Backyard Docs

Kick off the 2026 Backyard Docs Film Festival with our opening night film! Join us for the Pennsylvania Premiere of The Bulldogs, a stunning portrait film about the small rural community in East Palestine, Ohio, as they navigate an uncertain path to recovery after the recent catastrophic train derailment. The film will be preceded by […]

Join us for the Pennsylvania Premiere of A Beast Touch the Mountain: Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Fight for Appalachia! After the screening, we will be joined by the filmmakers for a Q&A with the audience. A Beast Touch the Mountain In Appalachian Virginia, determined women battle for years against powerful corporations and a biased […]

Join us for Backyard Docs 2026 Short Film Program! This collection of short films takes audiences from the cold hallways of New York City's immigration court, a butterfly sanctuary in Chicago, back home to the streets of Pittsburgh, and beyond. These films cover complex histories, stories of speaking truth to power, and journeys to discovering […]

Each year, Backyard Docs Film Festival brings one film to a DIY venue in Pittsburgh. This year, our centerpiece screening will be the perfect way to welcome in the spooky season with the Pennsylvania Premiere of The Haunting of Pennhurst! A homecoming of a film set in Pennsylvania's Pennhurst Asylum, this can't-miss film takes an […]

The Backyard Docs Film Festival is excited to screen the Pittsburgh Premiere of a new restoration of one of the most impactful Appalachian documentaries of our lifetime, Harlan County, USA, as our closing film! The award-winning film from 1976 offers an unflinching look into a grueling coal miners' strike in a small Kentucky town. Today, […]