The Pittsburgh Moving Picture Festival celebrates both the art of cinema and the rich motion picture exhibition tradition of Pittsburgh. Early in the 20th century, Pittsburgh was a worldwide manufacturing leader in iron and, later, steel. The labor requirements to produce such output was enormous, with much of the manpower being supplied by the immigrant populations living in and around the mills.
The need to live close to the mills (given the lack of access to public transportation) combined with the onerous demands placed on the workers (including a 72-hour work week) and the low pay, in many ways limited what leisure activities were available to the people. Local movie theaters emerged to offer a brief respite from the mundane mill-to-home routine. By 1914, it was estimated that there were approximately 200 movie theaters in the Pittsburgh region. Michael Aronson, Nickelodeon City: Pittsburgh at the Movies 1905-1929 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008), 15. In essence, the theaters became community meeting places by offering an accessible escape from the drudgery of mill life. In much the same way, cinema still serves as that communal experience for people to come together and be entertained.
The Pittsburgh Moving Picture Festival honors that history by providing exhibition for features and short films from around the world in a world-renowned setting that harkens back to the early 1900’s.
The inaugural Thriller Picture Show in 2022 was held at the Strand Theater, a theater was built in 1914 by Gioachino and Rosalia Sapienza, Italian immigrants hoping to find a new life in Zelienople, PA, just north of Pittsburgh. In the early years, it featured both silent films and vaudeville shows. In 2001, the Strand Theater Initiative purchased the building and has revived it as a first-rate theater and cultural center.
For 2024, the Thriller Picture Show returns to the Lindsay Theater and Cultural Center, in Sewickley, PA. In October 2011, a group of civic leaders identified a resource missing northwest of Pittsburgh: an independent cinema. The nonprofit Village Theater Company formed and fundraising began for construction of a brand-new facility. With the support of Sewickley borough and hundreds of families, the nonprofit opened in February 2017 with a gift from The Tull Family Foundation as The Tull Family Theater. On January 1, 2023, the theater changed names, and as a 501(c)(3) Pennsylvania nonprofit, exists to serve the public. Ticket sales are reinvested in programming and operations.
The Pittsburgh Moving Picture Festival aims to provide a theatrical opportunity for independent film in a setting that reflects both the history and the prestige of cinematic exhibition.
AWARDS
Best Narrative Feature & Best Short Film (30 minutes or less) in each category
Individual Acting Performances
Directing
Editing
Cinematography
Score
GENRE CATEGORIES
Horror
Science Fiction
Thriller
Dark Comedy
