For Immediate Release Contact: Carol O’Sullivan

September17, 2007 412-681-5449

Pittsburgh Filmmakers Announces

October Programming

(Pittsburgh, PA) – The following descriptions are from Pittsburgh Filmmakers’ Film Exhibition Program for October 2007. The films are screened at the Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Avenue (Downtown), the Melwood Screening Room, 477 Melwood Avenue (in North Oakland) and the Regent Square Theater, 1035 S. Braddock Avenue (in Edgewood). For admission prices and current showtimes call 412-682-4111. All titles and dates are subject to change, due to film availability.

Through Oct. 4:

Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

Enjoy this rare opportunity to spend two weeks savoring sixteen magnificent film classics. Janus Films was the premier foreign film distributor in the United States during the 50s and 60s, and helped introduce American audiences to Ingmar Bergman, Francois Truffaut, Akira Kurosawa, and many other great directors. In Pittsburgh, theaters that regularly booked Janus Films were: the Guild and the Forum in Squirrel Hill, the Encore in Mt. Lebanon, and the Shadyside. This mini-festival invites aficionados to revisit old favorites and promises first-timers the excitement of discovering some of the greatest films in the world – on the BIG screen. Films are shown at all three Filmmakers theaters. All are new prints, with English subtitles. Admission: $7 per film. The complete schedule is downloadable at www.pghfilmmakers.org.

The Harris Theater – 809 Liberty Ave

Special Event: In Service Oct. 4 - 7; 11 - 14

In Service is a multimedia event of authentic voices, images, and narratives from those who have served in Iraq. Bricolage Theatre Company and Pittsburgh Filmmakers /Pittsburgh Center for the Arts are collaborating to present live narration, first-hand video recordings, interviews, and still photography in an experience of municipal theater. At the foreground are soldiers sharing autobiographical accounts of their time in Iraq. This live event is woven together with amateur video recorded by soldiers, interviews created for this project, and still images of the war taken by award-winning photojournalists. Shows are at 8:00pm; tickets are $24 and can be ordered by phone at 412-456-6666, or online at www.pgharts.org.

Oct. 15 – 18: Once

“Even the uninitiated will be hard-pressed to resist the movie's charms.”

– Washington Post

One of the best reviewed films of the year! Filmed on the streets of Dublin on a low budget and ridiculously short production schedule, Once tells the sweet story of a street musician/vacuum-cleaner repairman and Czech cleaning lady who encounter each other late one evening when she stops to listen to him play. Over the course of the next few days, they meet, talk, take long walks, play music and, eventually, record a demo album. Stars Glen Hansard of The Frames and Markéta Irglová. This scrappy, heart-on-its-sleeve little movie features the song, "Falling Slowly." (John Carney; UK; 2007; 88 min)

Oct. 19 - 25: The Devil Came on Horseback

“Chilling, masterfully crafted.” -LA City Beat

Using the exclusive photographs and first hand testimony of former Marine Captain Brian Steidle, this is a remarkable film about hope. Steidle went to Sudan as an unarmed military observer working for the African Union. He left a changed man after witnessing what many believe is genocide in the western Darfur region, a conflict that has claimed 400,000 lives and displaced 2.5 million people. The co-directors give this story an indisputable credibility, and watching Steidle’s transformation from soldier to activist rattles you to the core. (Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg; USA; 2007; 85 min)

Oct. 26 &27: The Warriors

Street gangs, graffiti, urban lawlessness -- this is definitely New York City before Giuliani. The influential 1979 film by director Walter Hill (48 Hours), has a legendary following, partly due to its style: gritty darkness punctuated by garish Day-Glo colored costumes and brutal ambushes handled as sharply as a stiletto. The story follows a gang called the Warriors, wrongly accused of the murder of a rival gang leader. (Walter Hill; USA; 1979; 94 min)

Regent Square Theater – 1035 South Braddock Ave.

Oct. 5 – 11: Manufactured Landscapes

Like the environmental blockbuster An Inconvenient Truth, this stunning new documentary asks us to see the world -- and the way we live in it -- with new eyes. Artist Edward Burtynsky is internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of nature transformed by industry. We follow Burtynsky to China as he captures the effects of the country’s massive industrial revolution. With breathtaking sequences we witness both the epicenters of industrial endeavor and the dumping grounds of its waste. Since the local premier of this film in May (as part of our Cautionary Tales series) this remarkable film has won awards at both Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals. (Jennifer Baichwal; Canada; 2007; 90 min)

Opens Oct. 12: David and Layla

This charmer has been a crowd-pleaser in the film festival circuit, along the lines of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but with unexpected insight. It follows a cross-ethnic couple as they attempt to navigate the gap between their diverse backgrounds. David is a nice Jewish guy with an involved but non-stereotypical mother and a high-maintenance girlfriend. He appreciates tradition but craves something different, which he finds in Layla, a lovely dancer who happens to be an Iraqi Kurdish Muslim refugee -- threatened with deportation no less. Naturally, it’s love at first sight. The film’s rapid-fire pacing, sense of place, witty dialogue, and accomplished performances make this modern-day Romeo and Juliet a winner. (Jay Jonroy; USA; 2006; 107 min) Writer/director Jay Jonroy is scheduled to attend with a Q&A on opening night.

Sunday Night Series: Creeped Out!

Who needs slasher movies? These four wonderful films cross genres/countries/decades, and yet maintain their ability to give you a serious case of the creeps!

Oct. 7: Rosemary’s Baby

A mother-to-be suspects her elderly neighbors are not the kindly souls they appear to be. She soon discovers they are the leaders of a coven of witches and that her creepy husband, a struggling actor, allowed the devil to impregnate her in exchange for a successful career. Trouble is, she can’t get anyone to believe her. (Roman Polanski; USA; 1968; 136 min)

Oct. 14: The Devil’s Backbone

Creepily atmospheric and haunting, this precursor to Pan’s Labyrinth is both a ghost story and an intelligent political allegory. Set during the Spanish Civil War, it’s the dramatic tale of a boy discovering secrets while learning the ropes at an orphanage. An under-appreciated gem, it’s more reliant on great suspenseful filmmaking than overblown special effects. (Guillermo del Toro; Spain; 2001; 110 min)

Oct. 21: Peeping Tom

It doesn’t get much creepier than this Technicolor masterpiece about a psychopath who murders women while using a movie camera to record their dying expressions of terror. Though we may be shocked by this demented voyeur, Roger Ebert says the movies make us all voyeurs. (Michael Powell; UK; 1960; 109 min)

Oct. 28: Planet of Vampires

This deliciously creepy horror/sci-fi from Italian master Mario Bava involves astronauts landing on an alien planet inhabited by hostile beings – more zombies than vampires, but no matter. Watch for the famous scene where the aliens rise from their foggy graves in slow-motion! Many buffs believe the Alien movies borrowed from this classic. (Mario Bava; Italy; 1965; 86 min)

Melwood Screening Room – 477 Melwood Ave.

Oct. 5 & 6: Ann Arbor Film Festival - FREE!

America’s oldest and most prestigious festival of independent film is held each year in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The touring program (now in its 45^th year) is a wide-ranging compilation of prize-winning experimental, animated, documentary and narrative films. FREE, as part of RADical weekend.

Oct. 16: Film Kitchen

This is a monthly series of local, independent film and video work. Featured this month is work by Bill Shannon, a Pittsburgh resident and world-renowned dancer, choreographer and performance artist. And, visiting experimental documentary filmmaker Roger Beebe. Co-sponsored by City Paper, WYEP-FM, Isoldi’s in the Strip and Pittsburgh Brewing. Reception at 7:00; films at 8:00.

Oct. 19 – 21: Killer of Sheep – back by request!

Way ahead of its time and just as stunning today, this restored masterpiece examines the Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid 1970s through the eyes of a dreamer who’s growing detached and numb from working at a slaughterhouse. A landmark of independent African American cinema, it has been unavailable for nearly two decades. Filmmaker Charles Burnett was a recent UCLA graduate when he shot this remarkable film (on a shoestring budget) showing how social conditions effect lives. Hauntingly bleak, yet filled with transcendent joy, Killer of Sheep was declared a National Treasure by the Library of Congress in 1990. (Charles Burnett; USA; 1977; 90 min)

Monthly Film Discussion Series

Independent Visions: Influential Films from the 70s.

Oct. 25: Harold and Maude with speaker: Will Zavala

In this cult favorite from the counterculture era, we meet Harold (Bud Cort) at his most desperate. One of the most unforgettable characters of film history, Harold’s able to evolve from a self-centered suicidal brat to a romantic grown-up in less than two hours. This provocative black comedy pairs Harold with a life-affirming septuagenarian (Ruth Gordon), united in their desire to rebel against society’s ideas about youth, age, death, and sex. (Hal Ashby; USA; 1971; 92 min)

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