By Linda Oatman High
Reading, PA (The Hollywood Times) 11/8/2026
With The Hollywood Times as media partner, the 12th annual Reading Film Fest took place on November 6th-8th, with a jam-packed schedule that included a Filmmakers Workshop, a VIP Gala, Friday Night Shorts, An Actor’s Workshop, Stories Across Borders, Sports and Adventure Documentaries, Celebrating Women’s Voices, Studentfest, Made in Reading, and varied features and more.
Festival Director Eliza Taylor and ReadingFilm Board President Tracy Schott were at the helm of the events, welcoming not only storytellers from the surrounding community but from around the world.
Presented by Experience Reading & Berks, as well as by Sweet Street of Reading, PA, the festival brought visitors excited to explore the offerings.
Held at GoggleWorks art center, as well as at a nearby IMAX theatre, attendees had much from which to choose.
Friday Night Shorts included “A Melting Pot,” “Dude Where’s My Coffee Table,” “LeRoy Truth Versus,” “Mimi the Mime,” “Sarah Stonemaker: 86 News,” “Sip,” “Teddy’s Dollhouse,” and “The Lion.”
Friday’s feature films included “Between Two Waves” and Good Thoughts.”
Saturday’s schedule included Celebrating Women’s Voices, Stories Across Borders, and shorts “A Son’s Burden,” “Half Unseen,” “Not Safe for Work,” “The Current State of the Backyard Pool Industry,” “The Day The World Fell Apart,” “The Love Con,” “Way Back Home,” and “You Haunt Me.”
Filmmaker Joe Symons of New York City was there with his partner to see his movie “You Haunt Me” on the big screen.
The film revolves around a grieving son who goes to his late mother’s home to pack up her belongings, only to be surprised by a spirit visit.
“I wrote the film after my mom passed three years ago,” Joe explained. “But now my father just passed . . . nine days ago.”
Joe’s family and friends convinced him that his dad would want him to attend the film festival, and so he did.
Joe’s short “You Haunt Me” was also shown at The Chain film festival in New York City. He has a new film titled “Salience,” which is coming soon.
Jaden Stone, a college student at Neumann University in Delaware, also attended the Saturday Shorts showings. Jaden was an actor in “The Love Con,” as was fellow attendee Tiana Richardson of Exton, PA. The movie was filmed in Delaware by writer/producer/director Dominic Cobb, also in attendance.
“The Love Con” was also shown at the Newark Independent Film Festival.
Special presentations on Saturday evening included the features “Miss Representation: Rise Up” and “The Welcome Table.”
“Miss Representation” exposed how mainstream media diminishes women, and how the battlefield has moved online . . . now more dangerous than ever. Post-film discussion included producer Camille Servan-Schreiber and Allie Phillips, one of the women featured in the film.
“The Welcome Table” told the stories of climate refugees across six continents, posing the question “What if we built welcome centers instead of walls and detention centers?” Filmmaker Josh Fox joined the audience for a post-screening discussion, with the presentation being sponsored by Bullfrog Films.
Sunday’s Studentfest, Made in Reading Shorts, Uncovering History Documentaries, and the Made in Reading feature “Left Unsaid” wrapped up the 12th annual festival, which received funding from Pennsylvania Creative Industries, powered by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
Community support came from many local organizations, businesses, and individuals, including Alvernia University, the Holleran Fund, Penske, and Bullfrog Films.
Children who attended the festival especially enjoyed the showing of “Encanto” in Spanish, as well as the film “Flow,” presented in partnership with the Red Rose Film Festival of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Attendees of the festival agreed that they’d be keeping an eye out for next year’s Reading Film Fest.
The ReadingFilm office was founded to promote the area as a location destination for film and media production, and they may be found at www.readingfilm.org
The Reading Film Fest may be found at www.ReadingFilmFEST.org
#readingfilmfest
#readingpennsylvania
#independentfilm
#goggleworks
#imax
