Sheila Chamovitz is the Pittsburgh director behind two important but seldom screened 30-minute documentaries. In the 1970s, with Skokie: Rights or Wrong, Sheila examined free speech via the controversial events of the ACLU defending a Nazi march in a Jewish neighborhood. In the 1980s, she made Murray Avenue: A Community in Transition, an elegy for the changing culture of the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, told through a look inside now-vanished Jewish-owned business. These moving films will both be presented on 16mm, and Sheila will join us for a discussion of her work.
Doors open at 7:30. Films start at 8:00.
This event is free thanks to funding for Homestead Live Fridays courtesy of Steel Valley Enterprise Zone.
About Essential Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Sound + Image seeks to redefine our region’s film history this summer with the launch of our Essential Pittsburgh series. Too often when recounting the noteworthy makers who have worked here, we hear the same names. We wish to acknowledge the depth of creativity which has flourished here by spotlighting additional vital artists and their films from the 1960s through the 1990s. This landmark series is a continuation of our efforts to celebrate a fuller picture of independent, amateur, industrial, and experimental filmmaking talent, and to better situate Pittsburgh nationally as a place of rich cinematic history.
