This past weekend, the first Sycamore Film Fest screened over 30 films in the Sycamore State Theater, 420 W. State St.

The four-day event featured films on all three screens at the theater. But film showings were just the beginning: The Fleshtones performed at Blumen Gardens, 403 Edward St., discussions took place at the Stratford Inn, 355 W. State St., and MVP Sports Club, 124 S. California St., hosted a block party.

“We have such diversity,” said Shela Lahey, executive director of the Sycamore Film Festival. “There’s something for everyone.”

Thirty-two films were scheduled across four categories: student films, feature films, documentaries and short films.

All the films covered a wide variety of genres. Three were in Spanish with English subtitles and six were student submissions from five different universities across the country.

“I really wanted to promote student films,” Lahey said.

The multiplicity included in the event also extends to the topics covered. For example, Michael Caplan screened a documentary about his father, who was a teenage Holocaust survivor, while Ruth Somalo’s documentary focused on musician James Blunt. The filmmakers themselves are also quite diverse. Many are from all over the United States, but some submissions were from Norway, France, Spain and South Korea.

The filmmakers’ presence is crucial part to a film festival, said Lahey. About 90 percent of the artists were in Sycamore last weekend. Many of those who attended had won awards for their work and were on-hand to answer any questions and provide insight.

Lahey worked on the event for a year and three months, and her team screened between 80 to 100 films.

“I couldn’t believe the momentum – how it just snowballed,” Lahey said.

The premiere of The Sycamore Documentary,Lahey’s own film, started off the festival.

“[The Sycamore Documentary] is this heart-warming compilation of personal stories that makes you think about your own hometown and about home and about what’s important,” Lahey said. “I think people will love this film because, while it is relevant to Sycamore, there’s sort of this universal theme about what a hometown means to people.”

The festival’s related events added to the experience as well. Saturday’s discussions covered filmmaking (including acting and directing), photography, and documentary projects with a focus on humanitarian projects and literature. Saturday was also Donkey Kong’s 30th birthday so a video game contest was held during the block party. A red carpet was also laid out to give the filmmakers a proper entrance.

The Sycamore Film Festival was an “Arts for the Arts” event through which filmmaking, photography and music were all represented.

“We want the arts to be able to give back to the arts,” Lahey said. “We hope to have proceeds to give back to local, educational and community arts programs that need help with their arts programs.”