Backyard Docs Film Festival, which bills itself as Pennsylvania’s largest documentary film festival, opens Dec. 5, with a showing of “Union.” The Sundance Award-winning work by Brett Story and Stephen Maing follows a group of Amazon workers as they face off against one of the planet’s most powerful companies, launching an unprecedented campaign to unionize their warehouse in Staten Island, New York.
The film will air at 6 p.m. that Thursday at Point Park University’s University Center Theater, Downtown, and will be followed with a question-and-answer session with union leaders, including United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America Secretary-Treasurer Andrew Dinkelaker and a representative of Amazon Labor Union, moderated by journalist Alex Press.
The theme is “Resistance Through Community” for the fest, formerly the Rust Belt & Appalachia Documentary Film Festival that started in 2020 in an actual backyard. It runs through Sunday, Dec. 8, with events at two other Pittsburgh-area venues, celebrating nonfiction cinema made in or relevant to communities in the Rust Belt and Appalachian regions.
The lineup include two short-film showcases. “Finding Queer Joy” will feature short documentaries on LGBTQ+ people finding their community and voice, ranging from stories about trans youth in Pennsylvania to queer bar patrons in rural Vermont. That starts at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, at Parkway Theater & Film Lounge in Stowe.
The “Community Power” shorts showcase — at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Energy Innovation Center in the Hill District — will feature a dynamic collection of short documentaries highlighting the power of community-led movements and dedicated individuals to challenge broken systems and take charge of their narrative.
The fest closes — back at the Energy Innovation Center’s Patterns of Meaning space at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8 — Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber’s “War Game,” which sweeps audiences into an elaborate future-set simulation that follows a bipartisan group of U.S. defense, intelligence and elected policymakers as they participate in an unscripted exercise role-playing an American insurrection.
“There is a lot of uncertainty and fear right now,” said the festival’s executive, Nick Childers, in a news release. “In this moment, we are proud to uplift stories that remind all of us what is possible when we take care of and fight for one another.”
Festival Director Hansen Bursic adds, “You don’t need to escape into fiction to find stories that give you hope. From celebrating with a rag-tag group of workers who just won a union to feeling the euphoria of a queer teen finding community for the first time, our program is full of stories that are sure to inspire.”
Organizers are proud that more than half of this year’s programming was directed by women or nonbinary filmmakers.
Would-be documentary makers might like to RSVP for and attend that Friday’s workshop at Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation’s Pittsburgh Downtown Media Hub, “A Crash-Course in Documentary Filmmaking for Journalists.”
The full festival lineup:
6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, at University Center Theater: Opening Night: “Union” by Brett Story and Stephen Maing. Q&A with union leaders moderated by journalist Alex Press. Tickets are $28.81, with discounts for students and educators as well as people age 65-plus.
7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, at Parkway Theater & Film Lounge: Finding Queer Joy Documentary Shorts Showcase sponsored by the ReelQ: Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ Film Festival. Featuring “Time Capsule” by Constanze Brodbeck, “Ben in Bloom” by Natalie Jasmine Harris, “Don’t Cry for Me All You Drag Queens” by Kristal Sotomayor, “One Night at Babes” by Angelo Madsen Minax, and the East Coast premiere of “OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage” by Clare Major. Q&A with filmmakers moderated by Harrison Apple, Ph.D., founder of the Pittsburgh Queer History Project. Tickets are $23.25, with discounts for students and educators as well as people age 65-plus.
6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Energy Innovation Center: Community Power Documentary Shorts Showcase sponsored by the Video Consortium. Featuring “Georgie” by Jennie Butler, “Calls From Home” by Sylvia Ryerson, “Trash & Burn” by Bilal Motley, “From Gaza to Ohio” by Nick P. Curran, and “Wild Hogs and Saffron” by Andy Sarjahani. Q&A with filmmakers moderated by Hansen Bursic, Backyard Docs festival director. Tickets are $23.25, with discounts for students and educators as well as people age 65-plus.
6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, at the Energy Innovation Center: Closing Night: “War Game” by Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss. Tickets are $28.81, with discounts for students and educators, the military and people age 65-plus.
The fest’s website with the link to purchase tickets is https://www.backyarddocs.com.
Bob, a feature writer and editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is currently on strike and serving as interim editor of the Pittsburgh Union Progress. Contact him at bbatz@unionprogress.com.
