Merchants Bank Joins Easton's Movies at the Mill Film Festival

Gershon Hinkson, the man behind the magic, speaking at a recent press conference at the Old Simon Silk Mill, with the mayor, and a representative from the festival's newest sponsor, Merchants Bank, in the background, in front of the building that has now been approved for demolition to provide vehicle access to the site from 13th Street.

Posted by: Noël Jones

"The sponsorship of Merchant's is further vindication of what a little imagination and a lot of hard work can achieve," said Gershon Hinkson at a recent press conference for the upcoming Movies and the Mill event on September 24th. "One of the main changes about this year's festival is definitely this collaboration with Merchants--it's huge. It elevates our status as a festival and sets the stage for other film makers and sponsors to take us seriously." Indeed, the big news of the day was that Merchants Bank had stepped forward as a fiscal sponsor of Easton's annual film festival, now in its third year. 

Hinkson is an Easton resident, independent film maker and Hollywood film editor, having worked on such films as True Grit, The Interpreter, Poseidon, and Spiderman II, and seeks to make Movies at the Mill a top calibre film festival, drawing film makers from around the world. "We are currently a short film festival with the goal of expanding into feature length films," said Hinkson. He is already well on his way, with films in consideration for this year's festival coming in from Ireland, China, and across the

U.S., from California to Wisconsin to New York. "The film selections are going to be engaging, entertaining, and bound to no one theme," promises Hinkson, who says the festival will be full of surprises. "There is even one horror film being considered this year."

As for the food and overall ambience of the festival, Hinkson says, "We took in a lot of notes from last year...we're taking rigorous steps to make it platinum--from good food, to limiting time standing in line, to quality health standards."

When asked what he hoped people would take away from the evening, Hinkson replied, "I hope they take away a feeling of euphoria after a magical experience--the kind they wouldn't normal expect to experience in Easton."

Having been to the the first two years of the festival, I can attest to the magic of the evening. It's one of those rare events in the valley that I consider to be on par with arts events I attended while living in New York. Hinkson is a class act. The pretty white tents stretched over food, wine and beer from Easton's best restaurants, the twinkling strings of white lights and other accent lighting--all set the tone and highlight the silk mill's great historic industrial buildings that loom through the trees over Bushkill Creek where it trickles by in background. It does feel magical, especially when the films are thrown up against a wall of one of the massive buildings. Hundreds of people from all over the Lehigh Valley come out to mingle, and there's a genuine sense that there's no where else anyone would rather be.

Considering last year's festival included an Oscar winner, an Academy Award nominee, an Emmy Winner, and Hinkson's own film short, The Turtle and the Nightingale, which is currently under negotiations with HBO, I'm really looking forward to whatever he has up his sleeve to up the ante on the film selections this year...

The festival is still in need of volunteers, and although the festival is 21-and-over because the festival is at night and serves alcohol, volunteers for the festival can be 18 and older, so volunteering is a great way for young adults to get in to see the films. Anyone interested in volunteering can click here to sign up.

Tickets are $10 and available at the following locations:

Easton'n City Hall at One South Third Street, 3rd Floor

Merchant Bank locations in Forks, Martin's Creek, Nazareth, and the Easton Business Center

Green Harvest at 140 Northampton Street

Black & Blue at 683 Walnut Street

W Graphics 18-20 N. 4th Street

MeGs and MaDs at 325 Cattell Street

Natures Way at 143 Northampton Street

Tracy's Cafe on Cattell and Monroe