Starting this weekend, the Pittsburgh Silent Film Festival will screen films from 1926 at venues all around the city. Put on by the Pittsburgh Silent Film Society (PSFS), the festival is a recent and celebrated bit of exhibition that’s a treat for cinephiles in the Western Pennsylvania area. Venues include the Harris Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh, Row House Cinemas – Hollywood in Dormont, The Frick Pittsburgh Museums & Gardens, and many others. Silent films featured include Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid, Flesh and the Devil starring John Gilbert, and the incredible animation The Adventures of Prince Achmed.
Head to the Pittsburgh Silent Film Society to buy tickets and check out specific screening times and venues. The festival runs through October 4th, 2026.
The Pittsburgh Silent Film Society (PSFS) was founded in 2013 to help foster and promote silent-film exhibition with live musical accompaniment in Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania. In 2014, PSFS founder Chad Hunter obtained a grant from the Sprout Fund to launch “Silents, Please,” a monthly silent-film series at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont. With the frequent help of early jazz musician and scholar Tom Roberts, he has since programmed and presented over 70 silent films paired with many area musical performers in western PA. PSFS launched the Pittsburgh Silent Film Festival in 2023, partnering with 8 venues to show 9 films.
Watch the trailer for the festival, edited by yours truly, below:
