Three Rivers Film Festival

The Three Rivers Film Festival is an annual film festival, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sponsored by the Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Dollar Bank (1998–2017)[1] and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the festival features foreign-language films, American independents, documentaries, shorts, local works and experimental cinema. Founded as part of the Three Rivers Arts Festival[2] in 1981, the first annual festival was June 4, 1982. Thirteen films premiered that year, including the locally shot Knightriders starring Ed Harris, Patricia Tallman and Tom Savini.[3][4][5] In 1993 the festival moved its programming to the fall.[6] The festival briefly reconnected for one year with the Three Rivers Arts Festival in 2018.[7] The festival is the oldest and largest annual film festival in Western Pennsylvania.

Three Rivers Film Festival
Frequency	Annual
Location(s)	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Inaugurated	June 4, 1982
Most recent	November 8-23, 2019

The Festival's 15th anniversary in 1996 featured Flirt.[8]

The 2012 festival featured over 50 films, was 3 weeks long and included visits by Curt Wootton and Chris Preksta.[9] Among the locations were the Harris Theater in Pittsburgh's Cultural District among others. Festival sidebars for 2012 included Polish Cinema, Women Filmmakers and Coming-of-Age films and had major sponsorships from the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, the Art Institute, Avis, and Kodak.[10]

In 2019, the festival screened 40 films, over 16 days. Opening night featured three film screenings, Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress directed by William Wyler at the Rangos Giant Cinema, with special guest Catherine Wyler, the filmmaker’s daughter. The Green Fog an experimental film directed by Guy Maddin screened at Regent Square Theater with the filmmaker present. Say Amen, Somebody, George Nierenberg's 1982 look at gospel music screened at Harris Theater.[11]