Steubenville International Film Festival will highlight local talent, span genres

STEUBENVILLE -- This weekend’s inaugural Steubenville International Film Festival will feature 58 films of all types, from narrative shorts to documentary shorts, from animated films to family friendly shorts.

Among the more interesting offerings might come Saturday afternoon, when two blocks are dedicated to local filmmakers.

“We are excited to be able to highlight and encourage local talent and support the efforts of local filmmakers,” said Kate Stapleton, director of the festival, which will run today and Saturday at the Sycamore Youth Center, 301 N. Fourth St,

One of those films is “Heart of the Forest,” which is scheduled to lead off Saturday’s 5:15 p.m. block.

Serena Fontecchio, who wrote, directed and edited the film and script supervisor Larissa McInnis said they were very excited the film was chosen to be part of the festival.

The inspiration behind the short -- the film runs just under 14 minutes -- came to Fontecchio as she was preparing for her senior thesis project while majoring in film at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.

“I knew that I wanted to make a film, and I had a vague idea about a forest and growing up and the concepts,” she explained. “I presented that to Larissa, and she was like, ‘Yes,’ and she started building off of that, and it kind of became a collaboration between us.”

The film looks at the beauty of growth and change and the impact of relationships, Fontecchio wrote of the work.

Shot entirely in the woods, there are no words spoken in the film. Rather, a soundtrack made up of the sounds of nature and a piano make up the whole audible experience of the film. Viewers never see the faces of the actors, either.

“That was a major part of the concept,” McInnis said.

It offers an interesting perspective, Fontecchio added.

“I was really interested in my time in film school with the concept of show, don’t tell, and communicating a story visually and not just through dialogue,” she said. “For my thesis, I wanted to challenge myself to tell a story with as many visuals as I could, and with as little telling as possible. The challenge was to communicate everything visually, without any words, and to see if we could communicate emotion, especially through the physicality of our actors, the motion of the music and even the cinematography and style.”

“That extended to not even having words, but also not having the most expressive part of our body, which is our face,” McInnis said. “It created an opportunity to use the things that you wouldn’t expect to tell the story, like the surrounding environment and the rest of our bodies to tell the story, instead of faces and words.”

Fontecchio and McInnis minored in theater at the university, training they put to use in the film, behind the camera and in front -- they both also have roles in the film.

“I think we were able to bring some of our theater education into it as well. When you’re an actor on stage, you have just your body to communicate with. You have lines as well, but a lot of your communication comes through your body and the way you act physically,” Fontecchio explained. “So, we pulled from that training as well to work with our actors and got them to perform as much as they could and emote as much as they could without using their faces”

Another factor was to make the film relatable to everyone who views it.

“The goal was so that when you watch it you can put yourself into the shoes of these characters,” Fontecchio said. “So, without showing faces, you can feel what they are feeling and experience what they are experiencing. Because it’s a general kind of story, the hope was that you could kind of put your own experience into it and watch it through their eyes.”

For the music, which is another important component of the film, Fontecchio said they turned to another friend from their theater days at the university, Thomas Bodoh. Described by Fontecchio and McInnis as a brilliant composer, he worked closely with them on the music.

A local forest was used as the location. It offered the perfect space, and because the film was shot in the early fall several years ago, it was able to show the concept of change, growth and progression, McInnis said.

Fontecchio said she knew the type of tree she was looking for, adding it happened to be difficult to find.

“The story is about childhood and growing up,” Fontecchio said. “I kind of put my own childhood experience into it, just like when I was growing up and we were looking for trees. We were looking for a pine tree, and there weren’t many pine trees to be found. Then we happened on this perfect one, and it was great.”

Both are graduates of the university, Fontecchio in 2024 and McInnis in 2025. Fontecchio said her parents went to school at the university and were married here, and she was born in Weirton. She added the family settled in Philadelphia, which is where she calls home.

McInnis said her parents also met in Steubenville and settled in the Columbus area. She said her aunts and uncles went to school here, as did some of her cousins.

They are roommates and live in Steubenville and they have ideas for other projects, saying those include acting.

Fontecchio added several members of her family joined her in the production. She’s the oldest of six children -- three of her sisters and one of her brothers appear in the film, too. She said having them involved was a special experience.

Another locally produced film, “Smokescreen,” will open the 3:45 p.m. local block Saturday, Stapleton added. The film, she explained, was created specifically for the festival and offers some impressive shots of Steubenville.

While the showings at the Sycamore Center are ticketed, Leonardo’s Coffeehouse will host coffee and conversation with filmmakers from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. today, and a screenwriting workshop from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Saturday, both of which are open to the public.

For information or to obtain tickets, visit steubenvilleintlfilmfest.com

Sponsors include UPMC Trinity; Nelson’s; the Downtown Steubenville Business Association; StoutPGH; Youth Bee Works; Pastaio Trattoria Italiana; Malta’s Pizza; the Spot Bar; Leonardo’s Coffeehouse; Fourth Street Standard, Bookmarx; Spyridon Studio; the Sycamore Center; Garloch; Bayberry House Bed and Breakfast and the River Network.