Tony Buba

Directing

Tony Buba

Born

1943-10-20 (83)

Place of birth

Braddock, Pennsylvania, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

48 titles

Anthony E. "Tony" Buba (born October 20, 1943) is an American filmmaker. He is primarily known for his documentaries focusing on the working-class communities and social issues in his hometown Braddock, Pennsylvania and the nearby Pittsburgh.

Known for

Film credits

1980s · 5 titles

Behind the camera

Behind the Scenes with Day of the Dead poster
NR

Behind The Scenes with DAY OF THE DEAD featurette from the original Anchor Bay DVD.

Behind the Scenes with Day of the Dead

2001

No Pets poster
10.0

An honest exploration of one Pennsylvania factory worker's mundane existence, and his pursuit of a love long lost.

No Pets

1994

No artwork available
NR

A tableau of a crucified man over Braddock PA.

Stigmata

2008

Shutdown poster
NR

An account of a 1975 independent truckers strike.

Shutdown

1975

Birthday Party poster
NR

A film which uses the device of developing Polaroid camera shots to present the highlights of a family celebration during the birthday of filmmaker Tony Buba.

Birthday Party

1985

Sweet Sal poster
9.0

A portrait of a wiry, engaging street hustler, Sal Carulli, whose cocky patter breaks down at the end of the film, when he visits his father’s grave.

Sweet Sal

1979

No artwork available
NR

The third entry in Tony Buba's Mon Valley Trilogy

Cite Specific

2023

No artwork available
NR

Braddock, PA reflected in mirrors.

Reflexions

2019

No artwork available
NR

A look at the passage of time, filmmaking, and Braddock PA.

Fade Out

1998

No artwork available
NR

A compilation of Tony Buba's home movies

Home Movies

1980

The Mill Hunk Herald poster
7.0

A trip inside a Steel Valley workers’ magazine, which looks like raw material for a Bruce Springsteen song.

The Mill Hunk Herald

1981

No artwork available
NR

The film follows a neighborhood guy who has never been quite the same since somersaulting out of the faulty sixth-story window of some shoddy subsidized housing.

Peabody & Friends

1983

J. Roy: New and Used Furniture poster
5.5

Buba introduces us to a Braddock entrepreneur who has failed at twelve businesses and is busy teaching would-be entrepreneurs self-confidence.

J. Roy: New and Used Furniture

1974

J. Roy: New and Used Furniture poster
5.5

Buba introduces us to a Braddock entrepreneur who has failed at twelve businesses and is busy teaching would-be entrepreneurs self-confidence.

J. Roy: New and Used Furniture

1974

Making Soppressata with Dom and the Guys poster
NR

A look into traditional sausage making.

Making Soppressata with Dom and the Guys

2019

No artwork available
NR

A visit with a barber in his autumn years.

The Barber of New Kensington

2019

No artwork available
NR

This short tells the story of a cafe where steel workers come to eat.

Betty's Corner Cafe

1976

Struggles in Steel: A History of African-American Steelworkers poster
8.0

This documentary focuses on the Civil Rights Movement in the heavily segregated steel industry and its equally segregated union, The United Steelworkers of America (USWA), at the time when this industry—devastated by mismanagement and global competition—began to crumble. It is a powerful picture of black working-class life in the latter part of the 20th century, told in a combination of interviews and documentary footage. Through live testimonials and revelatory archival materials, Struggles shows the contributions of African Americans to the steel industry and to the labor movement more generally. (via cinema.indiana.edu)

Struggles in Steel: A History of African-American Steelworkers

1996

Struggles in Steel: A History of African-American Steelworkers poster
8.0

This documentary focuses on the Civil Rights Movement in the heavily segregated steel industry and its equally segregated union, The United Steelworkers of America (USWA), at the time when this industry—devastated by mismanagement and global competition—began to crumble. It is a powerful picture of black working-class life in the latter part of the 20th century, told in a combination of interviews and documentary footage. Through live testimonials and revelatory archival materials, Struggles shows the contributions of African Americans to the steel industry and to the labor movement more generally. (via cinema.indiana.edu)

Struggles in Steel: A History of African-American Steelworkers

1996

Ghosts of Amistad - In the Footsteps of Rebels poster
NR

Ghosts of Amistad by Tony Buba is based on Marcus Rediker's The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom (Penguin, 2012). It chronicles a journey to Sierra Leone in 2013 to visit the home villages of the rebels who captured the slave schooner Amistad, to interview elders about local memory of the incident, and to search for the long-lost ruins of Lomboko, the slave trading factory where their cruel transatlantic voyage began. The filmmakers rely on the knowledge of villagers, fishermen, and truck drivers to recover a lost history from below in the struggle against slavery, and to explore the African origins of the heroes of the Amistad incident.

Ghosts of Amistad - In the Footsteps of Rebels

2014

Washing Walls With Mrs. G poster
NR

Tony Buba trains his documentary lens on the washing of his 87-year-old grandmother’s kitchen walls, an annual ritual. While the filmmaker works diligently and mostly out of sight of the camera, his grandmother anchors the piece, recounting stories of her immigration from Italy in the 1940s, her first impressions of the United States, and her endearing love of Braddock.

Washing Walls With Mrs. G

1980

No artwork available
NR

A snapshot of a pizzeria in Braddock, PA circa 1990.

Welcome to Sgambati's

2017

No artwork available
NR

A look back at Braddock's "Cot Club" and its patrons.

The Cot Club: Braddock Hospital

2012

No artwork available
NR

Citizens of Braddock PA are asked about the poetry of their city.

Ode to a Steeltown

2007

No artwork available
NR

Filmmaker Tony Buba charts the history and present of his hometown, Braddock, Pennsylvania

Voices from a Steeltown

1983

No artwork available
NR

A visit with family to learn how to make fresh pasta.

Pasta Lesson: A Sunday in Rabatana

2019

Lightning Over Braddock: A Rustbowl Fantasy poster
7.0

Tony Buba, a film maker from Braddock, Pennsylvania, tells the story of his hometown's decline (along with the rest of the steel mill towns along the Monongahela River) while he dreams of making higher budget films. The picture documents, in a lighthearted way, the community anxiety and activism that accompanied the failure of the steel industry around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Lightning Over Braddock: A Rustbowl Fantasy

1988

Lightning Over Braddock: A Rustbowl Fantasy poster
7.0

Tony Buba, a film maker from Braddock, Pennsylvania, tells the story of his hometown's decline (along with the rest of the steel mill towns along the Monongahela River) while he dreams of making higher budget films. The picture documents, in a lighthearted way, the community anxiety and activism that accompanied the failure of the steel industry around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Lightning Over Braddock: A Rustbowl Fantasy

1988

No artwork available
NR

A glimpse into the economic decline of Braddock PA.

"The Fall" 1980

2008

No artwork available
NR

A year goes by during the G.W. Bush administration.

Year on the Throne

2007

No artwork available
NR

A tour of the last remaining pawn shop in Braddock, PA.

The Last Pawn Shop in Braddock

2019

Cinetracts '20 poster
6.0

A global portrait documenting the year's events, Cinetracts '20 features the work of an international lineup of 20 filmmakers. Capturing the zeitgeist in their own backyard, the artists' short films are the culmination of a year-long residency project.

Cinetracts '20

2020

No artwork available
NR

From implosions of steel mills after the decline of the industry to the demolition of the community hospital in Braddock, filmmaker Tony Buba stitches together footage from his extensive documentation of changes taking place across Pittsburgh and the surrounding region over the last few decades. In his multichannel video installation, the artist records Braddock citizens’ struggles against different industries to deconstruct and challenge popularized narratives of energy and economic transitions.

40°24.2983’ N 79° 58.251’ W

2023

No artwork available
NR

A portrait of a now-shuttered barber shop in Braddock PA.

Pirozzi's Barber Shop

2017

To My Family poster
NR

A short film featuring images of his grandfather’s just-demolished shoe-repair shop in 1972

To My Family

1972

No artwork available
NR

A short documentary about Braddock

Homage to a Mill Town

1980

No artwork available
NR

In this film, Buba struggles over whether he should make a film about a food bank, or just use the money to donate food to the bank. In the end, he leaves it up to the viewer.

Braddock Food Bank

1985