Taiwanese musician Nini performing in Pittsburgh area (New Kensington), October 20.

Taiwanese musician Nini will perform in the Pittsburgh area on October 20 as part of her "East Goes West 2026" tour. From her official website, describing her as a "musical shapeshifter":

Nini, a distinguished musician hailing from Taiwan, has dedicated over two decades to mastering and performing traditional Chinese folk instruments. Her extensive experience has taken her on tours across Europe, the USA, Canada, China, Japan, and throughout her homeland. Nini's innovative approach to music involves playing genres such as heavy metal, rock, and EDM on traditional instruments like the Ruan, Liuqin, and San Xian. She also performs on a unique electric lute known as the DaoYu, which she uses to create a distinctive and modern sound that bridges cultural and musical boundaries.

The shows starts at 7:00 pm and tickets are available online. Preserving Underground is located at 1101 5th Ave., roughly 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh (map).

1994 film Eat Drink Man Woman (飲食男女) in Pittsburgh, from November 1.

The 1994 Ang Lee film Eat Drink Man Woman (飲食男女) will play in Pittsburgh from November 1.

Retired and widowed Chinese master chef Chu lives in modern day Taipei, with his three attractive daughters, all of whom are unattached. Soon, each daughter encounters a new man in their lives. When these new relationships blossom, stereotypes are broken and the living situation within the family changes.

It plays at the Row House Hollywood on November 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, and 12, and tickets are available online. The Row House Hollywood is located at 1449 Potomac Ave. (map), one block south of the Potomac T Station.

2026 Korean movie Hope (호프) returns to Pittsburgh area in October.

The 2026 Korean movie Hope (호프), which played in Pittsburgh-area theaters in September, will play at the Parkway Theater in McKees Rocks on October 16, 17, 18, and 22.

Na Hong-jin’s “Hope” is a divisive, unhinged 160-minute sci-fi action horror epic that blends rural South Korean tension with an explosive alien invasion.

Set in Hope Harbor, a remote South Korean border town near the DMZ, Police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) and deputy Sung-ae (Hoyeon) investigate strange animal mutilations that escalate into an apocalyptic extraterrestrial attack. Local hunters, including Sung-ki (Zo In-sung), join the chaotic fray in the woods.

The theater is located at 644 Broadway Ave. in McKees Rocks (map).

Documentary Always Lalisa in Pittsburgh area, October 12, 14, and 17.

An upcoming documentary Always Lalisa, following Blackpink's Lisa, will play in the Pittsburgh area on October 12, 14, and 17.

Always Lalisa is a feature-length documentary following global superstar LISA during a transformative year away from Blackpink, the K-pop phenomenon that made her one of the world's most recognizable performers. As the group pauses activities, LISA embarks on the first true chapter of her solo career, confronting the question of who she is beyond Blackpink. The film follows LISA as she writes, records, and releases her debut solo album, Alter Ego, makes her acting debut in the third season of The White Lotus, and prepares for her first major solo performance at the 2025 Coachella Music Festival. Born and raised in Thailand, LISA left home at fourteen to train in South Korea's demanding K-pop system, ultimately rising to global superstardom. But forging her own path, particularly in the Western music market, brings new pressures, relentless scrutiny, and the challenge of redefining herself on her own terms. Intimate, emotional, and revealing, Always Lalisa captures an artist at a crossroads, documenting a year of risk, reinvention, and self-discovery as LISA begins to define not only her next chapter, but the woman and artist she wants to become.

It is scheduled to play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theaters in McCandless and Monroeville, and tickets are available online.

Tuvan throat singers Alash Ensemble return to Pittsburgh, October 15.

Tuvan throat singers Alash Ensemble will return to Pittsburgh on October 15.

ALASH ensemble is a trio of master throat singers (xöömeizhi) from Tuva, a tiny republic in the heart of Inner Asia. The ancient art of throat singing (xöömei) developed among the nomadic herdsmen of this region. Alash remains grounded in this tradition while expanding its musical vocabulary with new ideas from the West.

The group will perform at the First Unitarian Church in Shadyside (map) from 8:00 pm. Tickets are available for purchase in-person at Caliban Book Shop (Oakland), Jerry's Records (Squirrel Hill), Vinyl Remains (Mt. Lebanon), Government Center Records (North Side), and Pleasant Dreams Records (Polish Hill), or online via Humanitix (charges 10% service fee).

Upcoming Japanese film Godzilla Minus Zero (ゴジラ-0.0) in Pittsburgh, from November 5.

The upcoming Japanese film Godzilla Minus Zero (ゴジラ-0.0) will play in and around Pittsburgh from November 5.

War reduced Japan to zero, and Godzilla plunged it into minus. Two years have passed since then, and the country has faced agonizing struggles to achieve recovery and finally reclaim its daily life. Just as humanity managed to cling to a hard-won peace, a new threat strikes, crushing hope in an instant. There is no third time. Everything ends here.

It plays at most local theaters, including the AMC Loews Waterfront, Waterworks Cinema, GQT Pittsburgh Mills, and the Cinemark theaters in McCandless, Monroeville, and Robinson. Tickets are available online.

Progress stalls on all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant in East Liberty, Oyoshi.

Progress on the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant Oyoshi has stalled in East Liberty. Coming Soon signage was up on the facade, and the social media, of the Industry apartment building at 5821 Centre. Ave in in Summer 2025, but activity and permits have stopped. Plans for the 3,490 square foot restaurant were approved in April 2025, and the restaurant remains listed on the apartment complex's website.

Sushi and hibachi on Centre Avenue. Oyoshi brings an all-you-can-eat sushi menu, hibachi grills and a full bar to the ground floor of Industry Pittsburgh — the kind of place that becomes the default for a Thursday night, a match-day celebration or a family visit.

Should Oyoshi ever open, it will represent part of a Pittsburgh restaurant trend over the last year or two of all-you-can-eat Asian and sushi places, which includes Bombing Pot, the second Kujira location, 8 Star in Gibsonia, Umiya in Squirrel Hill (still under construction), and Let's Sushi in Wexford, among others.

Poet and translator Arthur Sze in Pittsburgh, April 27, for Pittsburgh Arts & Lecture's Ten Evenings series.

Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures will host poet and translator Arthur Sze on April 27, 2027, as part of its Ten Evenings series.

“Now more than ever, dismantling walls and cultural barriers will help to find the common ground that seems to be shifting and eroding underfoot. ‘Translation,’ Sze affirms, ‘builds bridges and makes connections.’”—Veronica Corpuz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Transient Worlds: On Translating Poetry is a personal guide to global poetry in translation by 25th U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze. Focusing on an accessible selection of key works, Sze takes readers through nearly two millennia of poetry from every part of the world, constructing fifteen different “zones” of literary discussion with a critical focus on the artistic dimensions of translation itself. Using multiple translations of the same source poems—as well as original poems written by translators—he explores deep connections between the acts of writing and reading. Sze invites readers to consider their own acts of engaged reading as a creative pursuit, giving them tools to begin translating poems themselves as well as tools that will unlock foreign-language works as inspirational sources. At its core, this unique anthology, published in association with the Library of Congress, showcases a profound goal of global literary citizenship: to open works up to all readers and to encourage poetic creativity at the fundamental level of language itself.

Copies of Transient Worlds are available to purchase from White Whale Bookstore. After the lecture, the author will sign books in the Music Hall Foyer. 

The talk will be held at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland (map), and tickets are available online. 

Additional showtimes, theater for 2026 Japanese horror film Never After Dark (ネバーアフターダーク) in Pittsburgh, now from October 8.

Additional showtimes at a second theater were recently announced for the 2026 Japanese horror film Never After Dark (ネバーアフターダーク), which will play in Pittsburgh from October 9 through October 15.

Winner of the SXSW Midnighter Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for Feature Film at the Overlook Film Festival, NEVER AFTER DARK stars SAG Award and Critics’ Choice Award Winner Moeka Hoshi (SHOGUN) as Airi, a wandering medium who spends her life guiding restless spirits out of the world of the living. Summoned to an isolated country house, she comes face to face with a grotesque apparition with powers that defy Airi’s experience. As she digs deeper into the house’s past, a secret comes to light — and Airi finds herself hunted by a far more unpredictable force. For the first time, her greatest adversary is not the supernatural, but the living. Directed and written by Dave Boyle, the film also stars Kento Kaku (HOUSE OF NINJAS), Kurumi Inagaki (HOUSE OF NINJAS), Mutsuo Yoshioka (CHIME), Bokuzo Masana (TOKYO VICE) and Tae Kimura (ALL AROUND US).

In addition to the Harris Theater in downtown's Cultural District from the 9th through 15th, it will also play at the AMC Loews Waterfront from the 8th through 14th. Tickets are available online.

New Chinese movie Once Upon a Time in the Middle East (欢迎来龙餐馆) in Pittsburgh, from October 8.

The new Chinese movie Once Upon a Time in the Middle East (欢迎来龙餐馆) will play in Pittsburgh from October 8.

Chef Xu Fu travels to the Middle East to help his family and repay his debts. With restaurant manager Ma Junsheng, he revives the struggling Dragon Restaurant—but war soon engulfs the city, turning it into a refuge. Xu Fu must risk everything to protect his new community and its small beacon of hope.

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and tickets are available online.