The Long Island International Film Expo in Bellmore featured a new movie that has been nearly 40 years in the making.

The film titled "Phase of Fern" was shot in 1986 but was just released Wednesday.

The film's creator Bill Blaney tells News 12 that when he was 21, he thought the film was not good enough to show people.

It focuses on a group of Manhasset High School students called the "bleacher creatures." He says his insecurity drove him to pack the film away and he forgot about it.

One day during the pandemic, he was cleaning out a closet and found the footage.

Blaney mustered up the confidence to showcase it, and it's now up for three awards.

"I took it, got it digitized and decided this was just gonna be a little project," Blaney says. "I was gonna get rid of all the things that drove me crazy. And yeah, you know, about a year later now, I'm standing here and it's in the festival."

The Long Island International Film Expo features 133 films, 30 of them made by Long Islanders.