Local filmmaker and business owner Phoebe Frear discusses her love for collaboration and artistic expression, as well as how she gives her gifts back to the community of Williamsport.

Giving Back

We had the opportunity to sit down with Phoebe Frear in the studio for her business, Elephant Trunk Films, located in the Pajama Factory. When you go on her website, her mission statement concludes, “Each story has a purpose and a motivation behind it to help make the world a better place. Every film has the collaboration of other talented people with vision and dreams. Together we can help each other grow hopes, dreams and spirits,” which she discussed at length in our conversations, revealing how she administers her gifts in order to better the community she grew up in.

Growing up in Williamsport, Phoebe says she has always loved going downtown and to the Little League World Series.

She discovered her love for filmmaking in high school, and now works out of the Pajama Factory where she is able to collaborate with a community of writers, photographers, and other creative individuals.

One of her other favorite things about Williamsport is First Fridays. “It’s not just incorporating art, but the people behind the art,” she says. She also says she loves the idea of leaving one’s own table or studio in order to meet other artists and hear their ideas. “It’s like saying ‘hey, you matter and so does what you think and so does your art,’” she explains.

One of the ways that Phoebe uses her talents and work ethic is by helping make promotional videos and other works for groups like Family Promise and Thrive. She says that she loves being able to create films and videos for people in her own city, rather than always having to reach outside of it.

“That’s how I show my support in the community,” she says, “by giving my gifts back.