and support indie film, May 16-18, 2025, at the Film Society Bourse, 400 Ranstead Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Single screening tickets are $20 and VIP All Access Passes are $150.
With a strong focus on local filmmakers, these films have ties to the Philadelphia area:
Pat Taggart – “NO ONE DIED: THE WING BOWL STORY” is a hilarious look back on the greatest radio promotion of all time that spanned 26 years. Taggart documents the wing eating contest which was a mix of competition, pageantry, and debauchery and allowed the average person to become a celebrity for a day in front of a capacity crowd. It features Jason Kelce, Angelo Cataldi, Bill Simmons (“El Wingador”), and Molly Schuyler.
Jill Frechie and John Ricciutti – “Jamey and the Blues” – Director Jill Frechie is a judge for the Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards and Telly Awards and has received 8 Telly Awards and 2 Emmy nominations. Along with award-winning producer John Ricciutti, and in association with Main Line Television, she is committed to preserving and keeping the memories and legacy of historic events, people, and places in our minds. Their short documentary about a local blues club highlighting the Philadelphia slave connection with a singer/harmonica player and historian features candid interviews and music vignettes.
Tony Lawton –“Goldfish”– Lawton has been an actor and theatrical devisor in Philadelphia for 32 years. He has performed in over 125 plays, including over thirty productions of works by Shakespeare, as well as contemporary works of drama and comedy, musicals, and a smattering of film and TV (“Silver Linings Playbook,” “Hack,” “Cold Case”). He’s been working as an actor on Philadelphia stages since 1992 and he has directed himself in eight solo works. His cast, crew, and locations for “Goldfish,” about a man who must navigate through his poverty, shame, his talent, ambition, his gambling-addicted father, and falling in love with a rich girl, were all local.
Derek Frey – “Viaticum” – Frey is a passionate and prolific filmmaker with twenty years of leadership experience producing live-action and animated films for the major studios and serving as director, editor, and cinematographer on several award-winning independent projects. He has been an integral member of filmmaking teams on an array of blockbuster projects from initial development and pre-production, through post and release. His dark comedy, “Viaticum,” is about a priest performing Last Rites who is challenged by a hospice nurse who believes her patient should not be absolved of a deadly sin.
John Pace – “Disrupted: Injustice, Trauma, and Healing” is a portrait of Philadelphia that explores the intersections of race, class, incarceration, and healing for system-impacted individuals and their loved ones. After serving 31 years of a life sentence given at age 17, Pace was resentenced and paroled, and since his release, he has dedicated himself to supporting other former juvenile lifers in their reentry journeys and young people who find themselves involved in the criminal justice system, earning recognition for his advocacy work and serving as Senior Reentry Coordinator at the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project in Philadelphia.
Kyra Knox – “Futures Without Guns” invites the viewer to embark on a journey through three diverse artistic perspectives and tap into their innate creativity to envision a future where the threat of gun violence is a distant memory. This short documentary is a call to action that unites us in our collective determination to actively shape a brighter future. Knox’s work has been recognized with numerous awards, including Producer of the Year at the Shorty Impact Awards, seven Shorty Impact Awards, eight Telly Awards, four Communicator Awards, a Gold Addy, and a Mosaic Award.
Deron Albright – “Silent Key” – Albright is a filmmaker and screenwriter whose work has been shown in over 50 festivals on six continents and won more than 20 awards of excellence. He’s currently an Associate Professor at Saint Joseph’s University and working on a West-African production of Othello in collaboration with the School of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana. His short film, about a 10-year-old boy who plays on his father’s ham radio pretending to be mission control for the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger, is a tribute to both the Challenger astronauts and the classic films of Powell & Pressburger.
Andrew Pritzker – “HomePlanet” – Writer, producer, director Pritzker, a Philly native with a BEA in Creative Writing from Emerson College and an MFA from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, toiled in LA for 17 years as a screenwriter and script doctor. His short sci-fi drama, “HomePlanet,” is about a disoriented man who is picked up by two local cops who suspect he may be a space alien.
Dove Meir- “Butterfly Project”- Philadelphia-based filmmaker, Meir, wrote the short film, “Butterfly Project,” which tells the story of a man who is kidnapped to stop a hostile company takeover. Is he the victim or something else entirely? The film combines action-driven storytelling with a powerful message about the urgent issue of sex trafficking.
Zoey Hudson – “The Crit(ique)” – Hudson received her BFA in Fibers and Textiles Studies from the University of the Arts. She worked in fashion and fine art for a decade in Philly before deciding to make the leap to screenwriting and filmmaking in Los Angeles. Her comedy web series pilot is about a meek transfer student who has left the Amish community for art school. The series is about four polar opposite, fledgling artists struggling to find themselves as makers and teens away from home for the first time, in the gritty city of Philly.
Nicole Agostino – “Buried” – Agostino began her filmmaking journey in Philadelphia where she cultivated relationships with other indie filmmakers, musicians, and artists, to create original content. This resulted in directing music videos for John Faye, John & Brittany, and Ginger Coyle; writing, directing, and producing her ten-episode web series, “Sadie”; as well as, producing two projects with South Fellini: “Alpha Girls: A Satanic Sorority Slasher” and “American Exorcist.” Her short is about a woman who emerges from a period of grief and slowly finds her way to the other side.
Logan Desris – “Crag”- Desris is an award-winning director and graduate of Temple University with a degree in Film and Media Arts. He’s also a gaffer, grip, and assistant director. His short is about a couple who attempt to save their wavering relationship through an outdoor climbing trip. Desris, an adept outdoorsman, believes his ability as a rock climber allowed him to tell this story in a way that is inaccessible to most.
Sophie Aguila – “Meet Me Under the Bleachers” – Aguila uses storytelling to create multi-dimensional and empowered female characters, and to discuss universal stories of art and humanity. Her short film tells a story about coming-of-age as a young woman and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and the bumpy road that a person can face as they grow into their identity. Aguila graduated in Spring 2024 with a Film and Media Arts BFA from Temple University.
Jesse R Torres – “The Philadelphia Project” – Torres is a filmmaker, director, and digital content creator with a diverse background in storytelling through visual media. His thriller/horror short, “The Philadelphia Project,” was born from a promise and some promises are paid in blood. You can bury the truth, but the dead won’t stay quiet.
Mark Dylan Brown, Cynthia Gravinese, Roberto Ioannucci – “Watching Walter” is a short biopic (and feature film proof of concept) directed by Mitch Yapko starring Stephen Tobolowsky set in both 1995 Philadelphia and World War II Nazi occupied Poland. Based on the true story of a Holocaust survivor-turned Philadelphia watchmaker Wladyslaw “Walter” Wojnas, award-winning scriptwriter, Mark Dylan Brown, learned about Wojnas from his childhood friend Roberto Ioannucci. The watchmaker shared his haunting, dehumanizing memories of the Stutthof concentration camp with Ioannucci and, before his passing, asked his friend to share his story with the world. After writing the script, Brown showed it to his wife, actress/producer Cynthia Gravinese, a Philadelphia native, who was immediately taken with the importance of the story and the humanity of its main character and agreed to be an executive producer alongside fellow Philadelphia natives, Brown and Ioannucci.
Thomas Bentey – “The Cafone” – While studying English at Rutgers, Bentey acted in several student films and plays. That experience changed the course of his career. He went on to act in numerous NYC plays and independent films. After acting in other people’s productions, he became interested in writing a script of his own. His short is about a manipulative New Jersey bottom-feeder who brings disarray and mayhem to the lives of everyone around him. Jordan Fox – “Upcycle”– Philly native Jordan Fox wrote, directed, and produced the short film, “Upcycle,” about Planter, who loses his mom’s favorite coat, and just what he’ll do to get it back.