When sisters Koula Sossiadis Kazista and Katina Sossiadis were growing up in Bethlehem, they say their father was “always trying to shove our Greek culture down our throats.”

Their father, who emigrated from Greece to the United States at age 24, had started taking them every year to a town in Florida that boasts the largest percentage of Greeks in the nation.

The sisters are writers-directors-producers of their first feature film, “Epiphany,” which was inspired by those trips.

“One day, we both woke up and realized we loved our Greek heritage,” says Kazista in a conference call. “We wanted to put that on the screen as a gift to our father.”

“Epiphany” follows the story of teenage Luka, who is desperate to connect with her negligent father in Tarpon Springs, Fla., after the death of her aunt.

Tarpon Springs, which is on the Gulf Coast, has a large Greek population as a result of the sponge-diving business, which attracted Greek divers who settled there in the early 1900s.

“It feels almost like a Greek Island, because of the water,” says Kazista. “It’s very Greek with Greek restaurants and culture everywhere.”

Sossiadis says they first did a short film inspired by their experiences 18 years ago, with the hope of one day making a feature film.

The sisters are the daughters of Maria and Emmanuel “Manny” Sossiadis.

Sossiadis graduated from Bethlehem Catholic, Class of 1989; Moravian College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1993; and received a Master’s of Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in 1996.

Kazista graduated from Moravian Academy, Class of 1991, and from Lehigh University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1995.

The sisters work in the film business. Sossiadis was associate producer on Bethlehem native Dan Roebuck’s “Getting Grace,” which was filmed in the Lehigh Valley.

Kazista owns Monster Remotes with her husband, Lee Kazista, an executive producer of “Epiphany.” The company provides equipment for TV show and movie productions, including “The Greatest Showman” and director Steven Spielberg’s remake of the movie musical “West Side Story.”

Making “Epiphany” came down to money, says Kazista. The sisters couldn’t find any backers for the film because everyone felt it was too much of a “niche” project.

“It became our passion project,” Kazista says. “We raised the money privately.”

“We are finally fulfilling our dream,” adds Sossiadis.

When the sisters completed “Epiphany,” their first submission was to Sundance Film Festival.

“We didn’t get in,” says Kazista.

They continued to submit “Epiphany” and got the film into numerous other festivals, winning awards along the way, including at the Hoboken International Film Festival, International Christian Film Festival, London Greek Film Festival and the Southside Film Festival, Bethlehem, where “Epiphany” received the audience award.

“It feels really good,” Kazista says. “And we were able to find a distribution company, which is half the battle.”

“Epiphany” is being distributed by independent production company Meritage Pictures.

It had its premiere in the Lehigh Valley in January with a sold-out screening at Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas, ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks, Bethlehem.

“It’s very exciting showing it in the Lehigh Valley and doing talk-backs,” Kazista says.

“Epiphany” was to have been shown March 29 as part of “Women in Media” at ArtsQuest, but the event and screening were postponed because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic shutdown.

Says Kazista of a possible ArtsQuest screening: “We are uncertain of when this will happen, though, and once it does happen, I am not sure that we will be at full capacity due to social distancing.”

“Epiphany” is available for downloading on streaming platforms, including Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, Google Play and RCN.

Scheduled to join the sisters at “Women in Media” were New York Times best-selling author Katie Moretti and mommy blogger Christine Burke, who were to co-host the event.

Nazareth mom Moretti, who wrote “I Thought I Knew You,” was to introduce “Epiphany.”

Burke, also of Nazareth, has the parenting blog “Keeper of the Fruit Loops,” which has 75,000 followers. Burke’s work has been featured on the “Today Show,” “Scary Mommy,” “Grown and Flown” and parenting websites.

She was to moderate a question-and-answer talkback with the sisters after the “Epiphany” screening.

“There are so many powerful and successful women living in the Lehigh Valley who really have made a name for themselves outside of this area,” Kazista says.

Kazista says the sisters look forward to what Lehigh Valley residents have to say about their film.

“Some of the talk-backs can really surprise you and you learn a lot from it,” Kazista says.

“Epiphany” stars Caitlin Carmichael (“Dwight in Shining Armor”) as Luka and Alex Dimitriades (“Ghost Ship,” “The Slap”) as her father Theo. It also features Hollywood legend Burt Young (“Rocky”), Scottie Thompson (“12 Monkeys”) and George Georgiou (“Collateral”).

“We wanted to create a deeply moving, character-driven story about a young girl and her family relationships that illuminates Greek culture in a non-stereotypical fashion,” says Kazista.

The sisters are working on their second feature film project, another coming-of-age story centered around a Greek family with Bethlehem as the backdrop.

“The Lehigh Valley is our home and a very rich, beautiful town,” says Sossiadis. “The old Bethlehem Steel mill is especially intriguing to us.”

“We live here and we love our hometown,” adds Kazista. “There is a lot of culture here that we highlight in the new script. We feel we did a lot for Tarpon Springs, putting them on the map. We want to do the same things for our hometown.”

Kazista says the sisters plan to shoot their next film during the summer of 2021.

The sisters say finally being able to finish and show “Epiphany” gives them a legitimacy that helps them move ahead with their next film.

“Now when we Google our names, it says film director,” Kazista says. “Now we have something to show.”

Information about “Epiphany”: www.epiphanythemovie.com