Lycoming Arts Film Office
is Proud to Present the Second Annual
RIVER VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL
Key Dates
Submissions Open: October 1, 2025
Earlybird Deadline: December 31, 2025
Regular Deadline: April 30, 2026
Late Deadline: May 22, 2026
Notification Date: May 29, 2026
Festival Dates: July 17 - July 19, 2026
Year One Highlights
Award Winners
Best Narrative Feature
American Comic
Best Documentary Feature
Mountain Souls
Best Narrative Short
Time to Kill
Audience Award, Feature
Mountain Souls
Audience Award, Short
Time to Kill
Millionaire Award
Mountain Souls
What's Coming Year Two?
Jury Awards
Best Narrative Feature
Best Narrative Short
Best Documentary Feature
Best Documentary Short
Audience Awards
Narrative Feature
Narrative Short
Documentary Feature
Documentary Short
Millionaire Award
Screenings
Year Two will also include a Midnight Shorts block and a Midnight Feature!
Industry Panels
We will be featuring industry panels, more details soon!
Filmmaker Reviews
- H. Nelson Tracy"Cory and his team have done an amazing job with the first year of their festival! This is a great find for feature and short filmmakers - great audience, venue, and communication towards the film teams. We were honored to participate and I'll definitely be submitting future projects and telling other filmmakers to do the same!"
- Joe Kwaczala"This was the first year, and it was a good start. Cory, the director of the festival, is fantastic, and the audience was really engaged and had great questions.
More than that, Williamsport is a gorgeous place, and I'd love to go back. It will be really exciting to see this festival grow in the next few years!" - Brian Hauser"We had a great time at the inaugural RVFF. Cory and his team were welcoming and energetic and pulled off an excellent first year's program. Looking forward to more!"
Award Winning Jury
River Valley Film Festival History
- September 2019River Valley Film Festival Founded by Cory Baney & Claire Mattis
- March 2020Covid-19 Presses pause on the inaugural RVFF
- June 2022Williamsport native Jonathan Decker joins the team!
- January 2025RVFF re-launches for their inaugural year.
- February 2025RVFF Joins with Lycoming Arts Film Office to continue their joined mission of building the film industry locally.
- July 2025RVFF Hosts their inaugural festival with 20 films from 4 different countries, a star-studded Grand Jury, and a fully engaged local audience.
About the River Valley Film Festival
The River Valley Film Festival was founded in 2019 by Williamsport, PA native and film industry publicist Cory Baney. Initially planned to take place in July of 2020, the festival was met by a world stopping pandemic, Covid-19 (you may have heard of it). Along the way to the relaunch in January 2025, Cory met Jonathan Decker at a local drive-in, who's commitment to RVFF can be attested by his initial statement, "I'm all in, this sounds awesome."
Partnering with Jonathan, Cory was determined to continue to grow the RVFF team and the potential for the festival. This included eyeing local organization the Lycoming Arts Film Office as a perfect partner for the inaugural festival. After meeting with the Lycoming Arts Film Office Chair Noah Beiter and Lycoming Arts President Debi Burch the River Valley Film Festival was welcomed with wide open arms into Lycoming Arts repertoire of events throughout the community.
Under the Lycoming Arts banner, the River Valley Film Festival continued to flourish. With the inaugural year having featuring an opening night event like no other, Red Carpet Friday, which incorporated over 40 vendors, music, food, and handmade goods, all with a red carpet theme.
The inaugural lineup included 20 films, with selections from the US, Slovakia, Mexico, and Ukraine. The festival drew crowds that were fully engaged in the films, most turning into workshops on how to help grow the film's impact.
The River Valley Film Festival curated an award winning first year jury, with Tom Woodruff Jr., Ethan Alter, Megan McLachlan, Emily Flake, and John Shableski. The jury decided which films took home Best Narrative Feature, Best Narrative Short, and Best Documentary Feature. RVFF also offered an Audience Award for Feature Length and Short Length, as well as the Millionaire Award for best overall audience rating.
