Saucon Grad’s Film Festival to Be Held May 31

A 2023 graduate of Saucon Valley High School and current Television student at Ithaca College’s Roy H. Park School of Communications, Jacob Jones has come back to Hellertown for summer break, but he won’t have much time to relax at home.

Before leaving for Los Angeles for a summer internship at the CESD talent agency in June, Jones–who was a standout wrestler at Saucon and now wrestles for Ithaca–has work to do. He is currently busy promoting the inaugural Eleanor Rose International Film Festival he founded, which will be held Saturday, May 31 at the historic Roxy Theatre in Northampton.

The one-day festival will feature 30 short films submitted by a selection of international and American directors and producers, with prizes to be awarded in a number of categories including Best Narrative, Best Documentary, Best Animated, Best Student, Best Horror, Best Comedy, Best International and Best Overall. Best Editing, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress awards will also be presented at the conclusion of the festival, which Jones said will feature a number of films by Lehigh Valley area filmmakers as well as films from producers in Mongolia, Iran, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland.

“Half of our overall screenings will be local films,” said Jones, who noted that a number of the local entries are by student filmmakers from DeSales University.

A budding talent agent, Jones has dabbled in filmmaking himself, having produced a film for his senior project as a media arts and video major at Bethlehem Area Vocational Technical School and more recently a sports-themed documentary at Ithaca, where he just completed his sophomore year. Beginning with Pixar films as a child, he said he has always been drawn to on-screen entertainment, which today includes not only movies and TV shows but also original content streamed on popular social media apps such as TikTok. Some TikTokers who are still teenagers have amassed millions of followers as content creators, and it is these influencers who Jones said he eventually hopes to represent, along with actors and other talent.

The technology revolution that has happened during his lifetime has enabled anyone with a smartphone to become their own director and producer; a major change Jones sees as a good thing, because it has made filmmaking more accessible.

“I’ve always been about innovation,” he said, adding that Ithaca College alumnus and Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger is known for the credo “innovate or die.” Iger is scheduled to speak at the school’s 130th commencement ceremony this weekend, where he will receive a Doctor of Letters degree for his innovative contributions to the television and entertainment industries, and Jones said it was in the spirit of innovation Iger’s success embodies–and because he enjoys a challenge–that he one day asked his girlfriend, “why can’t I create a film festival?”

That was when the idea for the Eleanor Rose International Film Festival was born. Not long thereafter, he called the owners of the Roxy Theatre to ask about hosting an event there, which ultimately led to booking the 1920s movie palace for the festival.

Jones then created the festival’s website and found filmmakers to submit entries by following various Instagram accounts.

He also had help from classmates in judging the submissions from which the 30 films to be shown were selected, but most of the behind-the-scenes work necessary to found the film festival has been done by Jones, even down to designing the awards.

“I’m a one-man show,” he said.

Jones credited his family’s support with inspiring the festival’s name, which pays tribute to a special person in his life.

Describing his grandmother Eleanor as “my best friend in the whole world” and “an amazing human being,” he said he grew up watching lots of movies and TV shows like “The Middle” and “Dancing With the Stars” with her.

“I miss her a lot and I wanted to do something that symbolized who she was,” he said.

Jones said he hopes members of the Saucon Valley community will join him at the festival, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will “celebrate the art of storytelling.”

The films that will be shown are The Girl Who Walked on Snow – Bruno Carnide (Portugal), A Fast Stop – Hunter Wilde (Lehighton, PA), The Bomb – Emily Fortney (Allentown, PA), P – Stelios Koupetoris (Spain), Mr. Davey – Charlie Morton (Center Valley, PA), Blindside – Charlie Morton (Center Valley, PA), Nostril – Michael Dondero, Shengnan Dong (New York City), There is no Word for Depression – Anaya Kulkami Brainich (Chicago), Body Count – J.C. Mckearnin (Bethlehem, PA), In Half – Jorge Morais Valle (Spain), Catabasis – Thomas Dionosi (Apollo, PA), Fingerprints – Andrea Knapp (Allentown, PA), Remembrance – Huzzah Entertainment (Slatington, PA), A Wednesday in Hershey – Matt Ward (Greentown, PA), My Next Guest – Lucas Hydock (State College, PA), For You – Dylan Baker (Philadelphia, PA), Eric & Oliver – Dylan Baker (Philadelphia, PA), Away, Away, Away – Eile Guengo (Long Beach, NY), Rivercobble – Burls & Bramble (Bethlehem, PA), Talk – Ethan Baron (Bethlehem, PA), You Stole my Boyfriend – Jeffery Harvey (Walnutport, PA), House Rules – Jeffery Harvey, Melanie Rosedale (Walnutport, PA), Behind the Signal: The Making of Blood Signal 4G – Jason Taylor (Pennsylvania), Abandominium – Dominick Lopez (Philadelphia, PA), Cupcake – Natalie Mahoney (Staten Island, NY), Sana – Manuel Larios (Peru), Late September – Joey Tangradi (Center Valley, PA), Reborn – Arian Smith (Bethlehem, PA), Always – Payton Carson (Bethlehem, PA), Moving Parts – Graceann Mattair (Bethlehem, PA) and Letter From a Stranger – Shima Omidvar (Iran).

More information about the Eleanor Rose Film Festival is available on the website EleanorRoseFilmFestival.com and tickets to it can be purchased on Eventbrite.

Jones said he is also scheduled to appear on Channel 69 News’s Sunrise Edition on May 27 to promote the festival.