Director George Romero Hosts Premiere Screening of "Bruiser" Presented by Pitt's Film Studies Program

February 6, 2002

PITTSBURGH—Director George Romero will host a free 35mm premiere screening of his latest film, "Bruiser," presented by the University of Pittsburgh Film Studies Program at 8 p.m. Feb. 15 in the Masonic Temple's seventh-floor auditorium, in Oakland.

"Bruiser," finished in the spring of 2000, ended Romero's eight-year hiatus from film direction. Based on Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," the film is about an emotionally abused man who wakes up one morning and discovers he is faceless.

Romero, who lives in Pittsburgh, developed his talents for directing and filmmaking during his adolescence, when he made 8mm shorts and his first feature, "The Man From the Meteor" (1954).

After attending Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in art, theater, and design, Romero and his friends formed The Latent Image, a production company that made television commercials and industrial shorts. They eventually secured enough money to produce Romero's first major film, "Night of the Living Dead" (1968), which was filmed in Pittsburgh for $114,000 and has become a cult film worldwide. Rather than move to a bigger city to create his films, Romero decided to remain in Pittsburgh and continue to make features that often drew on local talent from CMU.

Romero has made several more low-budget films, including the official sequel to "Night of the Living Dead," "Dawn of the Dead" (1979), as well as "Martin" (1978), "Knightriders" (1981), "Day of the Dead" (1985), and "Creepshow" (1982), which was written by novelist Stephen King. Eleven years later, he and King collaborated again, when Romero adapted the King novel, "The Dark Half," and directed the film version. Also, in 1984, Romero introduced the television series, "Tales from the Darkside."

For more information, contact Ellen Bishop (ebishop100@earthlink.net or

412-624-6512) or Andrea Campbell (acamp@pitt.edu or 412-624-6564).

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