The Adventures of Prince Achmed - live piano accompaniment by Philip Carli -Family Matinee

Country: Germany Director: Lotte Reiniger Considered to be the first animated feature film, Prince Achmed is a dazzling, kaleidoscopic version of the Arabian Nights that seems to have come straight out of a dream. Tickets: $9, available in advance. Sat., Nov. 5, 1:30pm @ Regent Square More

3rd Annual Steeltown Film Factory Event

World Premiere Screening of Flour Baby, this year's Film Factory contest winner, is written and produced by Chris Dimond and directed by Melissa Martin. Also included at this screening: Lightweight: An Urban Fantasy is written and directed by Randy Kovitz and Deborah Hosking. Smile,written and directed by Lauren Elmer.

The Steeltown Film Factory is a mentorship program and filmmaking competition. For this nationally recognized competition, some of the film industry's top professionals help demystify the business while giving talented new artists the opportunity to develop a screenplay and produce a short film with an award of up to $30,000. Tickets: $9, available in advance Wed., Nov. 9, 7:00pm @ the Regent Square. More

Mid-Festival Highlight The Encore of Tony Duran

Of special note is a mid-fest highlight, The Encore of Tony Duran. It stars Pittsburgh native and Central Catholic grad, Gene Pietragallo (HIll Street Blues) in a story about a down-and-out singer who hits rock bottom before turning his life around. Tickets: $15, available in advance Sat., Nov. 12, 8:45pm @ Regent Square

Contemporary Polish Cinema

Contemporary Polish Cinema The Polish Cultural Council (PCC) is back with us for the festival – they have helped us bring five exceptional Polish films to Pittsburgh. The titles are: Black Thursday, Joanna, The Officer's Wife, The Swing and The Winner. The PCC will host a special reception, November 16 at Melwood Screening Room with director Feliks Falk and the film Joanna, tickets: $15. For more information contact: www.polishculturalcouncil.org.

Enviro Cinema

New this year is a sidebar of five documentaries about the environment. Ever since An Inconvenient Truth did some consciousness raising in 2006, there's been a deluge of films made by equally impassioned filmmakers, about a wide variety of environmental issues worth fighting for – often begun by a small group of concerned citizens of the Earth. We are pleased to offer them a platform in our Festival. They are: Farmageddon (local farming); Bophali (chemical spills); Into Eternity (nuclear waste); Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson (oceanic crusader) and Patagonia Rising (hydroelectric dams). See alphabetical title listing for descriptions and showtimes.

Classics

This is an exciting year for Pittsburgh's loyal fans of film classics, who enjoy seeing them on the Big Screen. Most of those featured in the festival are new, restored prints. You won't want to miss Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen and Bringing Up Baby; Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver, and the last remaining 35mm print of Effects, a cult-horror-classic made in Pittsburgh. See alphabetical title listing for descriptions and showtimes.

Local Film Shorts

Aside from the competitive shorts program, there will be short films preceding some feature films made by mostly local filmmakers. The artists include: Justin Crimone, Bailey Donovan, Ted E. Haynes, Kirsi Jansa, Jose Muniain, Ben Pelhan, Christina Pierce and Sara Rekrut. More Info

Visiting Filmmakers

Each year the Three Rivers Film Festival hosts a number of visiting filmmakers to present and discuss their work. Two opening night films – Farmageddeon and Resurrect Dead – will have visiting filmmakers as well as the mid-festival highlight, The Encore of Tony Duran. Also of note is Fallingwater: Frank Lloyd Wright's Masterwork. made by local filmmaker Kenneth Love. This film will be featured in a special Film Kitchen. Other films with visiting artists include Battle for Brooklyn, Effects, Empty Quarter, Joanna, Mister. Rogers & Me and Patagonia Rising. See alphabetical title listing for descriptions and showtimes.

Selections from tENTATIVELY, A cONVENIENCE's Archive

tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE is a filmmaker, musician, performance artist, writer and archivist based in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Polish Hill. tENT has been active in filmmaking since 1974, and his journey through the worlds of filmmaking and Neoism has granted him access to some extraordinarily rare and avant-garde examples of performance art and independent filmmaking. Wed., Nov. 9, 8:30pm @ Melwood SR

SYNC'D IV: A New Hope

The fourth installment of Sync 'd is an evening of locally made contemporary silent short films with live accompaniment provided by Pittsburgh musicians Gangwish and Lung Face Feet. Thu., Nov. 10, 9:00pm @ Regent Square

Competitive Shorts Program

Each year space is devoted in the festival for a competitive selection of shorts – a program for artists working in film and video that allows them to creatively take risks, break new ground or challenge the viewer.

Ray Morely – Nicola Quilter
The Indeserian Tablets – Peter Rose
Pizzangrillo – Marco Gianfreda
Collectible – Michael Honeck
Smile – Lauren Elmer
Lino Tagliapietra: Glass Magician – Erik & Martin Demaine
Little Horses - Levi Abrino
Fruit Flies – Christine Lucy Latimer
Cartoons – Ken Kwek
Latoya Ruby Frazier Takes on Levi's – Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich
A Heart Felt– Jingyang Chen
Keenan at Sea- Jeremy Galante & David Cowels
Abandon Me – Sayer Frey
Marks That Trail Off – Olivia Ciummo

Tickets: $9, available in advance for Nov. 18 only Fri., Nov. 18, 7:00pm & Sat., Nov. 19, 3:30pm @ Melwood SR Presented in collaboration with Kodak.