It's a rare Pittsburgh appearance for the veteran, much-acclaimed British director of My Beautiful Laundrette, The Grifters and High Fidelity.

He's in town with one of his more recent hits.

The Queen (2006), starring Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth, is a drama about the public-relations fiasco that followed the 1997 death of Princess Diana.

The film garnered Frears a slew of best-director nominations, including an Oscar nomination.

Frears fans might go back as far as 1985's Laundrette, the edgy drama set in a multicultural U.K. that introduced a young Daniel Day-Lewis to many U.S. audiences.

On Saturday, the University of Pittsburgh's Film Studies Program hosts Frears at Oakland's Alumni Hall. He will introduce the film; Pitt professor Colin MacCabe, who's also head of research at the British Film Institute, in London, will moderate a Q&A after the screening.

The free screening is at 6 p.m. Alumni Hall is located at 4227 Fifth Ave., Oakland.