Dedicated to presenting the works of independent filmmakers, writers, artists and musicians.

The Great Lakes Film Association celebrates the arts and the art of film as it makes a dynamic transition from celluloid to binary code.

Founded by Steven M. Opsanic, the Great Lakes Film Association strives to accomplish their mission by showcasing new independent films, recognizing outstanding filmmakers, artists, and musicians; conducting scriptwriting competitions, and hosting public workshops and events.

The Great Lakes Film Association is a 501c(3) non-profit organization that relies on contributions, sponsors, and the hard work of its volunteers.

Founding many film oriented projects and events including the Great Lakes Independent Film Festival and the Eerie Horror Film Festival, the Great Lakes Film Association is Northwest Pennsylvania’s only association for independent film and is the first to organize an independent film festival. Our main focus is on improving and enhancing the arts and the independent film industry and tourism climate in Northwest Pennsylvania. This is not something that we feel we should do, but something that we know in our hearts and in our minds that is our responsibility to do as a film association.

The Great Lakes Independent Film Festival includes works of all genres such as Documentary, narrative, animation, experimental, spiritual, music videos, and horror films of various lengths, from all over the world.

Among the top 100 most popular film festivals in the world, The Great Lakes Independent Film Festival  accomplishes our mission by showcasing new independent films and by awarding outstanding filmmakers. Our film festival has showcased over 400 films over the past 6 years including numerous films that have been aired on HBO, PBS, Warner Bros. and the Sundance channel, and with "The Collector of Bedford Street" nominated for an Academy Award.

For more information on the film fest click here

The written word when combined with the visual power of media has the power to move us to tears, laughter, fear, exaltation, and countless other emotions all within the span of a few moments. The right words can literally change the world.

Our industry-leading competitions were created specifically for you - the scriptwriter.

Our annual writing competition are a way for new and veteran writers to possibly get the break they need. Each year we are contacted by many agents and production companies and have helped launched the careers of many budding writers while giving new exposure to veteran writers.

Spotlight Productions was founded in 2006 by the Great Lakes Film Association and group of local industry professionals who use their experience and industry knowledge to create a different kind of promotion and Distribution Company.  We view our primary job as helping to bring a world of talent to Erie , while helping local artists develop their careers with smart promotions and distribution services tailored to their needs and goals. 

In addition to video production, Spotlight Production works in many musical genres such as Indie Rock; Punk; Alternative Roots Rock;  Americana Urban; HipHop; Jazz and blues. 

In 2008 we shall be launching Spotlight Magazine, a free monthly publication distributed throughout Erie County and the surrounding areas that is dedicated to culturally representing the people of Erie, and to featuring the local arts and entertainment community. Our Magazine will put the spotlight on local Erie musicians, filmmakers and artists of all kinds. Spotlight Magazine will focus only on the amazing talent that the Erie area has to offer and the dedicated people that make it happen ever day. 

ShadowFest, a "Witches’ Ball"/Eclectic Fall Festival is a weekend event inspired by the magical and mystical, featuring the best of Horror and Grindhouse films, and other talent giving a place for our Earth-loving magical community in Pennsylvania (Witches, Wicca, Druid, New Agers, Shamans, etc.) to come together in one large event.   As ShadowFest launches in October of 2008, hopefully we can reach some folks from other parts of the country and beyond as well.

One of the unique things about the Great Lakes Film Association is its home, Erie, Pennsylvania. Our forty-mile slice of Lake Erie waterfront bears no resemblance to the major urban centers of Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, being entirely low-rise and extremely leafy; indeed you hardly realize you are downtown until you find yourself in the shady park-like town square, on 6th Street between the main thoroughfares of Peach and State streets. There are several places of cultural interest in the city, all within walking distance of our festival, several museums devoted to history, art and science; among these, the Erie Maritime Museum has a fascinating display on the geological and ecological development of the Great Lakes and also focuses on warships of different periods; the elegant US Brig Niagara is usually moored outside and is part of the museum.

Undoubtedly, Erie's main attraction is the elongated comma-shaped peninsula of Presque Isle State Park, which bends east from its narrow neck three miles west of downtown until it almost touches the city's northernmost tip. The park is maintained as a nature preserve and has wide sandy beaches good for swimming, backed by thick woods offering a series of trails.

Erie is perfect with all of it’s historic and picturesque locations, it is also ideal for filming, able to give the real look of any location around the world at a much lower budget cost for the struggling filmmaker.

If there is anything as universal as the ageless storytelling of motion pictures, it’s the music that makes up life’s soundtrack..

From founding the Great Lakes Music Video Festival to simply working with independent musicians helping to advance music as an art, the association has worked with many local, national, and international musicians over the years. Matty B. & The Dirty Pickles; Phantasm; Trevor Huster; Karen Jeffries; Starfish; Lake Trout; Bedouin Soundclash; DJ Boogs; Hello Kitty Death Squad; DJ The Real Truth; Digital Database; The Dogs; The Killerinas; Duppy Conqueror; Chaka; One World Tribe; Hayden Sayers Band; Greg Ropp; The Void; 5 Empty Chambers; Telefonics: Canadian Friday: Mans Room Band; Black Rose Diary; Coffin Bangers; East Ave.; snmnmnm; Johnson Big Band: Joe Pops Weirdo Theater; GG Allin’s band, The Murder Junkies; Big Mac Blues Band; Rodger Montgomery Blues Band; Blue Fire; Orphean Son; Face Down In High Water; The Trashed; Darth Johnzo; Singing For Supper; The Earthquakers; Dj Dollar Bill; Professor Small; Final Rest; and Bad Habits to name only a few of the performers that we have worked with.

The Great Lakes Film Association works to facilitate the works of established artists and to bring to light the talents of those artists who have yet to be discovered. Every art organization has their own goals and purposes in mind and must work toward those goals and purposes. Each and every organization operates independently of the others.

One of the goals this association is to pull together all of the arts organizations in the Erie area for the greater good of the arts community.

We at the Great Lakes Film Association believe the members of the arts community should work as a family. When one organization has a performance or show, we all should pull our resources and help to promote that show, collectively, and finally creating not an arts industry, or even an arts community, but an arts FAMILY.

The arts are here to open minds to what can be achieved in a short time period and with even a small or 0 budget. The arts are not just for the wealthy, red carpet type of people, but also for the guy that lives next door to you with a wife and 5 kids and wakes up every morning to head off to the shop, plant, or the restaurant or store. These are the people that we try to introduce to the arts in general.

The Great Lakes Film Association has a strong commitment to our community. It is our belief that no organization can prosper without the contribution of the community, and likewise, no community can grow without the participation of organizations and business within.

It is in this spirit that the Great Lakes Film Association has, and shall always participate in events that better the culture, and the arts community of our region. Presenting film exhibitions, each year we take part in local arts and music festivals such as ”Celebrate Erie” and “Blue Cat Stew.”

Throughout the year we also host benefit fundraisers for such organizations as the Hospice of Metropolitan Erie; Gifts for Kids; Tickets for Kids and Unity in Edinboro church.

In 2007, Great Lakes Film Association bond together with Gorman Media, The Roadhouse Theatre, and Local Filmmakers for "Films for Food", 24 hours of local films. Raising over $2,000 worth of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank.

The Great Lakes Film Association takes great pride and pleasure in being able to participate and host these community events and fundraisers, contributing to these organizations, and all those people that are benefited.

With minor exceptions, Erie's theaters virtually ignore foreign, independent and Documentary films despite the fact that there is a large art and cultural community in Erie County. The Great Lakes Film Association will continue to fill that void. Offering alternative cinema allowing the public a chance to see these movies locally, keeping the crowd that normally travels to Pittsburgh and Cleveland here at home.

In the coming years we will further pursue our mission in several ways which include, expanding our educational outreach to include, establishing the first film arts educational program in our area, organizing a grant endowment program for not only the cinematic arts but for all forms of art, negotiate additional film distribution packages for film makers, and launch a genre-specific international Student Film Festival.

Again, with extremely rare exceptions, not one theater or college in the local Erie area offers the public screenings of classic movies, and none of them have ever presented an entire night dedicated to one particular genre of film or an evening featuring the work of one particular filmmaker or star. The Great Lakes Film Association will endeavor to make this a thing of the past, presenting classic and forgotten films of all genres to the people of this area.

While focusing on education in the cinematic arts, the Great Lakes Film and Arts Institute will also instruct individuals in arts of all kinds such as music, painting, sculpture, and arts of an abstract nature. In doing this we will overall enhance the arts climate in general in this region.

Our agenda would include weekly workshops instructed by such film industry professionals as world famous make-up artist Tom Savini; director Bobby Logan, most famous for the Naked Gun Films; director Oscar Daniels, who’s credits include Among Thieves; Academy Award-winning make-up effects wizard Stan Winston; Stuart Freeborn, known for his excellent make-up artistry on the first Star Wars trilogy, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Superman, and Sarah Monzani, who over the last 20 years, has captivated audiences with looks that she has created for dozens of acclaimed Hollywood films, including The Next Best Thing, Angela's Ashes, Alien, Midnight Express, interview with a Vampire, and Quest for Fire. She has also teamed up with Max Factor.

The classes offered at the Great Lakes Film and Arts Institute will not be limited to directing and make-up but will encompass all areas of filmmaking. Which would include editing, cinematography, lighting, pre-production, postproduction, sound, visual effects, FX effects, screenwriting, animation, film interpretation, theology, casting, and of course not forgetting acting itself. The post-production facilities would be intended to fully train students in editing and sound in both traditional and non-linear editing systems and equipment, and eventually separating the concentrations with the latter incorporating sound design, sound effects creation and sound recording.

Ultimately we are working to establish the first and only independent film and entertainment complex of its kind in Northwest Pennsylvania. It would be at this venue that that the Great Lakes Film Association would host all of our annual events including our proposed educational programs, fund raisers, and administrative offices. This complex would also bring to this region the first complete, state of the art sound stage facilities which would be available to all independent film makers. This facility would house a state-of-the-art training sound stage film and video production complex that embraces a variety of filmmaking functions in a totally integrated and dynamic setting. This facility will bring in business and finances for all.

The 62,036-square-foot film and video complex will house various production, post-production and exhibition activities, and would serve as a "back lot environment" where exterior scenes with a variety of looks can be filmed. The village would include several key buildings that are fashioned in a range of architectural styles and facades from Main Street, USA to the Chicago "El." One of the key objectives of the complex is to build facilities that have a range of scale from the large block sound stage buildings to smaller structures, such as a brick classroom building. Included in this complex would be a 4,000 square feet, specialized, state-of-the-art music recording stage, large enough to accommodate an entire 100-piece symphony orchestra, designed to record live music for inclusion in film productions.

Electrical and other utility outlets would be staged throughout the film and video complex so that filmmakers can easily support their equipment without running long lines of cable. The entire inner compound is designed so that exterior filming can take place undisturbed, with access to the facilities available around the perimeter of the filming area.

Three sound stages varying in size from 8,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet to 2,500 square feet would provide professional production environments for film and video projects. The main stage shall boast a 36-feet-to-the-grid workspace, and an overhead lighting grid.

Production volumes in the film and video industry for production companies have exceeded $60 million over the past year. A $20-million increase in production is expected as a result of growing demand in the independent film industry. Each large film production requires a ‘cast of hundreds'.

Every $10 million in annual production volume generates about 110 film industry jobs. For a typical production, about 30 per cent of the budget is spent on services such as hotels, food, vehicle rentals, construction materials, equipment rental and insurance. For example, based on a $25 million production, budgets would fund 4,400 hotel rooms, 63,000 catered meals, $310,000 in vehicle rentals and $1.25 million in equipment rentals.

It is in all these ways and more that we hope to continue advancing and enhancing independent film in both our region, and through out the world.