​The Pittsburgh Moving Picture Festival celebrates both the art of cinema and the rich motion picture exhibition tradition of Pittsburgh.  Early in the 20th century, Pittsburgh was a worldwide manufacturing leader in iron and, later, steel.  The labor requirements to produce such output was enormous, with much of the manpower being supplied by the immigrant populations living in and around the mills.  

The need to live close to the mills (given the lack of access to public transportation) combined with the onerous demands placed on the workers (including a 72-hour work week) and the low pay, in many ways limited what leisure activities were available to the people.  Local movie theaters emerged to offer a brief respite from the mundane mill-to-home routine.  By 1914, it was estimated that there were approximately 200 movie theaters in the Pittsburgh region. Michael Aronson, Nickelodeon City: Pittsburgh at the Movies 1905-1929 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008), 15.  In essence, the theaters became community meeting places by offering an accessible escape from the drudgery of mill life.  In much the same way, cinema still serves as that communal experience for people to come together and be entertained.