Award-winning documentary, This is Pike County, returns to Spencer for screening, Q&A with director Laura Paglin

The Blue Box Film Festival (BBFF) and Owen County Theatre and Arts Alliance (OCTAA) are proud to announce a special encore screening of the award-winning documentary, This is Pike County, on Tuesday, June 23, at the Historic Tivoli Theatre in Spencer. Director Laura Paglin will be in attendance for Q&A after the screening.

This is Pike County had its Indiana premiere at the inaugural Blue Box Film Festival in January 2026, where it took home both the Best Feature Film and Audience Choice Feature Film awards.

This is Pike County is a gripping portrait of a rural Appalachian county in Ohio (a four-hour drive from Spencer), where mounting pressures, including an unsolved family murder, test a close-knit community. Between the temptation to give up and the urge to hold on, the film lingers on what it means to come of age in a place left behind.

New York Times bestselling author Arlie Hochschild (Strangers in Their Own Land) described the film as “haunting, quietly searing, hard to forget.”

Letterboxd’s Don Iannone wrote, “This Is Pike County belongs alongside the great humanist documentaries of American life—from Barbara Kopple’s Harlan County, USA to Robert Frank’s The Americans.”

Doors will open at 5:15 p.m. with the film starting at 6 p.m. Admission is free, though donations are appreciated in support of future programming.

Attendees are welcome to purchase drinks next door at Civilian Brewing Corps to enjoy inside the theatre during the event.

About the Filmmaker

Laura Paglin is an award-winning filmmaker whose recent films have focused on the struggles of marginalized communities. Her films have screened at Sundance and numerous other Film Festivals and broadcast on PBS nationwide. More about Laura and her films at paglinfilms.com.

About the Blue Box Film Festival (BBFF)

The Blue Box Film Festival is an independent film festival founded by Lex Barrett and Mandy Samick in 2026 to bring new independent films to the Historic Tivoli Theatre, from emerging Indiana filmmakers to directors from around the world.