PWFF-Philadelphia, is an off-shoot of the Playhouse West Film Festival in Los Angeles, established in 1997.  In 2012, long-time Artistic Director/Instructor, and PWFF Director, Tony Savant, moved to Philadelphia and founded a branch of the world-renown school, Playhouse West-Philadelphia. The following year, in 2013, the school hosted it's first annual film festival in the City of Brotherly Love and plans to continue this event annually, just like it's been held on Los Angeles, where he was the director for 19 years.

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The Playhouse West Film Festival screens films which involve their current or former members. All films must either have a Playhouse West member in a leading or primary supporting acting role, or as the director, writer or producer.

The Playhouse West Film Festival-Philadelphia is sponsored by the Playhouse West Arts Foundation, a 501(c)3 Non-Profit organization dedicated to the inspiration, education and development of motion picture and theater artists of independent vision, and to the exhibition of their work. By sponsoring programs such as the Playhouse West Film Festival, we can also educate the public about the art of filmmaking, and introduce them to the work of aspiring new film artists of the future.

The Playhouse West Film Festival is well-known as one of the most positive, filmmaker-friendly festivals in the country. Each year we hear more and more from filmmakers that our festival has been their favorite. From our well organized, run-on-time format, to our unique Q&A’s after each screening block, giving filmmakers a platform to discuss their films at length with our audience, we take great pride in making our festival a fantastic experience for filmmakers.

As an institution, Playhouse West leads the way in encouraging young filmmakers.  Playhouse West members from Los Angeles, Philadelphia produce over 250 films per year, many which go one to be accepted and win awards at film festivals around the country and world.