Film Pittsburgh’s primary mission is to provide Western Pennsylvanians with opportunities to watch films from around the globe. Sometimes, those journeys through international cinema come with a round-trip ticket.
As usual, local cinephiles will have the chance to see films that originated everywhere from France to Japan during Film Pittsburgh’s 2023 Three Rivers Film Festival from Wednesday-Nov. 15 and Pittsburgh Shorts from Nov. 16-19. Each festival will include both virtual and in-person screenings, with Three Rivers’ in-person events taking place at various venues throughout the city and Pittsburgh Shorts’ in-person activities concentrated at Downtown’s Harris Theater.
Tickets to both film festivals are available via filmpittsburgh.org.
And both feature programming lineups boasting a notable number of selections from locally based filmmakers or folks with Western Pennsylvania ties.
“We had an unusually high number of quality Pittsburgh-connected films submitted to both festivals this year,” Film Pittsburgh Executive Director Kathryn Spitz Cohan told the Post-Gazette in a statement.
“And they were being reviewed alongside so many excellent films from all over the world. The competition was fierce, so we’re thrilled to be able to showcase so much Pittsburgh talent in the lineups this year.”
The Three Rivers Film Festival will kick off Wednesday at 7 p.m. with two simultaneous screenings: the world premiere of “Unsinkable,” a locally shot drama about the U.S. Senate inquiries into the 1912 Titanic disaster, at Downtown’s Pittsburgh Playhouse; and “The Holdovers,” director Alexander Payne’s new dramedy about found family at an elite New England boarding school, at the Harris Theater.
Paul Giamatti stars in “The Holdovers” as a grumpy professor tasked with watching the five students who were unable to go home for the holidays. One of those holdovers is a particularly surly teenager played by newcomer Dominic Sessa, a sophomore currently on a leave of absence from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama.
“Dominic kind of didn’t need much help,” Payne said during a recent virtual press conference. “He took to it like a duck to water. I’ve never seen such an innate talent, not just for acting, but for film acting.”
Three Rivers audiences interested in checking out more 2023 films featuring creatives with Pittsburgh roots can return to the Harris Theater Thursday at 7:30 p.m. for “Two Lives in Pittsburgh” and Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. for “Hard Miles.” Both screenings will be followed by Q&As with each movie’s respective filmmaking team.
“Two Lives in Pittsburgh” will also be shown Friday at the Lindsay Theater and Cultural Center in Sewickley. It stars Pittsburgh native Brian Silverman as Bernie Evers, a working-class guy coming to terms with his mother’s illness and daughter’s gender exploration.
Silverman also wrote and directed “Two Lives in Pittsburgh.” He told the Post-Gazette in an email that he strived to ensure the Steel City felt like its own character and the narrative he crafted was capable of making "Pittsburgh Dad laugh and cry.”
“Showing this film in Pittsburgh is like having a love letter in your pocket for years and then finally seeing your loved one read it,” he said. “When I think of growing up in Pittsburgh, of my formative years, I'm overwhelmed with gratitude. ... I hope that the audiences at the Three Rivers Film Festival feel that and see in each other and in themselves all of those things that I love about our city.”
“Hard Miles” is a sports drama based on the real-life Ridge View Academy cycling team starring “Stranger Things” alumni Matthew Modine and Sean Astin. Modine plays Greg Townsend, who leads a group of troubled teens on a harrowing bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon. It was co-written by Mt. Lebanon native Christian Sander and shepherded along by Pensé Productions, which Sander said via email still has an office in Oakland.
“If there's any city that understands the value of hard work and determination, it's the ‘Burgh,” Sander continued. “So I'm thrilled to bring ‘Hard Miles’ home to share with the Three Rivers Film Festival crowd."
If you’re into slightly more offbeat fare, circle “The Street Lamp Outside My Apartment Window,” a locally shot film playing during Pittsburgh Shorts’ 6-8 p.m. block on Nov. 18. This four-minute short is a semi-autobiographical account of its narrator’s losing battle with the extremely bright street lamp that’s been keeping him awake at night.
“The Street Lamp Outside My Apartment Window” hails from the minds of writer-directors and married couple Ahmed T. Ragheb and Lily Ekimian Ragheb, whose short film “Tales of the Marvelous and News of the Strange” was shown during last year’s Pittsburgh Shorts. That street lamp tortured them both for two years before they finally moved. Even still, they could never shake the sense that “something profound was lurking in the black metal, glass and filament.”
“The resulting film, shot as we finally packed up and moved apartments ... is our attempt to unpack the meaning behind a seemingly mundane frustration that accompanied us nightly as we found our footing and cinematic voice,” the duo said in a joint press release.
Pittsburgh Shorts will get going barely 24 hours after “Hard Miles” closes out Three Rivers 2023. Its 7-10 p.m. block on Nov. 16 includes the locally shot narrative shorts “Eulogies” and “The Shortest Night of Summer.”
“The Shortest Night of Summer” is a 10-minute exploration of a lonely radio DJ’s attempt to reconnect with an old friend. Writer-director Benjamin Carlucci is a short-film wiz who won three of the last five Pittsburgh 48 Hour Film Projects. He noted that about half of “The Shortest Night of Summer” was shot at WQED’s Oakland studio.
“For years, Pittsburgh Shorts has been one of our best local testaments to the unyielding passion of filmmakers all around the world and the boundless enthusiasm of Pittsburgh’s love of cinema,” Carlucci said. “I couldn’t be happier to be a part of the opening lineup and I’m delighted to have our film representing Pittsburgh’s indie scene amongst our local and international peers.”
“Eulogies” is an 11-minute story about four friends finding hope and humor amid a horrible tragedy. Director Steve Parys is a veteran of the many Hollywood films and shows made in Western Pennsylvania who believes the quality of Pittsburgh Shorts and Three Rivers films has always been “absolutely top notch.”
“Though you can see lots of amazing Pittsburgh locations, talent and heart featured, the festivals also feature groundbreaking cinema from around the world,” he said via email. “[I’m] completely thrilled my short film, ‘Eulogies,’ is playing the opening night of the Shorts festival.
“If you enjoy a good film, you will be absolutely swamped with films you will love!"
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: November 6, 2023, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: November 6, 2023, 4:19 p.m.
