Award-winning Ohio documentary ‘This is Pike County’ comes to the Wexner Center for the Arts
The Pike County News Watchman
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Award-winning documentary, THIS IS PIKE COUNTY, directed by Cleveland filmmaker, Laura Paglin, will screen at the Wexner Center for the Arts at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11 as part of the Cinema Columbus Film Festival. Paglin will attend the screening and participate in a Q&A following the film.
Filmed in Pike County, Ohio, the documentary follows a close-knit rural community facing mounting pressures, including an unsolved family murder, and looks at what it means to come of age in a place left behind.
Paglin first went to Pike County after the 2016 Rhoden family murders brought the area into the national spotlight. She expected to make a film about the aftermath of the murders but became more interested in the people she met and their day-to-day lives. To get closer to the community, Paglin stayed at the budget motel featured in the film. more
Cinema Columbus Opens September 10
by Hope Madden
Columbus Underground
Cinema Columbus returns for its fourth installment on Thursday, September 10, with a program of 11 features, around 70 short films, three panels, and five venues.
The event kicks off with a program of documentary short films made by Ohio filmmakers, a theme that proved popular for this year’s lineup.
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Filmmaker Laura Paglin will bring her film This Is Pike County, a documentary situated inside a community rocked by an unsolved family murder.
“I became curious about what it would be like to live in such a small community with an unsolved mass family murder hanging over it. So, I drove down to Pike County, initially thinking I might make a film about the murders …” more
coolcleveland.com
Pike County is in the south-central tip of Ohio, deep in rural Appalachia. The almost all white county of about 27,000 people mixes beautiful scenery with high poverty. And it’s moved strongly to the right in recent decades: Obama lost it by one vote (!) in 2012, but Trump won it in three increasingly large landslides. It became nationally known for a gruesome mass murder in 2016 when eight members of an extended family were killed; an ex-boyfriend of one of the victims and father of her daughter pleaded guilty and was convicted along with three of his family members. The story attracted widespread fascination and speculation, particularly before the killers were discovered.
Cleveland-based documentary filmmaker was attracted to Pike County by the story’s sordid fascination, planning to document its impact on the community. But instead she found that the community itself was a rich lode of stories of people coping with living in a place that prosperity abandoned and what it’s like to grow up there. The result was her 2025 film, This Is Pike County, which she made while living in a cheap motel featured in the film. more …
by Andrew Shearer
Athens Banner-Herald
The Athens Film Festival returns for its third year, showcasing over 110 independent films from more than 30 countries.
This year's event will feature 20 world premieres and 20 U.S. premieres across six downtown Athens venues.
The festival aims to serve the local community, offering opportunities to watch unique films and meet filmmakers.
The Athens Film Festival will host the Georgia premier of director Laura Paglin’s feature-length documentary “This is Pike County” at Flicker Theater & Bar in Athens, Georgia on Saturday, August 29, 2026 more …
by Jeff Niesel
Cleveland Magazine
This Is Pike County at the Cinematheque
Local filmmaker Laura Paglin (Nightowls of Coventry, Facing Forward) directs This Is Pike County, a documentary about her visit to the rural Southern Ohio community after the Rhoden family murders caught national attention in 2016. The movie makes its Cleveland debut at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. A Q&A with Paglin follows the screening. 11610 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, 216-421-7450
by Joey Morona
cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque will present the Cleveland premiere of the documentary “This Is Pike County” on Thursday, Aug. 27. The 6:30 p.m. screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Laura Paglin.
The documentary chronicles Paglin’s visit to Pike County, Ohio in 2017. A year earlier, the rural community, about 70 miles south of Columbus, was the site of the murders of eight members of the Rhoden family. more …
by Nicole DeCriscio
Owen News
Laura Paglin first drove to Pike County, Ohio, because of a crime that had captured national attention.
She kept coming back because of the people.
Paglin shared that story with a Spencer audience last week following a screening of her documentary, This is Pike County, at the Historic Tivoli Theatre.
The film made its Owen County debut in late January during the inaugural Blue Box film festival. The festival, which was coordinated by Lex Barrett and Mandy Samick, coincided with inclement weather that prevented Paglin from being at the festival. At the Blue Box Film Festival, This is Pike County won best feature film and audience choice feature film. more …
Owens News
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. more …
DocUtah returns to St. George with 57 films, honors Christopher Reeve documentary
Written by Nick Fiala
St George News
… Highlighting a third film, “This Is Pike County,” Zito said the documentary’s look at addiction and poverty serves as “a microcosm of the world we’re living in.”
“It's solid proof that we need more support for therapists and mental health professionals,” she said. “The director, Laura Paglin, has a great eye for knowing what to film and what characters are revealing. I was hooked at the very first scene.” more …
A Journey Worth Taking …
by Mark Lakatos
Take 2 Indie Review
Nestled in the East North Central region of the U.S., the township of Piketon has almost seen it all – while by their own admission not being seen all that much themselves. It’s a place that keeps to itself, and as a result of that status, it struggles to let go of what it was. Maintaining that somewhat melancholic sentiment, Director Laura Paglin’s documentary This is Pike County is a hauntingly authentic look at life on the fringes of what many consider true Americana.
The documentary unravels organically, focusing on life in Piketon on a spectrum—the good, the bad, and the in-between. Drugs, suicide, religion, tradition, and togetherness birthed from neglect and trauma—it’s all there, and many share testimonials of their lives lived exclusively in the area. We get to see the remembrance honoring the so-called Cold War Veterans, only to discover that their existence is linked to the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which was a key uranium enrichment facility during the arms race with the Soviet Union. more …