New Film Student Documentary on George Romero Premieres Feb. 4

A new documentary about legendary independent film and horror pioneer George Romero will premiere at 7 p.m. on Feb. 4. Produced by Pitt film studies students, “George Romero & Pittsburgh: The Early Years” was made in Carl Kurlander’s spring 2020 course Making the Documentary: George Romero and Pittsburgh.

A panel discussion moderated by “Day of the Dead” star Lori Cardille will follow the film. Registration is required and attendees will be sent an access link to the virtual event.

Students of Kurlander, a senior lecturer in the Film and Media Studies Program in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, were able to interview a number of key players for the project, including film producer Gary Streiner, Romero’s widow Suzanne Romero, acclaimed local filmmaker Tony Buba and others. They also had access to the George A. Romero Archive within the University Library System. This student film explores Romero’s early creative life in Pittsburgh, his connections to the University of Pittsburgh, his legacy as an artist and his historic casting of African-American actor and Pitt alumnus Duane Jones as the lead in the 1968 horror classic “Night of the Living Dead.”

Kurlander said his student film producers were thrown a curve when the pandemic hit.

“In responding to the challenge, many of them could have given up,” he said. “But the class was inspired by how creative George was when he was their age, and they learned how to interview via Zoom and how to research, work with transcripts and edit remotely.”

Several students continued to work on the film over the summer and also made two related mini-documentaries that will be shown at the event. One is about Jones, who will posthumously receive the George A. Romero Foundation Pioneer Award, which will be accepted by his sister, Marva Brooks.