Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival returning to Lawrenceville's Row House Cinema

After a two-year pandemic hiatus, the Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival is returning live to Lawrenceville.

Screenings are planned for March 18-31 at Row House Cinema at 4115 Butler St.

Passes go on sale Friday.

“Our opening night film will be ‘The Island of Cats,’ which has never been shown in Pittsburgh before,” said Kelsey Zehmisch, the theater’s marketing manager. “Somehow or another in the last five years, we’ve established the tradition that the opening night is always cat-themed. And it’s always a ton of fun, so this film is perfect.”

The 2019 drama, directed by wildlife photographer Mitsuaki Iwago, tells the story of a retired widower who lives on a small island where cats outnumber people.

The largest Japanese film festival between New York and Chicago, the event will showcase new and classic Japanese films, special events and more. Offerings will include films never before shown in Pittsburgh, including new releases from Japan, anime selections, biopics and more.

Yakuza films, a genre about organized crime gangs in Japan, will enjoy a special focus, with selections from the 1930s to the 2010s being shown.

“These films encapsulate the phenomenal and innovative movie-making that comes out of Japan. It’s truly spectacular to see them in a movie theater in the festival environment,” said festival director Keith Strausbaugh. “We spent hours reviewing and researching films to ensure that everything we screen is arresting and worthy of our audience’s attention.”

The festival is now in its fifth year. The 2020 and 2021 festivals were canceled due to covid-19.

“This is our biggest event of the year,” said Row House Cinema owner Brian Mendelssohn. “Our theater closed down the week before the 2020 festival, which was a huge blow. We can’t tell you how surreal and exciting it is to be back in 2022.”

The theater’s covid safety measures include a fully vaccinated staff, frequent sanitizing and requiring guests to show proof of covid-19 vaccination or a negative test from the last 72 hours.

For festival passes and information on film selections and screening times, visit jffpgh.org.