— And the Academy Award goes to Kristy Puchko of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. And the Oscar goes to “Bo” Whittle from Johnstown, Pa.

This year’s Academy Award goes to Ryan Dixon of Johnstown, Pa.

And the Oscar winners are Kev Stock and Micah Mood from Johnstown, Pa.

And the Academy Award goes to Matt Meehan of Johnstown, Pa.

Don’t be surprised if you hear these words at the Academy Awards ceremony in the not too distant future. After all, famous people and film artists all have to be from somewhere, why not here?

Probably the one thing many of them have in common is they grew up in a community that was supportive of their interests and art at a young age, a community of encouragement.

Many people probably don’t realize it but Johnstown is increasingly becoming that kind of a community.

Last Saturday night amidst a torrential downpour hundreds of locals gathered at The Heritage Discovery Center to present and watch this year’s Johnstown Film Festival entries.

Yes, films are entered from all across America. But, increasingly, this now five-year-old festival is screening films being created in our own backyards – literally.

Max Fedore was there this year. A high school student, Max’s busy schedule didn’t permit him time to make a film for this year’s competition, but a previous year’s entry turned him on to the energy of filmmaking and he wants to stay connected to it.

Jocelyn Meehan is there every year. In college now, she still comes to support her brother’s entry even though she didn’t star in this one.

Matt, or M.J., Meehan – as he is calling himself these days – is creating seriously good films that can be seen on his website, meehanart.com.

Casey Contres and Josh Leonard are students at Northern Cambria High School where, as a student project, they created a documentary about local Vietnam veterans and their feelings about returning home from the war to a less than grateful nation 40 years ago. So moving was their portrait it won this year’s youth award. To produce this film a grant was secured from the History Channel by the Coal Country Youth Hangout.

Kristy Puchko used to work at The Westwood Plaza Theatre and Café. Now she works in New York and just returned from San Francisco where her first animated short film was being screened in a festival there.

She is busily trying to figure out if she can fly back to California for an upcoming screening of “The Skeleton Boy” to an audience of tens of thousands at this year’s San Diego comic book convention.

While on the left coast she might try to see Ryan Dixon, who now lives in Los Angeles, where he works in the film industry. A far cry from his days making horror films with the characters from Pleasant Valley Golf Course, where he got his start about 10 years ago.

The third-place winner this year was a disturbing nightmare story from Lee “Bo” Whittle.

“Follow Me Down” was one year in the making, six months of which was used to actually shoot the film on Sundays in downtown Johnstown when streets were empty.

While there are only a couple of central characters in this very tense, dialogue-free, 30-minute film, it did require more than 50 extras to play dead on the streets of 8th Ward to create a post apocalyptic surreality. Bo went out of his way to thank the then-City Manager Curt Davis, our police chief and others in City Hall for making the Johnstown shoot possible.

This year’s first-place winner was a local entry. “Arrividerci, Signore Fuccini” is a seriously clever and surprisingly funny look at racism, terrorism and gambling.

Its writer and director, Kev Stock, has produced more than 25 short films in the past seven years and is currently earning his master’s degree in film at Ohio University.

His collaborative partner, Micah Mood, accepted the first-place award for his good friend, who couldn’t be there in person on Saturday night because he is on location working on a film.

Of course he is.



Andy Lasky and his wife, Katie, own and operate City View Bar & Grill – “Atop Johns-town’' Famous Inclined Plane.” Andy’s articles can be found at www.cityview­bar­andgrill.com.