I'm no longer hooraying for Hollywood.

These days it's all about praising Pittsburgh.

Ever since moving here, every corner I turn, every neighborhood I visit, every bridge I cross, I am reminded that the City of Steel has a strong alliance with the City of Angels.

It comes into sharp focus when I visit the Monroeville Mall and George Romero drifts into mind (I was a "Day of the Dead" zombie, for those who missed this trivial tidbit the first go 'round).

It's there when I drive up to Mount Washington and muse about Drew Barrymore and her "Boys on the Side."

It pops into mind when I drop by Carnegie Mellon and am (almost) positive I have finally found (Jimmy) "Hoffa."

And it haunts me when I meander through the Carnegie Museum of Natural History on a really quiet day and think all this silence is enough to make anyone -- even Jodie Foster -- bug-eyed.

Pittsburgh as a backdrop? Smart people, these filmmakers.

But local filmmakers Kristen Shaeffer and Andrew Halasz are smarter. Reel smart.

They are the brains behind "Greetings From Pittsburgh: Neighborhood Narratives," a big-screen, short film celebration of a handful of Pittsburgh's diverse neighborhoods. With a budget of about $18,000, "Neighborhood Narratives" was made possible in part by Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections and The Sprout Fund and, of course, the budding Spielbergs who couldn't wait to sink their jaws into such a project.

Andrew and Kristen put word out, and close to 30 filmmakers submitted scripts; each was then reviewed by an advisory board looking for "good stories that spoke passionately." Nine got the green light; please note they are starring here in alphabetical order: Bloomfield, Downtown, Hill District, Homestead, Lawrenceville, Oakland, Regent Square, South Side and Strip District. (Andrew was disappointed East Liberty, Shadyside and Squirrel Hill didn't make the cut; Kristen was disappointed about West End and Mount Washington. How fast can The Sprout Fund spell -- and fund -- s-e-q-u-e-l?)

The films run anywhere between eight and 16 minutes, and all will be in the spotlight at a splashy premiere Thursday at the Regent Square Theater.

Being welcomed to the Neighborhood Narratives was perfect for a transplant like me who still gets lost driving through a Giant Eagle parking lot. Imagine, I could roam through neighborhoods I heard of but never stepped foot in, in the comfort of my footed jammies.

So, from the kindness of their publicity-driven hearts, Andrew and Kristen sent me a preview DVD containing three of the shorts. Let me fast forward to my fave, the original and witty "Mombies." Former Brooklynites Sam Turich and Gab Cody have written and directed a black-and-white look at Lawrenceville that's part "Stepford Wives," part "Night of the Living Dead" and total homage to hilarity. There are no zombies here, just a cast of young hollow-eyed white chicks strolling through Allegheny Cemetery, babies in tow, and an innocent "victim" of the gentrification that Lawrenceville is experiencing.

Also making me smile: "Milk Crate," John Rice's take on the wacky Pittsburgh tradition of "saving" parking spots with chairs, garbage cans, traffic cones or, in this South Side slice, a milk crate. Old man keeps putting crate down, young man keeps moving it and parking his car, old man gets nuts. What an imagination John has ... or so I thought. I have since learned that this sense of entitlement is commonplace in the Steel City -- as common as, say, the lack of garages and driveways.

Andrew and Kristen didn't make any films themselves ("if we did, we'd be having the premiere at Pittsburgh's 260," he says with an earnest laugh) but they do hope for life after Pittsburgh. Plans are under way to screen the films throughout the state ... if not the country. Winning awards isn't important -- "Neighborhood Narratives" will have succeeded if the films, he says, "make people laugh and feel emotionally attached," and, she says, "if the audience makes a connection."

I say pass the popcorn. Please.