For Immediate Release Contact: Carol O’Sullivan

April 18, 2008 412-681-5449

Pittsburgh Filmmakers Announces

May Programming

(Pittsburgh, PA) – The following are descriptions of Pittsburgh Filmmakers Film Exhibition program for May 2008. The films are screened at 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.

The Harris Theater – 809 Liberty Ave

Thru May 8: Blindsight

Filmed primarily in and around the cascading Tibetan Himalayas, this astonishing film follows six blind Tibetan teenagers as they attempt to scale the 23,000-foot Lhakpa Ri peak on the north side of Mount Everest. Led by Erik Weihenmayer, the only blind man to have climbed Everest itself, and accompanied by their fearless teacher the teenagers brave ravines, altitude sickness and inclement weather with amazing fortitude. Since many Tibetans believe the blind are possessed by demons, the children are shunned by their parents, scorned by their villages, and rejected by society. This inspiring group of teenagers may have you rethinking your routine complaints. (Lucy Walker; UK/Tibet; 2006; 104 min)

May 9 – 18: Silk Screen Festival

For information: www. silkscreenfestival.org

May 19 – 22: The Life of Reilly

“rippingly entertaining” – Toronto Star

Charles Nelson Reilly, who died a year ago, is best remembered as one of the flamboyant regulars on Hollywood Squares, but too few know that he was also a successful stage actor (How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), director and teacher. In this delightful performance documentary he stars in his one-man show called Save it for the Stage: the Life of Reilly. A natural raconteur and frequent Tonight Show guest, he holds his live audience spellbound as he reveals stories about his life – vividly recalling growing up gay in the Depression-era Bronx with a lobotomized father and a racist mother who encouraged him in a theatrical career. The unfailingly witty, shamelessly bitchy Reilly gets to set the record straight. (Barry Poltermann and Frank Anderson; USA; 2007; 82 min)

Opens May 23: Girls Rock!

This exhilarating film has audiences cheering all over America. While it focuses on a one-week summer experience – Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Oregon – it has grown into a full-fledged phenomenon. More than a retreat for preteens, it’s an incredible feminist project that reclaims the concept of girl power. Young women (aged 8 to 18) learn to love girlhood in all its awkwardness, as they play power chords with their amps cranked up to 11. They get to express their angst and their joy through the redemptive power of punk rock. We learn the back-stories of four girls who step up to the creative challenges while undergoing tough personal transformations. As they come together to form a band we get to witness a finale that is truly extraordinary. (Shane King and Arne Johnson; USA; 2007; 90 min)

Regent Square Theater – 1035 South Braddock Ave.

Thru May 8: The Band’s Visit

“A global charmer!” – Entertainment Weekly

Winner of 35 international film awards, this warm-hearted story of cross-cultural rapprochement was also an audience favorite from the 2007 Three Rivers Film Fest. The story begins when an Egyptian band is invited to the opening of an Israeli cultural center. The immaculately pressed Police Band arrives at the airport only to find their hosts are nowhere in sight, so they decide to take a bus. Hopelessly lost, they encounter not only tensions and friendships with the townspeople who take them in for the night, but valuable lessons as well. With subtitles. (Eran Kolirin; Israel; 2007; 89 min)

May 9 – 18: Silk Screen Festival

For information: www. silkscreenfestival.org

May 19 – 22: Let’s Get Lost – new print!

“About the nature of Cool... a romantic valentine to the 50s.” – Village Voice

Unseen for 14 years, this haunting portrait of legendary jazz crooner and trumpet player Chet Baker weaves performance footage from the 1950s, interviews from friends and lovers, and clips from Baker’s last years. The new 35mm print shows off the moody black and white photography of director Bruce Weber, known only as a fashion photographer before this film. Upon its first released Pauline Kael said, “Weber’s visual intuitions are as lyrical and right as Baker’s melodic instincts.” (Bruce Weber; USA; 1988; 120 min)

Opens May 23: Love Songs

A modern day musical, Love Songs is an intoxicating, idiosyncratic story inspired in part by Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. The retro sexual romp begins with the stalled relationship of Ismael and Julie, who enter a playful ménage à trois with Alice. When tragedy strikes, these young Parisians are forced to deal with the fragility of life and love. Featuring 13 original songs sung entirely by the cast, this bittersweet romance has overjoyed audiences at both Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals and earned four French Cesar nominations. With subtitles. (Christophe Honore; France; 2008; 95 min)

Opens May 30: Contempt – new print!

“Bardot + Godard = movie greatness.” – Time Out New York

One of Jean-Luc Godard's most acclaimed films, his subversive foray into commercial filmmaking is a star-studded epic. Michel Piccoli stars as a screenwriter torn between the demands of a proud European director (played by legendary director Fritz Lang), a crude and arrogant American producer (Jack Palance), and his disillusioned wife, Camille (Brigitte Bardot) as he attempts to doctor the script for a new film version of The Odyssey. Filmed in Rome and Capri by Raoul Coutard, with music by Michel Legrand, this brilliant study of marital breakdown, artistic compromise, and the cinematic process is a must see. "They don't make them like this anymore. Point of fact, they never did; Godard's Contempt is a once-a-century cultural constellation." - Village Voice. With sub-titles. (Jean-Luc Godard; France; 1963; 103 min)

Special Sunday Events

May 4 only: Dr. Philip Carli

Carli performs live original piano scores with:

The Mark of Zorro (2:00 pm)

Flesh and the Devil (8:00 pm)

May 25 only: Planet of the Apes – new print!

Celebrate the start of summer with the 40^th anniversary of this science-fiction classic. The late great Charlton Heston is fabulous as the over-the-top Colonel George Taylor ("Get your stinkin paws off of me, you damned dirty ape!") who crash-lands his spacecraft on an unfamiliar planet. Though there’s lots of inadvertent humor, the film’s intelligent script and savagely effective conclusion (with no big-budget special effects to augment its impact) remain both potent and relevant. And there’s real talent behind that great ape make-up – Roddy McDowall (Lassie Come Home) Kim Hunter (A Streetcar Named Desire), and James Whitmore (Shawshank Redemption) – all superb at monkeying around! (Franklin J. Schaffner; USA; 1968; 112 min)

Melwood Screening Room – 477 Melwood Ave.

May 7 - 10: Russian Film Symposium

The Ideological Occult: Russian Cinema Under Putin

Films shown at University of Pittsburgh’s campus and the Melwood Screening Room.

For more info: www.rusfilm.pitt.edu

May 9 – 18: Silk Screen Festival

For information: www. silkscreenfestival.org

May 13: Film Kitchen

This showcase of regional film and video art is presented on the second Tuesday of every month. This month’s highlights include the work of Eric Cheevers. Co-sponsored by City Paper, WYEP-FM, Pittsburgh Brewing, and DH Creative. Reception at 7:00; films at 8:00.

May 31: Respect Yourself: The Story of Stax Records

The rise and fall of Memphis-based Stax Records remains one of the more compelling sagas in American popular music history. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, renamed in 1961 by blending the surnames of brother-sister co-founders Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, Stax was Motown's funky Deep South counterpart. Giants, including Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas and daughter Carla, Booker T and the MGs, Sam & Dave, and Isaac Hayes all hail from this converted movie theater. While celebrating Stax, its triumphs and the genius of its artists and musicians, this documentary doesn’t shy away from the label's woes and final collapse. The redemption comes by detailing Stax's legacy into the 21st century. Features performances, interviews and rare footage from the Stax vaults. (Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville; USA; 2007; 114 min) Co-presented by 91.3 WYEP-FM.

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