Carl Kurlander's My Tale of Two Cities Screened at Sonoma Film Festival
04/23/08
Congratulations to Carl Kurlander for the screening of his film, My Tale of Two Cities, at the Sonoma Valley Film Festival in California.
See www.mytaleoftwocities.com for pictures from the event and clips from the film about Pittsburgh that was made in Pittsburgh with the help of Pitt students.
This feature documentary is the "comeback story" of Pittsburgh, a once great industrial giant which now, like many cities across this country, is being challenged to reinvent itself in a new age and also explores the question of "can you go home again," telling the story of Carl's return to his hometown where he came back to teach at the University of Pittsburgh.
During the three years of production, over two dozen Pitt students worked on the film as interns and in various other capacities. Many of those have gone on to be employed professionally both locally and with production companies in New York and Hollywood.
After the screening, Pittsburgh 250, VisitPittsburgh, and The Steeltown Entertainment Project co-hosted a "Pittsburgh style" party luring Pittsburgh expatriates (and others) to Wine Country by offering them Iron City Beer and Isaly's Chipped Chopped ham. Pitt alumni came from all over the state to attend the event, including a 93-year-old Pitt alum Evelyn Smith from Mountain View, California, who had left Pittsburgh in 1954, but still held Pitt and Pittsburgh close to her heart.
The Sonoma Index-Tribune wrote: "Although it is the Sonoma Valley Film Festival, Pittsburgh garnered a lot of attention this weekend. Filmmaker Carl Kurlander's documentary, 'My Tale of Two Cities,' looks at the metamorphosis Pittsburgh underwent from the city he remembered as a boy to the city he returned to 30 years later. (Afterwards, there was) a Pittsburgh-themed party at Steiners Tavern on Friday night that would have taken earmuffs to miss..."
My Tale of Two Cities will be screened in Pittsburgh at the Byham Theater on November 28 as part of Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary during which there will be a celebration of all the talent which this city has produced, inviting those here and those who left, to all join in and sing "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" as Pittsburghers and expatriates did in Times Square, Beverly Hills, and The Point for the film's finale.
As a result of the Los Angeles "sing-a-long," Pitt alumni and Lions Gate producer John Dellaverson was inspired to come back to speak at Pitt last Spring and also help advocate for a change in film tax legislation which has led to $100 million dollars worth of films shooting in the region since last July.