No discussion of the Pittsburgh movie scene would be complete without the inclusion of documentaries and short films. Pittsburgh hosts several annual film festivals celebrating the talents of filmmakers from around the world and is home to many talented independent filmmakers, documentarians, directors, and producers.
These films explore a wide variety of topics from nostalgic events, history, or heritage to social injustices, environmental concerns, scientific breakthroughs, heroism, sports, or even Furries.
Here is a look at some of Pittsburgh’s exciting film festivals and documentary films:
The Pittsburgh Independent Film Festival is Pittsburgh's own film festival for independent films, and a headline event for micro-budget and no-budget films in the United States The inaugural PIFF in 2010 screened 48 films from around the world at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont. In 2014 a ‘Made in Pennsylvania’ section was added to the festival. Fourteen films from Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas were screened and it became a permanent part of the festival.
The 10th annual Pittsburgh Independent Film Festival (2019) was held June 21-23 at the Parkway Theater and Film Lounge in McKees Rocks. Sixty-seven films by filmmakers from the Pittsburgh area and across the United States, along with films from Europe and South America were presented at the festival. After the awards ceremony, attendees watched a screening of “From Liberty to Captivity,” a Debbie Wright film about sex trafficking in Pennsylvania. Film categories included short and feature films, experimental film, animation, music videos, and webisodes.
The Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival was a 10-day Asian Film Festival held in Pittsburgh each September. The festival showcases films from India, Japan, China, Turkey, Lebanon, South Korea, Iraq, the Philippines, and Iran. Shortly after the 2018 festival (the 13th year of the festival) Silk Screen shut down amid allegations of sexual harassment against its founder.
The Pittsburgh International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, known as Reel Q, is the fifth oldest LGBTQ+ film festival in the United States and sixth oldest in the world. It is a celebration of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender writers, directors, actors, and their work. Each year in October hundreds of movie-goers are treated to ten days of high-quality entertainment, including feature films, shorts, and videos from the hottest national and international LGBT filmmakers of our time.
The Three Rivers Film Festival is held in Pittsburgh in November. It is the oldest and largest film festival in the region. The festival features foreign-language films, American independents, documentaries, shorts, local works, and experimental cinema.
The JFilm Festival is held each year in April. The goals of the festival are to present international Jewish-themed films that help audiences understand and connect with stories, history, and common experiences. The eleven-day festival hosts visiting filmmakers and guest speakers and feature collaborative events with other local organizations. JFilm is a program of Film Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival held in April at Row House Cinema is a two-week celebration of unique and exciting films coming out of Japan.
ReelAbilities - Presented in partnership with the FISA Foundation, ReelAbilities is a program of Film Pittsburgh. Each September the ReelAbilities Film Festival al features award-winning films promoting awareness appreciation of the lives, stories, and artistic expressions of individuals with disabilities.
Pittsburgh Shorts - In November, Pittsburgh Shorts presents the best local contemporary short films and films from around the world that are recognized for innovative visual storytelling and cultural tolerance. Many of these films become Oscar® nominees and winners. Pittsburgh Shorts also hosts a short script competition in partnership with Carnegie Screenwriters.
Pittsburgh’s Cat Film and Cultural Festival - Row House Cinema hosted Pittsburgh's first week-long Cat Film and Cultural Festival (November 2019) which featured an original video "Pittsburgh's Pretty Kitties" compiled exclusively from videos submitted by local cat owners and comprised of Pittsburgh’s funniest and cutest cat videos. Other featured films included the Key & Peele comedy “Keanu,” the charming documentary “Kedi,” and the animated Parisian caper “A Cat in Paris.”
Pittsburgh also hosts the Banff Mountain Film Festival, CMU International Film Festival in the spring, and the Pittsburgh Independent Film Festival in the summer.
Pittsburgh Film Organizations - The Pittsburgh film industry started in 1914 and Pittsburgh is home to the world's first movie theater. It has been the location for more than 120 motion pictures and television productions since 1990 and it is currently home to the largest sound stage outside Los Angeles and New York.
Pittsburgh Film Office - Founded in 1990, the Pittsburgh Film Office promotes the greater southwestern Pennsylvania region as a great location for movie, television, and commercial productions. Since its inception, the PFO has brought more than 120 motion pictures and television productions to southwestern Pennsylvania to generate millions of dollars in economic impact to the region. Some of the more notable movies and TV shows filmed in Pittsburgh include Silence of the Lambs, Flash Dance, Inspector Gadget, Wonder Boys, The Mothman Prophecies, The West Wing, The Guardian, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Smart People, The Next Three Days, Love and Other Drugs, Unstoppable, Abduction, The Dark Knight Rises, Jack Reacher, Out of the Furnace, Grudge Match and The Fault in Our Stars.
Pittsburgh is home to Rick Sebak, an American film director and producer. Sebak is the creator of the “scrapbook documentary genre.” Many of these nostalgic documentaries were created for PBS and specifically WQED in Pittsburgh. Sebak is the narrator, but he does not appear on camera. Some of his better-known films are The Mon, The A and The O, Holy Pittsburgh, Kennywood Memories, Our Neighbor Fred Rogers, Flying off the Bridge to Nowhere, Pittsburgh A to Z, Fred Rogers: America’s Favorite Neighbor, and Return to Downtown Pittsburgh.
The work of Filmmaker David Bernabo (featured in a separate article) is heavily inspired by the Arts. Many of his films deal with world problems and solutions.
Pittsburgh film director Julie Sokolow tackles the difficult subjects facing our society. Some of her better-known works include:
Woman on Fire – celebrating New York City’s first openly transgender firefighter and her struggles transitioning from male to female in what is still an overwhelmingly macho profession.
Aspie Seeks Love - follows the 50-year-old artist and writer David Matthews who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at age forty-one. The film spans the last twenty years of David’s life in his search for love.
Street Doctor - the story of Dr. Jim Withers and his 20 years of bringing healthcare to Pittsburgh’s homeless.
The 1996 film, Struggles in Steel: A Story of African American Steelworkers by Ray Henderson and Tony Buba chronicles the contributions of African Americans to the Pittsburgh steel industry.
The critically acclaimed documentary, God Grew Tired of Us, by Christopher Dillon Quinn, was partially filmed in Pittsburgh. The film traces the journey of the "Lost Boys of Sudan" as they traveled from a refugee camp to start a new life in America. Refugees Daniel Abul Pach and Panther Bior were sent to Pittsburgh. At the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, the film won both the "Grand Jury Prize: Documentary" and the "Audience Award" in the "Independent Film Competition: Documentary" category.
East of Liberty by local filmmaker Chris Ivey examines residents’ fears about gentrification and explores issues of race, class, and address in Pittsburgh.
Blood Brother produced by Animal Media Group in Pittsburgh is Steve Hoover’s debut film about his best friend Rocky Braat. While traveling through India, Braat meets a group of HIV positive children living in an orphanage and decides to leave his life, friends, and career in Pittsburgh to move to India to care for these children. Blood Brother won the Sundance 2013 Grand Jury Prize and the Sundance 2013 Audience Award.
The 2016 documentary, Fursonas, follows groups of Furries, as a social commentary of this fandom, its stigmas and how it is perceived. Fursonas was originally a senior thesis project involving three Point Park University students, Dominic Rodriguez, Olivia Vaughn, and Christine Meyer. The 12-minute short film was expanded into a feature-length documentary after its creators were awarded a $10,000 grant from The Sprout Fund in 2013. The Animal Media Group, where Vaughn and Meyer were hired as interns in 2014, allowed the crew to use their facilities for editing and later offered to be the official production company for the documentary. It premiered at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival and won a “Spirit of Slamdance” award.
On the weekend of July 14-16, 2017, the Pittsburgh 48 Hour Film Horror Project challenged filmmakers from all over Pittsburgh to write, shoot, edit, and score original horror shorts in only 48 hours. The winning film competed with films from around the world at Filmapalooza 2018 for a chance at the grand prize and an opportunity to screen at the Cannes Film Festival 2018, Court Métrage.
These are a few of the many film festivals, documentaries, and short films produced in Pittsburgh. For information about other film festivals, check the Pittsburgh events page tps://www.visitpittsburgh.com/events-festivals/. Most of the films mentioned here are available on Vimeo, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Vudu, or Netflix. Complete listings of Pittsburgh films can be found online.