This year, our centerpiece screening will be the perfect way to welcome in the spooky season with the Pennsylvania Premiere of The Haunting of Pennhurst!

A homecoming of a film set in Pennsylvania's Pennhurst Asylum, this can't miss film takes an honest look into the complicated history of the notorious former institution, its challenging history, and the disabled actors who now help transform the space into one of the state's most well known haunted houses.

This screening as part of Backyard Docs Film Festival will be taking place in an abandoned convent, formerly the Father Kraus Center in Mount Oliver. The setting is a perfect fit for the screening where it is sure to give the audience a spook.

A filmmaker Q&A will follow the screening. This screening will be captioned and ADA accessible.

The Haunting of Pennhurst

An institution for disabled people, notorious for decades of abuse, was finally shuttered in 1987—only to reopen 30 years later as a haunted house attraction. Here, disabled actors become “haunters,” navigating the shadowy corridors where performance and reality bleed together over one season at the Pennhurst Asylum.