The Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival, with its credo of “eyes and minds wide open,” returns for its sixth go-round April 20-23 at Jim Thorpe’s Mauch Chunk Opera House, located on West Broadway.

Channeling the rebellious spirit of the Molly Maguires, JTIFF showcases “bold, defiant filmmakers” from around the globe in 16 categories. Music Video, new to JTIFF, joins categories such as Feature, Short, LGBTQ subject and Experimental.

Pocono Television Network will cover opening-night red-carpet festivities, while Great Circles Music Collective, based in Philadelphia, will live-stream opening-night act Lady HD.

Great Circles will also live-stream DJ Merloh at the April 21 Filmmakers’ Gala, held at the Mauch Chunk Ballroom, and live audio/visual performances on the evening of April 22.

This year’s film slate includes nine recent features, including three - “Birth/Rebirth,“ “Divinity” and “Aliens Abducted My Parents and I Feel Kinda left Out” - that premiered at Sundance in January.

When starting JTIFF, “major film distributors wouldn’t even return my calls and emails,” said Todd Morris, JTIFF founder, executive director and juror. “Now they respond right away and offer me bigger films that I didn’t even know they had.”

JTIFF, he added, “is now able to premiere new first-run features in Pennsylvania before the bigger, more established and much-better-financed festivals can.”

JTIFF’s remaining features - “Hundreds of Beavers,” “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster,” “Deadland,” “Starring Jerry as Himself” and “8 Found Dead” - also premiered at key festivals, with some snagging top prizes.

Festival information is available at jimthorpeindiefilmfest.com.

How to choose

Selecting films, Morris said, presents the biggest challenge in organizing the festival. The selection team, which includes Morris and partner Jocelyn, narrows hundreds of submissions down to fewer than 90 films.

Grindhouse, an ages-18-and-up block set for the night of April 22, ranks as one of JTIFF’s most popular blocks.

Grindhouse fans “are definitely the rowdiest,” Morris said, with the political climate perhaps boosting Grindhouse’s popularity.

“Going to an over-the-top Grindhouse show made up of no-holds-barred, ultra-violent and offensive midnight movies gives the audience permission to let loose, blow off steam and laugh at the sick jokes, gross-out humor and gore. It’s like a release valve.”

JTIFF’s Grindhouse block will include Graham Burrell’s short horror flick “Life of the Party.”

Burrell, a 2019 JTIFF Best PA Student Filmmaker nominee for his short romantic comedy “The Worst That Could Happen,” will engage in a post-screening Q&A.

Local faces

Burrell’s last JTIFF entry, short horror film “The Witching Hour,” screened in 2021, the year he graduated from Muhlenberg College in Allentown. Burrell, a double major in film studies and media/communication, works as a video producer.

Born in Coplay and residing in Collegeville, Burrell wrote “Life of the Party” during the early stages of COVID-19 lockdown. The short “is loosely based on an idea I had in high school,” he said, adding that he channeled into the script the hopelessness and despair many felt during the pandemic’s early days.

As a result, “the story is a bit darker than I’d usually create,” Burrell said, “but I worked to maintain a sense of dark comedy that I love in many of my favorite horror films.”

He hopes “Life of the Party” shocks and scares viewers, while also eliciting nervous giggles.

Burrell, obsessed with film since he was a toddler, has written, directed and edited 25-plus short films and one feature.

As both a child and adult, “I would get scared very easily and still consistently seek out scary stories.” Burrell’s filmmaking obsession started at age 12, after winning a 96-hour horror-film festival.

“I realized I had a knack for horror,” said Burrell, whose influences include Steven Spielberg and Alfred Hitchcock. He loves “the catharsis that horror can offer. Since we live in such a scary world, it’s meaningful to watch people overcome scary situations.”

Vernard James, born in Allentown, won the Best PA Student Film for short thriller “5 Stars” at the 2021 JTIFF. James’ short drama film “Game 11” will screen at this year’s festival.

James, a movie lover since he was a child, became serious about making films while in high school. With his favorite filmmakers including David Fincher, Denis Villeneuve, Brad Bird and Martin Scorsese, James has made around eight shorts “that I care to show people.” James has written most of his directorial efforts.

While he typically does not act, James - a 2019 graduate of Center Valley’s DeSales University with a degree in television and film appears in “Game 11.” The latter, he said, “was inspired by experiences I had growing up as a basketball player.”

The film, James added, “is about the lives of a promising young basketball player, a remorseless killer and his reluctant friend, intertwined in two stories of competitive sport and murder.”

Looking to the future, James wants to direct a feature film and secure distribution. “I have some ideas that I’m kicking around, and looking to develop further. I hope to continue to grow as a filmmaker, and make works that challenge and inspire others.”

Currently, Burrell’s editing “my most ambitious short film, ‘Grampy,’ shot at an 18th century farmhouse in New Jersey. It is another horror/dark-comedy film, and the project I am most proud of.”

Burrell, after finishing “Grampy,” plans to make more short films and hopes to attend new festivals across the country.

Embraced

With JTIFF reaching its sixth anniversary, Morris appreciates how the community has embraced the festival over the last few years. He also values local businesses’ help via sponsorships, volunteering and promotion.

The Jim Thorpe Tourism Association, for instance, paid for the JTIFF billboard on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

“I always hoped that JTIFF would be a boon to the town and that everyone would feel the benefit,“ Morris said. “We are doing all we can to grow the festival toward that goal and make sure everyone is happy that JTIFF is here.”