Row House Cinema

Row House Cinema is a small, independent cinema in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The theater opened in a historic row house building on Butler Street in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood in 2014.^[1] The theater is known for its festivals, events, and its connected taproom and bottle shop Bierport. It is owned by Brian Mendelssohn.^[2]

The theater hosts themed weeks throughout the year as well as The Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival, The Sweded Film Festival,^[3] and The Pittsburgh International Children's Film Festival.

In Cate Blanchett's 2023 Vanity Fair cover story, she mentioned Row House Cinema as one of her favorite repertory cinemas. ^[4]

In 2023, Row House announced that it had purchased the historic Hollywood Theater in Dormont with plans for a full renovation.^[5]

COVID-19

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Row House Cinema temporarily closed.^[6] The theater then created the Quarantine Cat Film Festival, a compilation film of cat videos.^[7] It then released its annual Sweded Film Festival, which is a compilation of famous films remade in under 5 minutes by amateurs — inspired by the film Be Kind Rewind.^[8] Both films were released under Row House Films, when grew to a small film distributor. It acquired the rights to distribute the film Monuments in 2021.^[9]

In October 2020, Row House Cinema also hosted a pop-up drive-in theater in Pittsburgh's Strip District neighborhood.^[10]