Thursday, March 12, 2009

Burgh Diaspora: Washington, DC

A reminder about the upcoming screening of "My Tale of Two Cities" in the DC region:

Take a walk past the Pour House in Cap Hill when the Steelers, Pirates, or Penguins are playing and you’ll get the sense D.C. is crawling with Pittsburgh expats. My Tale of Two Cities is a movie right in their black-and-gold wheelhouse. The film by native Carl Kurlander (screenwriter for St. Elmo’s Fire, the ’80s classic inspired by a Pittsburgh waitress who moved to D.C.) chronicles his city’s transformations, particularly its life after the death of steel. Although a bit heavy on the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood motif, the film’s larger focus is one that resonates with people who don’t make regular pilgrimages to Primanti’s: After your stints in New York, Los Angeles, D.C., wherever, can you really go home again? Kurlander decides he can, abandoning the Sunset Strip for Squirrel Hill around the time Pittsburgh is getting its groove back. Along the way, he gets some nice reflections from the city’s more famous alums: former Steeler Franco Harris, would-be first lady Teresa Heinz Kerry, comedian Louie Anderson, and, of course, Mr. McFeely (David Newell), our old mailman chum from the Neighborhood. Newell and Harris join the filmmaker at the screening. MY TALE OF TWO CITIES SCREENS AT 7 P.M. AT the AFI SILVER THEATRE AND CULTURAL CENTER, 8633 COLESVILLE ROAD, SILVER SPRING. $10. (301) 585-0716.

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