“The silent film […] was a universal language - Esperanto for the eyes.” - Kevin Brownlow
The 2026 Pittsburgh Silent Film Festival
September 27 - October 4
THE KID (1921)
With discussion by Chaplin expert Dan Kamin
7:00pm - Wednesday, September 30, 2026
The Rangos Giant Cinema at Kamin Science Center
Tickets Available HERE
Sparrows (1926)
With live organ accompaniment by Eric Cook
7:00pm - Sunday, September 27, 2026
Third Presbyterian Church in Shadyside
Tickets Available Soon
Tramp, tramp, tramp (1926)
With live accompaniment by Tom Roberts
7:00pm - Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Pump House at the Waterfront in Munhall
Tickets Available Soon
beau geste (1926) - new 4k restoration
With live accompaniment by the Pittsburgh Film Orchestra
7:00pm - Sunday, October 3, 2026
The Harris Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh
Tickets Available Soon
So this is Paris (1926)
With live accompaniment by Tom Roberts
2:00pm - Sunday, October 3, 2026
The Frick Pittsburgh in South Point Breeze
Tickets Available HERE
the student of Prague (1926)
With live accompaniment by Tyler Stoner
7:00pm - Monday, September 28, 2026
Presented by Jump Cut Theater at the Parkway Theater in McKees Rocks
Tickets Available Soon
The Adventures of Prince achmed (1926)
With live accompaniment by TBA
7:00pm - Friday, October 2, 2026
The Glitterbox Theater in Homestead
Tickets Available Soon
THE black Pirate (1926) - new 4k Moma restoration in pioneering two-color Technicolor
With live accompaniment by the Pittsburgh Composer’s Quartet
2:00pm - Sunday, September 27, 2026
The Lindsay Theater in Sewickley
Tickets Available Soon
Flesh and the devil (1926)
With live accompaniment by Andrew Lasswell
2:00pm - Saturday, October 3, 2026
Mt. Lebanon Public Library in Mt. Lebanon
Registration Encourage HERE
Presented in Partnership with the Denis Theatre Foundation
faces of children (1925)
With live accompaniment by the Pittsburgh Film Orchestra
7:30pm - Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Old St. Luke’s Church in Carnegie
Tickets Available Soon
Faust (1926)
With live accompaniment by TBA
7:00pm - Saturday, October 3, 2026
Rowhouse Hollywood Theater in Dormont
Tickets Available Soon
Donate today to PSFS - a 501(c)3 Charitable Non-profit Organization
Prefer to send a check? Please make out to Pittsburgh Silent Film Society, and send to 389 Orchard Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15228
Silent film stars Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis, courtesy of Harold Lloyd Entertainment
LEGENDARY FILMMAKER MARTIN SCORSESE, PITTSBURGH AND CINEMAS ACROSS COUNTRY, EMBRACE INNAUGURAL NATIONAL SILENT MOVIE DAY
Sept. 4, 2021 – In April of this year, Mt. Lebanon resident Chad Hunter announced a new project called National Silent Movie Day—an annual event celebrating silent film history and raising awareness about the race to preserve surviving silent films.
Since then, more than 30 theaters and institutions around the country have signed on to host their own events, including Film Forum in New York City, the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington DC, the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, the Berkeley Art Museum in Berkeley, CA, and the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles.
Writing on his Turner Classic Movies blog, legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese also took note, stating that “September 29th is the very first National Silent Movie Day, a great initiative launched by three dedicated film archivists and/or activists: Brandee B. Cox from the Academy Archive, Chad Hunter from Video Trust and the Pittsburgh Silent Film Society and Steven K. Hill from UCLA […] this is exactly the kind of activist spirit we need right now in the world of cinema.”
Turner Classic Movies will celebrate the day with an all-silent film line-up, showing 15 movie titles from 6:00am to midnight, including Trip to the Moon (1902) by film pioneer Georges Méliès; Within Our Gates (1920) by Oscar Micheaux, considered the first feature-length motion picture produced by a Black filmmaker; Rudolph Valentino in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921); Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman (1925); Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (1931), and Buster Keaton’s Sherlock, Jr. (1924).
Locally in Pittsburgh, Hunter has partnered with Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville to present Alfred Hitchcock’s silent masterwork Blackmail (1929), with live piano accompaniment provided by musician Tom Roberts, former piano player for Leon Redbone and scorer of Martin Scorsese’s 2004 film The Aviator. Dr. Adam Hart, film scholar and author of Monstrous Forms, will provide a short introduction.
Blackmail is scheduled for 7:00pm on Wednesday, September 29, tickets are $16 and available at https://rowhousecinema.com/movies/blackmail/. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours is currently required to enter the theater. Guests under 12 may enter, but must be masked.
To find out more about National Silent Movie Day and see a full list of events, visit www.nationalsilentmovieday.org.
Press materials including the national press release and images are located at :NSMD Press Materials
