The photo you`re looking at is Baltimore`s Parkway Theatre, opened

Transcription

Photo by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre
The photo you’re looking at is Baltimore’s Parkway Theatre, opened in 1915, the
year The Birth of a Nation was released. The photo was taken last August by Yves
Marchand and Romain Meffre, who are known for their seminal photographic
work, The Ruins of Detroit. They are now photographing classic old movie theaters,
many of which are in ruins or have already been turned into shoe stores, churches,
or gymnasiums.
With our partners MICA and JHU, we’ll save this important theater that sits at the
corner of North Avenue and Charles, and add two additional screens in adjacent
buildings, creating a much needed three-screen, 600-seat film center that will
bring to Baltimore some of the hundreds of films that do not now come to our
community. Our new film center will also house a restaurant, the festival’s offices,
and will be used by the newly expanding JHU and MICA film departments, which
will be housed across the street at 10 East North Avenue. It’s a big project that
demands great care, but we plan to have it opened by late 2016.
In addition to new year-round programming, the MFF Parkway film center will also
add to the new MFF campus as we continue to expand the annual film festival.
With more capacity than we’ve ever had, MFF 2014 is already on the new campus,
the growing Station North Arts and Entertainment District. Thanks to hard staff
work and terrific cooperation from our venue partners and others in the neighborhood, you will now have a chance to explore this exciting part of our city as you
experience the incredible array of films and filmmakers that make up MFF 2014.
Our new bus system will help you move around the new campus, and our
incredible volunteers and staff will help guide you to venues and films. And in a
few years, we’ll add an exciting new film center to the whole campus. Enjoy.
--Jed Dietz
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program table of contents
2014 official Sponsors
1.
Director's Note
premiere sponsors
6.
feature-length films
54.
free outdoor feature-length films
Brewmore | Baltimore, Welcome To Deathfest
Positive Force: More Than A Witness
56.
short-film programs
80.
friends of the festival information
84.Volunteers List
86.Index of Short films
88.
featured sponsors
VENUES AND WALKING TIMES
89.Festival Map
stephanie & ashton carter
special screenings
screening sponsors
4.
opening night shorts
6.
closing night film
Little Accidents
7. john waters presents
Abuse of Weakness
14.
guest host: MATMOS
Barbarella
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30.
silent film with live score by alloy orchestra
He Who Gets Slapped
34. 35mm revival screening
Liquid Sky with director Slava Tsukerman
42. guest host: Paul D. Miller, aka DJ spooky
Putney Swope
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wed may 7th, 8:00pm • mica brown center
wed may 7th, 8:00pm • mica brown center
hosts: martha shane & alex ross perry
55 Minutes
55 Minutes
There are lots of reasons filmmakers make short films, but it almost never has anything to
do with making money. Sometimes it’s a way to test an idea—our Closing Night film, Little
Accidents, was developed from a short film of the same name—but often artists make short
films because it’s the perfect way to express themselves. Commercial success be damned.
Our hosts for this night represent fiction and nonfiction filmmaking, and they share a strong
independent streak that puts art before money. Martha Shane was here last year with her
incredible documentary about late-term abortion, After Tiller. It premiered at Sundance,
won much critical acclaim, and was nominated for a prestigious Independent Spirit Award.
Alex Ross Perry’s recent writing and directing effort, Listen Up Philip, played Sundance in
January and is scheduled for a fall release. A piercing story about two novelists at different
points in their careers, it features lead performances by Jason Schwartzman, Jonathan
Pryce and Elisabeth Moss. Martha and Alex are also hosting our unique Filmmakers Taking
Charge gathering tomorrow; they are the perfect duo to host this evening of startling new
filmmaking.
i was a teenage girl
more than two hours
5 Minutes
Director Augustine Frizzell
15 Minutes • Iran
Director Ali Asgari
Emma and Jesse are close friends. One night,
after an intense breakup, they have a heartfelt
conversation that challenges the boundaries of
their friendship in an unexpected way.
It’s 3 a.m. A boy and a girl are wandering the city.
They are looking for a hospital to cure the girl,
but it’s much harder than they thought.
—Jed Dietz
the bravest, the boldest
easy
verbatim
17 Minutes
Director Moon Molson
12 Minutes
Director Daniel Laabs
6 Minutes
Director Brett Weiner
Two Army Casualty Notification Officers arrive
at the Harlem projects to deliver Sayeeda Porter
some news about her son serving in the war in
the Middle East. But whatever it is they have to
say, Sayeeda ain't trying to hear it.
A character study that follows the relationship
between two brothers; one on the verge of
becoming a adult, the other becoming a teenager.
A jaded lawyer wastes an afternoon trying to
figure out if a dim-witted government employee
has ever used a photocopier. All the dialogue in
this short comes from an actual deposition filed
with the Supreme Court of Ohio.
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Sponsored by
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sun may 11th, 7:15pm • mica brown center
fri may 9th, 7pm • mica brown center
closing night: little accidents
abuse of weakness presented by john waters
usa • 2014 • 105 minutes
Director Sara Colangelo
cast Elizabeth Banks, Boyd Holbrook, Chloë Sevigny, Jacob Lofland, Josh Lucas
Hosts Sara Colangelo, Jason Berman
france • 2013 • 104 minutes
Director Catherine Breillat
cast Isabelle Huppert, Kool Shen
Host John Waters
Synopsis Small coal-mining towns have a special culture; intimate and textured, but opaque
to outsiders. Sara Colangelo’s Little Accidents explores the ripples that move through a fictional
coal-mining town in West Virginia (the real Beckley) in the wake of a big mining accident which took
the lives of ten people. The ten killed were, of course, friends and family of many in town. People want
answers as balm for the grief and confusion the accident caused. But as the story unfolds and we meet
various characters in town, it is clear that there are not going to be comforting answers.
Synopsis Iconoclastic French auteur Catherine Breillat’s career has been nothing short of legendary.
Her first feature, 1976’s A Real Young Girl, was banned from theaters for over 20 years for its unabashed
depiction of budding female sexuality. Many subsequent works (including 1999’s Romance and 2001
arthouse sensation Fat Girl) have met with similar cries of outrage because they peer unflinchingly into
the deepest darkest corners of the human psyche, connecting the dots between the uncomfortable
truths that lurk within and their physical manifestations in the realm of human sexuality.
The film focuses on the only survivor of the big accident, Amos Jenkins, a solemn young man who is
determined to be honorable. Amos is portrayed in an extraordinary performance by new comer Boyd
Holbrook. He is surrounded by an able cast: Elizabeth Banks, Chloë Sevigny, Josh Lucas, and another
newcomer, Jacob Lofland (one of the young stars in Mud). Colangelo, aided by her cast and by terrific
cinematography by Rachel Morrison (Fruitvale Station), has captured the interaction of character and
place in a skillful and moving way. The result is a precise, complicated story of people trying to cope
with the consequences of decisions they have made, even if the outcomes just look like the result of
accidents. (Jed Dietz)
Based on the director’s own experiences after suffering a stroke in 2004, Abuse of Weakness is not
another film about sexuality per se, but it does tread related territory, offering the same thoughtful
appraisal of human nature and Breillat’s unique female perspective. After successful director Maud
Schoenberg (the incomparable Isabelle Huppert) suffers a stroke which leaves her partially paralyzed,
she struggles to regain some semblance of her normal life. Following a long period of recovery, she is
eager to return to what she loves best—filmmaking. Intrigued by his sordid past and smooth hustler
persona, she enlists the help of tabloid bad boy and con-man Vilko Piran (French rapper Kool Shen) and
writes him a large check, hoping he will star in her next film. Unfortunately, Vilko smells opportunity
not in the calling to a new career, but rather in the deep pockets of a famous filmmaker in an enfeebled
state. It is misjudgement of character that will cost the director dearly.
Biography Sara Colangelo has won awards for her short films, and Little Accidents, which she wrote
and directed, was developed at the Sundance Labs from her short film of the same name. The script
won the Maryland Filmmakers Fellowship in 2011. A native of Massachusetts, Colangelo studied
history at Brown University, and received an MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She was named
one of Filmmaker’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2010.
Who better to present such a demanding work than Baltimore’s own prince of provocation, the
singular John Waters? In each of the 15 previous Maryland Film Festivals, Waters has presented us with
challenging, exhilarating, and outrageous works of international cinema. This year’s pick is no exception,
and we couldn’t be more delighted to have him back with us to share this breathtaking piece of cinema
from a fellow enfant terrible. Waters presenting the work of Breillat is at once a cinephile’s dream come
true and a waking nightmare for the religious right. (J. Scott Braid)
The many production credits of Jason Berman, a Maryland native, include the features LUV and The
Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best, both of which were part of Maryland Film Festival 2012.
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Biography Legendary filmmaker John Waters is the writer/director of such films as Pink Flamingos,
Female Trouble, Polyester, Hairspray, Cry-Baby, Serial Mom, Pecker, and A Dirty Shame. He is also
renowned as a visual artist, public speaker, and author. His books include Shock Value, Crackpot, Role
Models, and the forthcoming Carsick, which will be released in June.
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fri may 9th, 1:45pm • ub langsdale
sun may 11th, 2:15pm • ub langsdale
sat may 10th, noon • mica studio cntr
sun may 11th, noon • windup space
actress
approaching the elephant
Director Robert Greene
documentary subject Brandy Burre
Hosts Robert Greene, Brandy Burre
Director/Host Amanda Wilder
documentary subjects Alexander Khost and the students of the Teddy McArdle Free School
“Only when a woman decides not to have children, can a woman live like a man. That's what I've done.”
“I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man. I've just done what I damn well wanted to, and I've
made enough money to support myself, and ain't afraid of being alone.”
— Katharine Hepburn
Brandy Burre had a recurring role on The Wire, playing Theresa D’Agostino, a political operative
who has an affair with the Mayor. It’s the kind of role, in an honored show, that should boost a young
actress’ career. But Brandy fell in love with partner Tim Reinke, had kids, and happily settled into stayat-home-mom routines. Their neighbor in Beacon, NY, filmmaker Robert Greene, was intrigued by her
decision and started to film Brandy.
Though much-praised at documentary film festivals like True/False and Lincoln Center’s “Art of
the Real” series, there are questions about how Actress fits in to nonfiction filmmaking. From the
lyrical opening sequence, questions arise about what is authentic and what is artifice. The answer
is probably both: as in all documentaries, the director makes innumerable important choices for us.
And, of course, the title warns us that we’re in the hands of a talented performer trained to manipulate
our feelings. Whatever the mix of fiction and nonfiction is, this fascinating film combines full-force
melodrama with an intimate portrait of one woman’s struggle to defy Hepburn’s dictum, and live life on
her own terms. (Jed Dietz)
Biography This is Robert Greene’s fourth feature as director. His Fake It So Real (MFF 2011) was
highly praised, appearing on many “Best of” lists that year. A prolific writer about film for publications such as Filmmaker and Sight & Sound, his first book, Present Tense: American Nonfiction Cinema
1998-2013, is due out in February 2015. He has produced and edited numerous films, including
Sundance 2014 hit Listen Up Philip and MFF 2014’s Approaching the Elephant.
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Synopsis What is the appropriate age at which to introduce children to the concept of democracy—
not simply explain the concept, but to have them practice it and live with the consequences? How
much freedom is too much? These are just a couple of the questions Approaching the Elephant leaves
in its wake. This highly immersive documentary by Amanda Wilder begins on the first day of class in
the inaugural year of the Teddy McArdle Free School, a radical school where students and faculty have
equal votes in creating the classes and class attendance is voluntary, and stays with them throughout
the course of a school year.
Over a century old, the free-school model allows kids to discover learning rather than have it meted
out in test-sized increments. It also allows them to be themselves in a way most schools do not. Wilder’s
camera follows school director Alex Khost and students Lucy, Jio, and others as they design classes,
form relationships, learn instruments, build things—and sometimes break them. Shot in gorgeous
black and white and following in the tradition of Frederick Wiseman and the Maysles brothers, Wilder
introduces her concept and characters slowly but deliberately. Like a teacher, the viewer begins to
get a sense of who to keep an eye on. Typical school days and skirmishes give way to long months and
major battles until it all comes to a head. The result is a riveting and pure form of documentary. (Joe
Tropea)
Biography Amanda Wilder spent years writing poems, then in the hills of Vermont fell into
filmmaking, which led to a B.A. thesis “The Poetic Documentary and the Documentary Poem,” for
which she created poetic documentaries and studied the works of poets Marianne Moore, William
Carlos Williams, Gary Snyder and Jorie Graham as they relate to the documentary impulse found in
poetry. Approaching The Elephant is her first feature. Wilder has shot as second camera alongside
Albert Maysles for Maysles Films, Inc. features and commissioned works. She has written articles on
filmmaking and transmedia for IFP, Filmmaker, and Nonfics.com. She lives in New York.
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fri may 9th, 6:30pm • walters museum sun may 11th, 1:15pm • mica gateway
fri may 9th, 3:45pm • walters museum sat may 10th, 2:00pm • mica gateway
appropriate behavior
art and craft
usa/UK • 2014 • 82 minutes
Director/host Desiree Akhavan
cast Desiree Akhavan, Rebecca Henderson, Halley Feiffer, Scott Adsit, Anh Duong, Arian Moayed
Directors Sam Cullman, Jennifer Grausman; Co-Director: Mark Becker
documentary subjects Mark Landis, Michael Leininger
Host Sam Cullman
Synopsis Shirin (writer/director Desiree Akhavan) is a young woman caught between identities:
bisexual, but afraid that coming out to her parents will prevent her from being the perfect IranianAmerican daughter; a hip Brooklynite whose friends don't always understand her trepidation about
being honest with her family about her sexuality. When her brother announces his marriage, Shirin
feels even more pressure to follow suit and conform—and instead throws herself into a series of new
sexcapades.
Akhavan’s debut feature (following the award-winning web series The Slope, of which she is the star
and co-creator) is warm and hilarious, and delivers remarkable artistic confidence even as it depicts
a character caught in a web of confusion. In its relatable characters and endearingly warts-and-all
portrayal of sex and dating, it may remind viewers of the films of Nicole Holofcener, with an acerbic
wit having as much in common with Lena Dunham or Noah Baumbach.
At the same time, the issues of identity at Appropriate Behavior’s core are deep, complex, and fruitfully
explored. It’s a film that delivers first-rate entertainment in the realms of romance, comedy, and drama,
while broadening those genre’s scopes to include characters too infrequently realistically portrayed in
American film. Fresh from its premiere within Sundance 2014’s Next section, Appropriate Behavior is
an assured and wildly enjoyable debut from an exciting new voice in cinema. (Eric Allen Hatch)
Biography Iranian-American filmmaker Desiree Akhavan is the co-creator and star of the awardwinning Web series The Slope, a comedy that follows a pair of superficial homophobic lesbians in love.
She was recently featured as one of Filmmaker’s "25 New Faces of Independent Film" and is currently
in production on an animated series called The Origin of Shame for former MTV CEO Judy McGrath’s
new site, Astronauts Wanted. Appropriate Behavior is her first feature film.
Synopsis When one thinks of an art forger, we might think of a nefarious greed-monger hell-bent on
obtaining undeserved fortunes through the deception of the world’s art institutions. But what if said art
forger made perfect copies of lesser-known works of master artists, and then gave them away for free
to various museums, going undetected for decades? An act of egomania? Perhaps. A rascally prank?
For certain. But is it a crime?
Art and Craft is not only a fascinating exploration of this very question, but an indelible portrait of two
men obsessed. Using only the most rudimentary art supplies, diagnosed schizophrenic Mark Landis
effortlessly reproduces his favorite paintings from masters like Matisse and Picasso, and then gives
them away. He just so happens to have donated one of his dubious works to the institution at which
the equally fanatical museum registrar Matthew Leininger worked. Leininger discovered the fake in
his own collection circa 2008 and has since spent years in a game of cat-and-mouse with Landis, as
he endeavors to expose Landis to the art world and make other institutions aware of potential fakes
in their collections. The seemingly harmless rapscallion’s zen-like pursuit of his “hobby” is juxtaposed
with the slightly over-the-top preoccupation of his pursuer, who seems to have taken Landis’
hoodwinking as a very personal affront. This humorless view of Landis’ “gifts” is one shared by many of
the institutions that have been his “beneficiaries.”
Wonderfully entertaining and endlessly fascinating, Art and Craft is a must-see, and Mark Landis is
undoubtedly one of the most memorable characters you will ever watch on the big screen. Art lovers,
armchair psychologists, pranksters, amateur sleuths and frankly everyone else will find something to
love about this fantastic film. (J. Scott Braid)
Biography Sam Cullman co-directed, shot and produced the Oscar-nominated documentary, If A
Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (MFF 2011). More recently, Cullman was a producer
and DP on the Sundance Grand Jury prize-winner, The House I Live In (2012).
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fri may 9th, 11:00am • mica gateway sat may 10th, 5:30pm • mica studio cntr
fri may 9th, 7:15pm • UB LANGSDALE
sat may 10th, 11:00Am • mica BROWN CNTR
the auction
baltimore in black and white
canada • 2013 • 110 minutes
Director Sébastien Pilote
cast Gabriel Arcand, Gilles Renaud, Lucie Laurier, Sophie Desmarais
Directors/Hosts Mary Posatko, Emily Topper
documentary subjects The Selhorst family
Synopsis Gaby (Gabriel Arcand) has been a farmer all of his life, and so was his father before him.
When he was a younger man the farm was passed down to him, as he was the only of his siblings that
took an interest in the pastoral lifestyle offered by running it. Even Gaby's own children, two grown
daughters, have forsaken farm life for the faster pace of city living.
Synopsis Baltimore in Black and White is an utterly fascinating new work from filmmakers Emily
Topper and Mary Posatko. Topper and Posatko co-directed this tale of a family lost after its patriarch
was taken away in a senseless crime.
Nearing retirement age and with no one to hand down this family way of life to, Gaby is faced with
a difficult decision about how to handle his future. A request for financial assistance from the less
responsible of his two daughters complicates things even further as Gaby, who is strapped for cash,
has all of his wealth tied up in the land and buildings that have sustained his family for generations.
Nearly everyone around him is against the idea of Gaby moving on. His best friend thinks he's crazy
to even consider selling. His more successful daughter fears he's being manipulated by her sister, and
that Gaby may be making a rash decision. The one thing that no one seems to be taking into account
is what Gaby wants for himself. Despite these external pressures, only the self-reliant Gaby can decide
which path is right for him, and therefore only he can decide the future of his family's farm.
Beautifully shot by cinematographer Michel La Veaux, this tender drama features brilliant performances from a first-rate cast led by veteran French-Canadian actor Gabriel Arcand, under the deft
direction of sophomore feature filmmaker Sébastien Pilote. Crafting a stirring adult drama of the first
order, Pilote's work here recalls such masters of the form as Mike Leigh and Ken Loach while remaining
wholly his own and uniquely imprinted by his Québécois culture. (J. Scott Braid)
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In Baltimore one evening in 1972, on his way to a community meeting, Henry Selhorst, the father of
thirteen children, was murdered blocks from where he lived in Edmondson Village. Decades later,
his granddaughter Emily, born and raised in Baltimore, now a filmmaker, sets out to understand what
happened.
The film documents her search as she meets and talks to many people involved with the crime—from
the patrol officer who was first on the scene of the murder, to various community members—as well as
her search for the accused suspects themselves, now men in their fifties.
Spun like a mystery, the film deftly balances honest, often contradictory, unfiltered memories from the
family side by side with a raw, candid oral history of Edmondson Village at a time of racial change. The
family and societal portrait that emerges can be said as one achingly speciﬁc to Baltimore, but recognizable anywhere in America. (Dankwa Brooks)
Biography Emily Topper and Mary Posatko have been working together on documentary films since
2007. Emily Topper contributed cinematography to After Tiller, which played at the Sundance Film
Festival and MFF 2013. Their last film together was Ain’t in It For My Health: A Film About Levon Helm
(2010), produced by Posatko and shot by Topper, which played at SXSW Film Festival and the Los
Angeles Film Festival.
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sat may 10th, 10:00pm • mica brown cntr thu may 8th, 10:30pm • windup space barbarella presented by matmos
buzzard
france/italy • 1968 • 98 minutes • 35mm
Director Roger Vadim
cast Jane Fonda, Ugo Tognazzi, John Phillip Law, Anita Pallenberg, Milo O'Shea
Hosts Matmos
Director/Host Joel Potrykus
Cast Joshua Burge, Joel Potrykus, Teri Ann Nelson, Alan Longstreet, Rico Bruce Wade, Katie Call
Synopsis One of the highlights of programming each year’s Maryland Film Festival is inviting guest
hosts known best for work outside the realm of film to curate and host a favorite movie, and it’s a
particular pleasure when the choices are as inspired as this year’s. MFF has two films guest-hosted
by musicians in our 2014 edition—the other being DJ Spooky’s presentation of Putney Swope—and by
sheer coincidence, both dip into the well of late-1960s cult favorites.
Barbarella is an ecstatic film with an impressive pedigree, a delirious, sex-fueled product of some of
the era’s prominent countercultural icons and free spirits: lead actress and activist Jane Fonda; screenwriter Terry Southern (whose film credits include Dr. Strangelove, The Loved One, End of the Road, and
Easy Rider); and director Roger Vadim, as well-known for his tempestuous marriages to leading ladies
Fonda and Brigitte Bardot as he is films like And God Created Woman and Pretty Maids All in a Row.
An irreverent sci-fi film that operates as pure pop pleasure, Barbarella has been a source of direct
inspiration on Baltimore-based electronic-music duo Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt: as part of
Barbarella’s mission to stop the dastardly plans of mad scientist Durand Durand, she must survive the
decadent city Sogo’s evil slime, Matmos. It’s a joy to present a 35mm print of Barbarella hosted by
two innovative experimental musicians who know how to party. Whether it’s your first time seeing the
film or your hundredth, come join us in submitting to the irrepressible adventures of Barbarella and
dashing rebel leader Dildano! (Eric Allen Hatch)
Biography Matmos is M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel, aided and abetted by many others. Currently
based in Baltimore, the duo formed in San Francisco in the mid 1990s, and self-released their debut
album in 1997. In 2001 they were asked to collaborate with the Icelandic singer Björk on her Vespertine
album, and subsequently embarked on two world tours as part of her band. Their many highly
acclaimed albums include A Chance to Cut Is A Chance to Cure (2001), The Civil War (2003), and
Supreme Balloon (2008). Their most recent album, The Marriage of True Minds, was released in 2013
by Thrill Jockey Records.
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sat may 10th, 10:00pm • ub business cntr
Synopsis Joel Potrykus’ second feature (following up on his 2012 Locarno award-winner Ape) is an
immersive character study into the confused and angry world of Marty (an unforgettable performance
by frequent Potrykus collaborator Joshua Burge), a combative young man who refuses to fully succumb
to the role of corporate wage slave, instead dabbling as a temp employee. Marty lives in a state of
extended adolescence, existing on a diet of frozen pizzas, video games, and heavy metal, funding his
id-driven lifestyle with said temp job and a host of nickel-and-dime scams. When he does manage to
work, he is more often than not a pair of battered brown shoes to the stuffy corporate world’s tuxedo,
refusing to fit in or play by any rules that are inconvenient to him. Marty’s co-worker Derek (played by
the director himself) is the only person who seems to interact with the troublemaker, even endeavoring
to be his friend. Marty seems incapable of the empathy required for the most basic level of friendship,
instead using Derek as another opportunity to grift what he needs in the moment.
The peculiar thing about this abrasive character is that the viewer finds something sympathetic in
his refusal to do what the world expects of him. He is the definition of rebellion—and although that
rebellion isn’t fueled by any high-minded ethical stance, it is nonetheless a stand against the soulsucking oppression that the work-a-day world has to offer a restless spirit such as his. In that, Marty
possesses a certain gruff likeability, at least at the outset. When backed into a corner by his petty
criminal actions, however, the dangerous side of Marty’s stunted personality becomes woefully
apparent.
Calling to mind such fantastically corrosive characters as David Thewlis’ Johnny in Naked (1993) or
Dore Mann’s Keith in the 2007 MFF cult favorite Frownland, Buzzard finds its own path to tread and
its own unique conclusions about its wildly anti-social protagonist. Engaging the viewer with painfully
arresting moments and bold concepts about the modern world that are worth pondering days and
weeks after exiting the theater. (J. Scott Braid)
Biography Joel Potrykus resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he attended an unspecified high
school. His first work with lead actor Joshua Burge was 2010's 8mm short Coyote, followed two years
later with the feature, Ape, which won Best New Director at the 2012 Locarno Film Festival.
mdfilmfest.com
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thu may 8th, 9:45pm • ub langsdale fri may 9th, 10:00pm • ub langsdale
thu may 8th, 4:30pm • walters museum
fri may 9th, 11:00am • ub langsdale
call girl of cthulhu
the case against 8
Director/Host Chris LaMartina
cast David Carollo, Melissa O'Brien, Nicolette Le Faye, Dave Gamble, Helenmary Ball, Ruby LaRocca,
Scarlet Storm, Alex Mendez and Stephanie Anders
Directors Ben Cotner, Ryan White
documentary subjects Ted Olson and David Boies
Host Ryan White
Synopsis Carter is a sensitive artist and virgin who’s looking for love in all the wrong places—most
especially the world of H.P. Lovecraft. Our story opens with him watching internet porn, silently
weeping in his studio bedroom. When he’s not busy finding unexpected variations on voyeurism and
Kleenex, he’s an in-demand alt-weekly illustrator, whose editor is on his case about artwork for a series
on a rash of prostitute murders. Peeping out his bedroom window, Carter catches the eye of a call girl
named Riley, who’s been turning tricks in his apartment building—and who also has been chosen by
Cthulhu, an ancient octopus monster hellbent on annihilating all of mankind. It’s up to Carter and a
gang of raiders he meets along the way to save Riley and the world from armageddon.
Synopsis When California passed Prop 8 in 2008, repealing the law allowing same-sex marriage in
that state, a legal challenge was inevitable. What was unpredictable is the surprising legal team that
would lead the challenge, and that such a compelling film would be made about their work.
Call Girl of Cthulhu is an old-school horror comedy. It’s not the kind of horror movie that threatens
to scare the hell out of you in a low gravelly voice, nor one that whips furniture and bedsheets across
the room in a paranormal way. It’s more apt to make you shoot soda out of your nose and wince a lot.
Marvel at the low-budget yet thoroughly enjoyable special effects that more often than not involve
genitalia and sharp instruments. Think Basket Case meets Pecker, with tons of nudity and gore.
Baltimore-based DIY horror maverick Chris LaMartina’s seventh feature is fun to watch, much like the
earlier works in his filmography—not the least because it’s obvious he and his crew had fun making it.
(Joe Tropea)
Biography Since 2007, Baltimore filmmaker Chris LaMartina has produced ambitious low-budget
horror flicks with a focus on morbid comedy and healthy doses of gory splatter, including Witch's Brew
(2011) and WNUF Halloween Special (2013). His work has been covered by MTV, The New York Times,
and NPR. Call Girl of Cthulhu is his seventh feature as a director.
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Two well-known and powerful lawyers made an unlikely team: Ted Olson, Assistant Attorney General
under Reagan, US Solicitor General under George W. Bush, and a founding member of the conservative Federalist Society; and David Boies, an uber-successful corporate lawyer famous for a series of
significant cases involving IBM, Microsoft, the New York Yankees, AIG, Napster, and Michael Moore,
among others. They came from far different points on the political spectrum, and were opposing
players during the intense Bush v. Gore maneuvering that decided the 2000 presidential election.
This remarkable film takes us inside the intense legal preparation for a case that from the beginning
is likely to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Marketing plays an important role, too. Decisions,
like which couples to choose as the public face of the case, were considered just as carefully as the
legal research. Shot over five years, this documentary is not only a fascinating inside account of our
judicial system, but an eloquent reminder that top professionals do not have to agree on everything to
come together in service of a cause they both embrace. (Jed Dietz)
Biography Ryan White is the director/producer of 2013’s SXSW and MFF hit Good Ol’ Freda. Fresh
out of Duke University, Ryan’s first film was a group effort called Pelada. He has done work for CNN
and PBS’s Frontline. The Case Against 8 received a grant from the Sundance Documentary Fund.
Sponsored by
mdfilmfest.com
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thu may 8th, 4:00pm • ub langsdale
sat may 10th, 11:00am • mica gateway
fri may 9th, 11:00am • mica brown cntr sat may 10th, 1:30pm • mica brown cntr
celestial wives of the meadow mari
club sandwich
russia • 2013 • 106 minutes
Director Aleksey Fedorchenko
cast Olga Degtyarova, Julia Aug, Yana Esipovich, Vasiliy Domrachev, Daria Ekamasova, Olga Dobrina
mexico • 2013 • 82 minutes
Director Fernando Eimbcke
cast María Renée Prudencio, Lucio Gimenez Cacho, Danae Reynaud
Synopsis In the follow-up to his breakout 2010 film Silent Souls, Aleksey Fedorchenko once again
examines the lives and customs of the indigenous Mari people of Russia, a Volga-Finnic ethnic group
whose religious beliefs are focused on the natural world. Whereas Silent Souls saw Fedorchenko
undertaking a poetic and haunting meditation on life and death, Celestial Wives Of The Meadow
Mari shows him cataloguing the bawdier side of Mari culture, with its fertility rites, ribald folklore, and
romantic customs.
Synopsis Fernando Eimbcke’s two previous features Duck Season (2004) and Lake Tahoe (MFF
2009) are both charming, hilarious and insightful coming-of-age stories about Mexican teenagers, and
the same can be said of his latest. But these wonderful earlier films barely prepare viewers for the
revelation that is Club Sandwich, a tender, quiet, and sly masterpiece of a comedy in which the adults
have at least as much growing up to do as the teenagers.
Neither documentary nor traditional narrative, the film is comprised of nearly two dozen vignettes,
each detailing an aspect of the romantic and/or sexual lives of a particular female Mari, all of whom,
oddly enough, have a name starting with the letter O. Each vignette is a carefully crafted cinematic
set piece ranging in content from simple conversations between village women as they share hints on
rather intimate ways to detect a mate’s infidelity, to scenes of magic realism involving libidinous ghosts
run amok and a jealous spell-casting giantess! Each piece offers something new and surprising, often
flirting with the outrageous.
Free from the confines of an overarching narrative, Fedorchenko is able to explore within the world
he’s created. The multitude of characters, scenarios and tonal shifts throughout produce expressive
and at times ecstatic results, creating an exhilarating and purely cinematic viewing experience that
lingers long after watching. If one can imagine a collaboration between Robert Flaherty and Alejandro
Jodorowsky, it might turn out something like this. (J. Scott Braid)
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Fifteen-year-old Hector and his thirty-something mother Paloma are vacationing at a sleepy resort near
the beach, ordering room service and lounging by the pool. They enjoy a lackadaisical but unusually
close rapport, eventually disrupted by the arrival of Jazmin, a girl Hector’s age who’d like to get to
know him better. It’s a simple setup, but the ramifications the teens’ awkward first flirty fumblings will
have on the two of them are profound—not to mention the effect it has on Paloma to see her son caught
up in the early stirrings of romance.
Beautifully shot by Maria Secco (a guest at MFF 2010 with Cold Water of the Sea), Eimbcke’s film
is an incomparable blend of poignant teen romance and gentle comedy, spiced with just a dash of
transgression. It’s that rare cinematic masterwork that’s also a crowd-pleaser: laugh out loud funny,
surprising, and eminently relatable. With Club Sandwich, Eimbcke steps into the ranks of the top
filmmakers at work anywhere on the globe. (Eric Allen Hatch)
mdfilmfest.com
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fri may 9th, 7:00pm • windup space
sun may 11th, 4:45pm • ub business cntr
thu may 8th, 9:30pm • ub business cntr
fri may 9th, 1:15pm • walters museum
deep city: the birth of the miami sound
everybody street
Directors Dennis Scholl, Marlon Johnson, Chad Tingle
documentary subjects Willie J. Clarke, Johnny Pearsall, Betty Wright, Helene Smith, Clarence Reid
Host Marlon Johnson
Director/Host Cheryl Dunn
documentary subjects Bruce Davidson, Mary Ellen Mark, Elliott Erwitt, Ricky Powell, Jamel
Shabazz, Clayton Patterson, Martha Cooper, Boogie, Jill Freedman, Joel Meyerowitz, and Bruce Gilden
Synopsis While the sounds of Detroit and Memphis are celebrated worldwide thanks to influential
labels like Motown and Stax, the 1960s saw explosions of soul scenes throughout the country. Deep
City mixes wonderful music and archival footage with new interviews in documenting songwriters,
performers, and entrepreneurs behind a vibrant Miami record label that should’ve been huge.
Synopsis On the streets of New York, the private becomes public. Everybody Street, directed by
Cheryl Dunn, documents nine decades of New York City street photography. The evolution of the city
is told through chance encounters, beautifully captured in a split second. Set against a backdrop like
no other, the average person becomes immortalized; the energetic hustle and bustle of life in New York
is apparent in every image in this film.
Willie Clarke and Johnny Pearsall launched Deep City Records out of Pearsall’s record store, which
became not just a mecca for music fans, but also a meeting place and impromptu audition spot for
aspiring talent. This documentary shines light on some future stars who came through these doors,
notably diva Betty Wright and complex figure Clarence Reid, known for earnest material under his
own name and outlandish raunch under his “Blowfly” moniker. But the spotlight here lands equally
on label-mates every bit as talented, particularly Helene Smith, the shy singer behind some simply
stunning singles now considered “Northern soul” classics.
This is a story of Miami, but it could just as easily be the story of Baltimore, or any U.S. city during the
golden era of soul music: the strong personalities and drive it takes to get a record label off the ground;
the rich stew of influences that distinguish a regional sound; and the shifting friendships and collaborations that can keep creative projects alive, or pull them in competing directions. (Eric Allen Hatch)
Biography Marlon Johnson is an Emmy award-winning producer/director. A native of Miami, Marlon
co-produced and directed the documentary Coconut Grove: A Sense of Place; directed the 2006 short
Breaking the Silence, which explored the rising rate of HIV infection in the Black-American south; and
co-directed the Emmy award-winning short documentary Sunday’s Best (2009).
screening with the
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high five • 10 Minutes
Director Michael Jacobs
The origin of the seemingly most instinctual of
celebratory gestures can be traced to a spontaneous
moment between Los Angeles Dodgers Dusty Baker
and Glenn Burke on October 2nd, 1977.
The film features interviews from thirteen of New York’s most well-known street photographers:
Boogie, Martha Cooper, Bruce Davidson, Elliott Erwitt, Jill Freedman, Bruce Gilden, Joel Meyerowitz,
Rebecca Lepkoff, Mary Ellen Mark, Jeff Mermelstein, Clayton Patterson, Ricky Powell, and Jamel
Shabazz. They describe their methods, motives and influences, as well as their life stories. We get a
candid glimpse of how they view their work, subjects and place in history.
Each photographer sees the city through a unique lens, their photographic styles as diverse as their
subjects. From the visceral imagery of Boogie’s players in the drug game to the comedic, somewhat
absurd characters caught by Jeff Mermelstein and Bruce Gilden, all of the images are full of life—
saturated with it, whether in color or black and white.
As Elliott Erwitt remarks in the film, “A picture has to communicate; otherwise there’s no point.” New
York is a city with a rich history of culture and chaos, and Everybody Street brings that message into
sharp focus. (Emily Slaughter)
Biography Cheryl Dunn is a documentary filmmaker and street photographer based in New York
City. Her films have played at numerous film festivals including Tribeca, Edinburgh, Rotterdam, Los
Angeles and Havana, and on PBS. Her work has been exhibited in various galleries and museums
including The Tate Modern in London, and the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Dunn was one of the
subjects of the documentary, book & traveling museum exhibition Beautiful Losers. She has had two
books of her photographs published: Bicycle Gangs of New York and Some Kinda Vocation.
Sponsored by
mdfilmfest.com
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thu may 8th, 4:30pm • mica gateway
fri may 9th, 1:30pm • mica brown cntr sat may 10th, 9:30pm • mica gateway
evolution of a criminal
faults
Director/Host Darius Clark Monroe
documentary subjects/cast Darius Clark Monroe, Dante E. Clark, Vladimi Versailles, Jeremie
Harris, Rosalyn Coleman, Benton Greene, Ellie Foumbi, Yvette Ganier, Frances Lozada, Max B. Young
Director/Host Riley Stearns
cast Leland Orser, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Ellis, Lance Reddick, Jon Gries, Leonard Earl
Howze, Beth Grant
Synopsis Darius Clark Monroe’s Evolution of a Criminal brings something new to the world of film.
In examining a bank robbery committed by Texas high-school students, Monroe’s film interweaves
suspenseful reenactment footage with candid interviews from people involved in every angle of the
crime. We hear from participants, victims, family members, and law-enforcement officials, all very open
in discussing how the crime impacted them at the time, and how they relate to it now. The twist? The
filmmaker himself was one of the men involved in the robbery.
Synopsis Ansel Roth is one of the world’s leading experts on cults, and has built a career out of
helping former members overcome brainwashing and reintegrate into society. He’s also a broken man,
joylessly slogging from hotel to hotel in a futile attempt to promote his poorly received second book to
ever-dwindling crowds. So when he’s approached by a distraught couple seeking his help in rescuing
their daughter Claire from a new and powerful cult family, Ansel’s anything but enthusiastic—until they
not only offer to buy him breakfast, but put a large sum of money on the table.
With an unflinching eye, Monroe dissects the various factors that drove him from a lighthearted
childhood to this extreme act, giving us first-person access to both the facts and the emotional weight
embedded in the planning, the crime, and its aftermath. In the process, he not only reconnects with
the people with whom he robbed the bank, but also reaches out to people on the receiving end of the
crime.
Faults begins as a dark comedy worthy of comparison to Todd Solondz’s best, and then with a rare
confidence mounts subtle, highly successful tonal shifts into the areas of psychological thriller and
serious drama (without ever abandoning the dark laughs). It’s the remarkable first feature from Riley
Stearns, whose short film The Cub was part of MFF 2013’s Opening Night program. Boasting an
impeccable script and unforgettable performances from all involved—particularly leads Leland Orser
and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and The Wire's Lance Reddick—Faults stands as one of the most assured
and entertaining feature debuts in recent memory. It’s with great pleasure that we present the film on
the heels of its world premiere within SXSW’s Narrative Spotlight in March. (Eric Allen Hatch)
Executive-produced by Spike Lee and a hit at its SXSW 2014 premiere, Evolution of a Criminal is a
unique project delivered with great skill, confidence, and insight. Occupying its own niche at the
intersection of documentary, true crime, and personal essay, it’s both a gripping viewing experience
and a conversation-starter—about race, class, education, and the prison system, just for starters—of the
highest order. (Eric Allen Hatch)
Biography Darius Clark Monroe is a recipient of a National Board of Review Award, Austin Film
Society Grant, Rooftop Filmmakers’/DCTV Grant, Warner Bros. Film Award, Cinereach Grant, King
Finishing Award, and a NYU Spike Lee Production Fellowship. He’s a Screenwriters Colony, Tribeca
All Access, IDFA Forum, and IFP Documentary Lab fellow.
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Biography Riley Stearns' short film The Cub premiered at Sundance 2013, was a part of the MFF
2013 Opening Night Shorts program, and later premiered online as part of VICE's series "I'm Short Not
Stupid." The screenplay for Faults was voted into the 2013 Black List for best unproduced scripts. He
resides in Los Angeles with his wife Mary. Faults is Stearns' first feature.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead (expected to co-host our second screening of Faults) is an actress and
recording artist known for such films as Final Destination 3, Death Proof, Live Free or Die Hard, Scott
Pilgrim vs. The World, Smashed, and The Spectacular Now, as well as musical collaborations with such
artists as Dan the Automator and Deltron 3030.
mdfilmfest.com
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sat may 10th, 7:00pm • mica gateway
sun may 11th, noon • ub business cntr
sat may 10th, 10:00pm • ub langsdale sun may 11th, 4:45pm • ub langsdale
fight church
fort tilden
Directors Daniel Junge and Bryan Storkel
documentary subjects Paul Burress, John Renken, Nahshon Nicks, Preston Hocker, Father John
Duffell, Jill Burress, Scott Sullivan, Jon Jones, and Ben Henderson
Hosts Bryan Storkel, Paul Burress and Jill Burress
Directors/Hosts Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers
cast Bridey Elliott, Clare McNulty, Griffin Newman, Jeffrey Scaperrotta, Neil Casey, Alysia Reiner, Will
Hines, Peter Vack, Max Jenkins, John Early
Synopsis A recent trend has found Christian pastors incorporating cage fighting and mixed martial
arts into their services. But as the feature documentary Fight Church asks: “Can you really love your
neighbor as yourself and then, at the same time, knee him in the face as hard as you can?” Skillfully
directed by Academy Award winner Daniel Junge and Bryan Storkel, the film is bound to challenge
expectations and stir heated debate.
Synopsis Roommates and besties Allie and Harper have it all: a cute Brooklyn apartment, nice
clothes, plenty of friends, and a light-hearted life free of heavy responsibilities—so naturally, they’re
perpetually dissatisfied, and every little setback feels overwhelming. As Allie prepares to ship off to a
country she knows next to nothing about for the Peace Corps and Harper hits up her wealthy father
for handouts, the two decide to meet up with some boys for a sunny day at Fort Tilden’s beach. If only
getting there weren’t an insurmountable odyssey.
Pastor Paul Burress is the chief subject. He is an MMA athlete himself, trains members of his congregation in the sport, and organizes matches at his church. While Burress and others see their approach
to the sport in balance with their faith and effort to spread their religious ideals, detractors like Father
John Duffell find a direct conflict between biblical values and the organized promotion of violence.
Throughout the film we’re offered a range of perspectives, from current and former ministers on both
sides of the argument, as well as professional UFC fighters and government lawmakers. We follow as
both Burress and Duffell travel to Albany to defend their positions in a case determining the legality of
MMA fighting in New York. Meanwhile, a match in the South pits pastor against pastor, and an internet
feud sparks a return to the sport for another, who believes “mainstream Christianity has effeminized
men.”
Fort Tilden delivers a miraculously well-realized comedic world, in which every supporting character
is as vivid and hilarious as the leads; and if the milieu here is akin to that of Girls, the Samuel Beckettesque barbs with which it looks at characters unable to order a coffee or lock a bicycle without risking
a breakdown set it apart as something fierce and new.
Armed with a host of provocative subjects, the directors of Fight Church are able to take an impressively objective approach that rewards viewers with the freedom to come to their own conclusions.
(Mitchell Goodrich)
Biography Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers are filmmakers based in Brooklyn who met at
NYU Graduate Film school. They have each written and directed award-winning short films that have
screened at festivals such as Telluride, Sarasota, and Aspen Shortsfest. Fort Tilden was conceived and
produced last summer and is their first collaboration.
Biography Bryan Storkel is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who loves quirky characters
and is fascinated by religious topics. His work as editor and cinematographer includes Strictly
Background (MFF 2008). Storkel's directorial debut, Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting
Christians played at over 40 festivals and won 10 best-documentary awards.
24
Fort Tilden won the grand jury award for narrative feature at SXSW 2014, the same award that Lena
Dunham’s Tiny Furniture took home in 2010, and it’s a discovery of the same magnitude. Satires this
funny and sharp don’t come along every day, and for it to be the work of first-time feature directors
makes it an absolute revelation. (Eric Allen Hatch)
mdfilmfest.com
25
thu may 8th, 7:30pm • walters museum
fri may 9th, 6:15pm • mica studio cntr freedom summer
glena
Director/Host Stanley Nelson
documentary subjects Robert Moses
Director Allan Luebke
documentary subjects Glena Avila, Angel Avila, Annie Avila, Stormy Back and Ron Andersen
Host Allan Luebke and Glena Avila
Synopsis In 1962, only 6% of eligible African-Americans in Mississippi were registered to vote, the
lowest percentage of any state in the country. The tools used to block blacks from registering included
ludicrous poll tests, violence, and other forms of sanctioned intimidation. Several Civil Rights groups
determined to correct this, and, led by an extraordinary young man, Robert Moses, they went to work.
By 1964, they had recruited hundreds of college students from as far away as Yale and Stanford, along
with religious leaders and other volunteers. They joined forces with brave local sharecroppers like
Fannie Lou Hamer with the goal of educating and registering enough people to begin to challenge
Mississippi and wake up the national Democratic Party leadership. Mississippi resisted with all its
might, beating, arresting, and killing anyone advocating change.
The story has been told in multiple forms, but this riveting film by one of our most important
filmmakers has an unusual power. Assembling incredible archival footage and insightful contemporary
interviews with some people who participated in Freedom Summer, the film takes you deep into the
world of institutional racism in 1964 Mississippi, and shockingly underscores the timidity of President
Johnson and the Democratic Party. Approaching the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer, and in the
wake of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to reverse field in the area of voting rights, this is a story
that needs to be understood—and never forgotten. (Jed Dietz)
sat may 10th, 11:00am • ub langsdale
Synopsis If you’re looking for a documentary film that will inspire you to break from your routine and
do something you may never have thought yourself capable of, you need look no further than Glena.
Three years in the making, this stirring documentary portrait tells the astonishing story of Glena
Avila, a single mother in her mid-30s juggling the pressures of raising two children, a serious romantic
relationship, working multiple jobs, and running a household. In the midst of all the obligations of
her day-to-day life, Glena discovers that she has a talent and passion for mixed martial arts (MMA)
fighting, a violent and controversial sport with relatively few rules, that takes place in a cage. However,
despite its controversial nature, MMA is fast growing in popularity throughout the world as it gains
mainstream acceptance and participants and fans from all walks of life.
As Glena develops from raw talent to skilled fighter, she succeeds more and more, instilling in her an
even greater desire to move up the ranks from amateur to professional. As fight training overtakes her
life, she struggles to maintain a balance between following her dreams and meeting her obligations as
a mother, girlfriend and breadwinner. Is it worth disrupting her children’s lives, losing financial stability,
and straining her relationship to follow her dream to the next level? Glena must decide what price
she’s willing to pay as she begins her quest to become a champion on the mixed martial arts circuit.
Biography Stanley Nelson, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, Emmy Award–winning
MacArthur “Genius Grant” fellow, and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
is the director of 12 documentary features, including The Murder of Emmett Till (2003), A Place of
Our Own (2004), Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006), and Freedom Riders
(MFF 2010). He is cofounder of Firelight Media, which provides technical education and professional support to emerging documentarians. With seven films in competition at Sundance to date and
multiple industry awards to his credit, Nelson is acknowledged as one of the premier documentary
filmmakers working today.
An exhilarating and emotionally charged journey, Glena is an undeniably big-hearted film that will
have audiences jumping to their feet to cheer on a hero that perseveres, risking it all in pursuit of
greatness and a chance to break from the status quo. (J. Scott Braid)
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Sponsored by
Sponsored by
Biography Allan Luebke is an Emmy-winning filmmaker from Portland, Oregon. He produced the
web series ZetamanTV, the first-ever documentary about real-life superheroes, and has produced
non-fiction entertainment programs for cable including Discovery International. Allan earned a
bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Oregon, where he won the 2006 National
College Emmy Award for Best Short Documentary for Behind These Walls, a revealing and uplifting
look at Oregon's prison inmate work programs.
mdfilmfest.com
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thu may 8th, 9:45 pm • mica brown cntr
sun may 11th, 2:00pm • mica brown cntr
thu may 8th, 7pm • mica brown cntr
happy christmas
hellion
Director/Host Joe Swanberg
cast Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, Mark Webber, Lena Dunham, Joe Swanberg, Jude Swanberg
Director/Host Kat Candler
cast Aaron Paul, Juliette Lewis, Josh Wiggins, Deke Garner, Jonny Mars, Walt Roberts
Synopsis If you’re a fan of Anna Kendrick’s wildly viral “Cups” video (125 million views), or you fell
in love with her recent SNL hosting appearance, you’re in for a jolt. In Happy Christmas, Anna plays
Jenny, the sibling from hell. She’s just broken up with her boyfriend and her “plan” is to crash with
her brother Jeff and his family as they’re concentrating on Christmas preparations. She aimlessly
reconnects with old friends and self inflicts as many wounds as possible, causing extensive collateral
damage along the way. Having inserted herself into a family struggling with routine, she also opens
doors.
Synopsis Expanding on her MFF 2012 short film of the same name, director Kat Candler leaves
the notes of dark humor of that film behind and focuses a keen directorial eye on the emotional
devastation and seething anger that festers in a young teen in the wake of losing a parent.
Shot intimately in Swanberg’s signature artisanal style (yes, that’s his real house; his real wife,
filmmaker Kris Swanberg, makes an appearance; and that is their real son Jude cast as the baby, who
obviously loves acting with Dad and steals the movie), Happy Christmas is a fully accomplished piece
of filmmaking with a cast that includes Lena Dunham, Melanie Lynskey, and Mark Webber. Happy
Christmas will have you laughing, cringing in horror and frustration, and ready to forsake all family
holiday gatherings forever. Just before it doesn’t. (Jed Dietz)
Biography Joe Swanberg is a seminal and tireless figure in the new American wave of do-it-on-yourown-terms filmmaking. His films have been screened at numerous film festivals ranging from Sundance
to Berlin to SXSW, and he happily helps other filmmakers with their projects. Joe has brought many
films to MFF, and last year’s Drinking Buddies went on to real commercial success. Joe helped found
MFF’s Filmmakers Taking Charge gathering.
13 year-old Jacob (a breathtaking performance by newcomer Josh Wiggins) is angry at the world and
acting out at home, at school, and even in public. Jacob has little regard for the rules and little in
the way of parental guidance to help him navigate this difficult period. His father Hollis (played with
smoldering intensity by Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul) has basically checked out, choosing to spend
his days in a stew of alcohol and self-loathing, longing for what could have been had the chips fallen
differently. Hollis’ absentee parenting forces Jacob into the role of chaperone for his younger brother
Wes. It’s a role Jacob is thoroughly unprepared for as he is no position to be a role model for his
impressionable younger sibling. The only lifeline the boys have in the family is their Aunt Pam (Juliette
Lewis, in a surprisingly tender and subdued performance) and she can only do so much, as she’s busy
with a life of her own. The hopes of the family rest on Hollis’ ability to shake himself from his funk
and reach out to his kids. He has to be there for them, as they try to find their way in a world that has
forced them to face adult-size challenges at far too young an age. Will he be able to wake up before it’s
too late and help provide some stability in the emotional upheaval that has left two sons rudderless?
Candler coaxes extraordinary performances out of each of the principles, and crafts an achingly
heartfelt portrait of teen angst and the ways in which it manifests in a small suburban society—a
society that has little in the way of support systems or sympathy for the trials and tribulations of being
a teenager, much less one that has experienced such immense loss at such an early age. (J. Scott Braid)
Biography Kat Candler's short films Hellion (2012) and Black Metal (2013), both premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival and screened within MFF. Her previous films have screened at such festivals
as Los Angeles Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, SXSW, and Slamdance. She is
a two-time IFP participant and was recently awarded the San Francisco Film Society/Kenneth Rainin
Foundation filmmaking grant. Candler is also a lecturer on film at the University of Texas in Austin.
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Sponsored by
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29
sun may 11th, 11:00am • mica brown cntr
fri may 9th, 9:15pm • windup space he who gets slapped presented by alloy orchestra
the hip-hop fellow
USA • 1924 • 98 minutes
Director Victor Sjöström
cast Lon Chaney, Sr., Norma Shearer, John Gilbert
Director/Host Kenneth Price
documentary subjects 9th Wonder
Synopsis Maryland Film Festival is delighted to once again welcome the unparalleled Alloy Orchestra.
Joining our line-up for the 12th consecutive year, the gents will be performing their fantastic original
score to Victor Sjöström’s singular 1924 film, He Who Gets Slapped. For more than two decades, the
group has performed their imaginative and critically acclaimed scores across the globe. During this
time, they’ve delighted audiences with enthralling original scores for bona fide classics like Fritz Lang’s
sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis and obscure gems like Karlheinz Martin’s recently rediscovered German
Expressionist jaw-dropper, From Morning Till Midnight. Whether the film is high art or high camp, each
score brings something new and exciting, elevating the viewing experience while still honoring the
original work.
Synopsis Hip-hop is now a worldwide phenomenon. You can go to the farthest reaches of the globe
and hear hip-hop. Now hip-hop has entered the hallowed halls of the Ivy League.
Lon Chaney and Norma Shearer star in Sjöström’s beautifully bonkers film adaptation of Russian
playwright Leonid Andreyev’s play of the same name, the first film produced (but not the first released)
by the newly formed MGM. Chaney plays Paul Beaumont, a disgraced scientist who loses both his
career and his wife to the conniving Baron Regnard, when Regnard steals Beaumont’s research and
presents it as his own. Beaumont confronts the count in a room full of their peers, only to be slapped
in the face, and laughed out of the room. Unable to recover from this humiliation Beaumont resurfaces
years later as HE, a masochistic clown in a small Parisian circus whose performance consists of being
slapped by the other clowns as the audience writhes in delight. Each night he relives his downfall as
dozens of clowns line up to pepper his kisser with smacks. And that’s just the first act! Coulrophobics
beware, everyone else sit back and enjoy this off-the-wall masterpiece with a brilliant new score! (J.
Scott Braid)
sat may 10th, 8:30pm • mica studio cntr
In this engrossing documentary, Grammy Award winning producer 9th Wonder (an original member of
Little Brother who has produced for artists such as Jay-Z, Wale, Erykah Badu, Drake, and Jean Grae)
brings his expansive knowledge of hip-hop to the students of Harvard University. In the film you get
to witness 9th Wonder teaching his course ‘The Standards of Hip-Hop,’ as well as see the emerging
significance of incorporating hip-hop studies into academic curriculum.
The film spotlights the scholars and musicians at the forefront of preserving 40 years of hip-hop
culture via interviews with hip-hop notables like Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Young Guru, Phonte and
DJ Premier, as well as scholars like Dr. Mark Anthony Neal, Dr. Marcyliena Morgan and Dr. Henry
Louis Gates.
You don’t have to be a fan of hip-hop to find this story fascinating. Filmmaker Kenneth Price incorporates one man’s journey to a venerable institution to teach something he has an obvious love and
enthusiasm for. That love is translated onscreen and is as infectious as a good beat. (Dankwa Brooks)
Biography Kenneth Price is a North Carolina based Emmy Award winning filmmaker. The Hip-Hop
Fellow is his second documentary with 9th Wonder and fourth feature film. Price is best known for his
extensive music video work with artists such as Mac Miller, Big K.R.I.T., Phonte, 9th Wonder, Rapsody,
Buckshot, The Foreign Exchange, Skyzoo, and Idris Elba.
Biography Alloy Orchestra, comprised of Roger Miller, Terry Donahue, and Ken Winokur, have
performed numerous times under MFF sponsorship, including the world premiere of their score for
Phantom of the Opera, December 2010’s remarkable screening of the restored Metropolis, and the first
U.S. performance of the restored Man With a Movie Camera. They continue to write new scores, and
revise their existing scores as new versions of films become available.
30
Sponsored by
mdfilmfest.com
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fri may 9th, 10:00pm • mica gateway sun may 11th, 4:00pm • mica gateway
sat may 10th, 1:30pm • ub langsdale sun may 11th, 3:45pm • walters museum
i play with the phrase each other
kumiko, the treasure hunter
Director/Host Jay Alvarez
cast Alexander Fraser, Dana Dae, Jay Alvarez, Jeanette Conner, Megan Kopp, Robert Thrush, Todd
Robinson, Will Hand
usa/japan • 2014 • 105 minutes
Director/Host David Zellner
cast Rinko Kikuchi, Nobuyuki Katsube, David Zellner, Nathan Zellner, Shirley Venard
Synopsis You might not expect that in a movie composed entirely of cell-phone conversations the
protagonist would be a neurotic harboring an acute fear of radiation, but in Jay Alvarez’s directorial
debut, a wealth of such eccentric individuals find their way on screen. Their conversations playfully
move between unexpected topics, making for a film as entertaining and narratively surprising as it is
formally ambitious.
The story revolves around Jake, who is convinced by his fanatical poet friend Sean to leave everything
in his hometown behind and move to the city. But when Jake arrives, Sean has disappeared and he
is forced to navigate the bleak new landscape alone, nervously searching for a job, an apartment,
and safe levels of electromagnetic fields. Sean, who later reappears, is a near antithesis to Jake; he
embraces city life and the squalor of flophouse drifting, deceives inexperienced Craigslist buyers,
and makes games of masking his erudition. As the movie progresses, we are introduced to an everexpanding circle of friends and acquaintances. High-strung thugs, micromanaging supervisors,
sex-obsessed confidants, and former lovers all appear, each one recounting experiences that deepen
our perception of the others.
Alvarez’s screenplay packs the intellectual fervor of a Whit Stillman, but swaps the debate of
intimate social circles for sweeping, cell-phone delivered monologues expounding feelings of doubt,
excitement, alienation, and obsession. I Play with the Phrase Each Other is a captivating experiment,
attractively filmed in black and white with a modest score composed of atmospheric guitar riffs, where
notes of Jarmusch resound. (Mitchell Goodrich)
Biography Jay Alvarez was raised in a five-car garage in Northern California by his single father. In
2006 he relocated to Portland, Oregon to make a living through high-priced Craigslist sales. Over the
course of six years, Alvarez earned enough profit to fund his feature debut film, I Play with the Phrase
Each Other.
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Synopsis The Zellner brothers have remained one of the most unique voices in American
independent cinema for more than a decade with their brand of idiosyncratic humor and off-beat
storytelling. They create memorable worlds populated by oddball characters and situations—morally
bereft children, missing cats, and the birthing rituals of the sasquatch have all been given the Zellner
treatment, to wonderful result. Each film a gift that keeps on giving.
In their latest work, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, they have managed to transition from revered indie
filmmakers into international art-house veterans. That’s not to take anything away from their fantastic
works of the past, but Kumiko feels like the large-scale, polished international production that it is,
filming partially in Japan and partially in the U.S. with two completely different crews. The Zellners
effortlessly make the transition, and deliver their most fully realized vision of their aesthetic universe
to date, while retaining all that makes their films so special.
Kumiko (Rinko Kikuchi) is a solitary office worker whose only friend is her pet rabbit Bunzo. When
not serving tea or picking up the dry cleaning of her stern and overly particular boss, Kumiko spends
her time studying an old VHS copy of the movie Fargo (by another fantastic sibling filmmaking
team you may have heard of), scouring it for clues to find the buried ransom money from that film’s
climactic scene. Kumiko is convinced that Fargo’s treasure is real, and decides she must set off to the
United States to find this buried ransom in the dead of a Minnesota winter. Along the way her journey
is colored by the quirky characters she meets (including amazing cameos by the Zellners) and the
surprising twists and turns of her quest. Alternately, hilarious and melancholy, Kumiko, The Treasure
Hunter is a heartfelt work of art and masterful achievement in cinema from a filmmaking duo at the top
of their game. (J. Scott Braid)
Biography David Zellner is an Austin-based filmmaker who, with his brother Nathan, has written,
produced, and directed numerous award-winning shorts and the feature films Goliath and KID-THING.
Goliath premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and played MFF that same year, while
KID-THING followed a 2012 Sundance premiere with an extensive festival run, including MFF 2012.
The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema held a retrospective of the Zellner
brothers' work to date in 2012.
mdfilmfest.com
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fri may 9th, 10:30pm • mica brown cntr thu may 8th, 7:00pm • mica gateway liquid sky presented by Slava Tsukerman
manakamana
usa • 1982 • 112 minutes • 35mm
Director/Host Slava Tsukerman
cast Anne Carlisle, Paula Sheppard, Otto Von Wernherr, Jack Adalist
usa/nepal • 2013 • 117 minutes
Directors Stephanie Spray, Pacho Velez
Host Pacho Velez
Synopsis While Maryland Film Festival is primarily devoted to emerging films, each year has also
featured an exciting array of revival screenings. MFF 2014 has become a mecca for cult-film fans,
boasting Putney Swope hosted by DJ Spooky, Barbarella hosted by Matmos, and this special screening
of Liquid Sky with director Slava Tsukerman presenting his own 35mm print.
Synopsis This new feature from Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab offers immersive access to an
ancient journey now taken in a modern cable car, as viewers ride along in real-time with pilgrims and
tourists bound for Nepal’s Manakamana temple.
For the uninitiated, Liquid Sky is a high-concept science-fiction film set in early ‘80s Manhattan against
a new-wave backdrop. Model Margaret and her rival Jimmy (both played by co-screenwriter Anne
Carlisle) navigate a nightlife ruled by music, sex, and heroin—disrupted by a tiny alien spacecraft
also in search of highs. When the aliens discover the endorphins released in the human brain during
orgasm provide a more powerful kick than even heroin, carnage ensues.
Liquid Sky was the highest-grossing independent film of 1983, and has gone on to enjoy a singular
status in the world of cult film. Known for its eerie electronic soundtrack, brash neon post-punk
aesthetic, and as a time capsule of a crucial moment in the downtown New York arts scene, the film
was also far ahead of its time in its unfettered exploration of sexuality and gender. It’s with great
pleasure that we welcome to Baltimore Slava Tsukerman, to present a little independent genre film
that has taken on a life of legendary proportions. (Eric Allen Hatch)
Q+A moderated by Tsukerman’s colleague, filmmaker Clay Liford (director of MFF features Earthling
and Wuss, and shorts My Mom Smokes Weed and S/ASH).
Biography Slava Tsukerman is a Russian-born and trained film director, who has directed more than
30 films in Russia, Israel, and the U.S., working in many different genres and winning many awards.
Other works include the documentary Stalin's Wife (2004) and Perestroika (2009).
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sat may 1oth, 11:00am • walters museum
Those familiar with earlier Lab features Sweetgrass and Leviathan (the latter presented by Matt
Porterfield within MFF 2013) will have some frame of reference for this singular viewing experience.
The lab’s mission statement states as a goal “encourag[ing] attention to the many dimensions of the
world, both animate and inanimate, that may only with difficulty, if it all, be rendered with propositional prose.” In practice, this means not only transporting viewers to a corner of the world we may
never otherwise see, but also finding an audio-visual style befitting each unique setting. Thus, in
Sweetgrass Montana shepherds were presented in a quiet yet direct and unidealized mode, whereas
Leviathan transmitted the visceral chaos of a modern fishing vessel with tiny digital cameras battered
by the elements.
Here, then, we adjust to not just another setting, but also another pace. Shot on Super 16mm film
from a fixed vantage point, Manakamana challenges us to recalibrate our attention span so that
we may luxuriate in rides back and forth along the valleys of Trisuli, observing both the stunning
vistas in every direction and the quiet and sometimes awkward moments shared by those visiting
Manakamana—couples, parents and children, friends, metalheads, animals. The film then offers a study
not just of a time and place, but also a portrait of how everyday people react when faced with the
sustained eye of a camera. For patient cinephiles hungry to experience something new, it’s an edifying
and meditative, not to mention unforgettable, ride. (Eric Allen Hatch)
Biography Pacho Velez is an affiliate of Harvard's Sensory Ethnography Lab, a fellow at the Harvard
Film Study Center, and a visiting professor at Bard College. His films include Occupation (2002),
Orphans of Mathare (2004) and Bastards of Utopia (2010).
mdfilmfest.com
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thu may 8th, 6:45pm • ub langsdale sat may 10th, 4:15pm • ub langsdale
sun may 11th, 11:30am • mica studio cntr
the mend
the militant
Director/Host John Magary
cast Josh Lucas, Stephen Plunkett, Lucy Owen, Mickey Sumner, Cory Nichols, Sekou Laidlow, Louisa
Krause, Sarah Steele, Leo Fitzpatrick, Austin Pendleton
uruguay • 2013 • 121 minutes
Director Manolo Nieto
cast Felipe Dieste, Rossana Cabrera, Leonor Courtoisie
Synopsis Jaded and crass Mat (Josh Lucas) crashes back into the life of his relatively staid and settled
brother Alan (Stephen Plunkett) by showing up unannounced at a party in the apartment Alan shares
with his girlfriend. Over the course of that evening, the two negotiate a strange new dynamic, half
hedonistic camaraderie and half mistrustful one-upmanship. This explosive bond is only magnified
over the following days as both of their lives reach moments of crisis, prompting the two to embrace
increasingly wild and impulsive behavior.
The Mend is one of those singular films that ups the ante on what independent cinema can deliver.
Each performance, from the film’s central characters to those we meet for only an instant, brings with
it the ring of truth—as does the film’s exemplary camerawork, which feels as alive as that of any film in
recent memory. From its first minutes, we as viewers trust that whatever direction the story turns, and
whichever character the camera follows, we’re in good hands—and on both fronts, The Mend has some
surprises in store for us.
Many of the talents at work here were also responsible for the remarkable short Rolling on the Floor
Laughing (a standout in MFF 2012). While the body of work that’s emerging from this team may remind
one of vital individualist cinema like John Cassavetes’ Husbands, Mike Leigh’s landmark television
films of the 1970s and 1980s, and Vincent Gallo’s Buffalo ’66—with perhaps just a dash of Apatow in the
mix—this feature confirms the arrival of a strong new vision. The Mend harnesses energy from some of
cinema’s rugged outsiders in the service of stories, characters, and settings that are very much here and
now. (Eric Allen Hatch)
Synopsis A wave of exciting films from Uruguay has hit the festival circuit over the last decade,
evidence of a rich film culture previously under-represented on U.S. screens. As with Gigante (2009)
and A Useful Life (MFF 2011)—films that share beautiful camerawork from this film’s Arauco Hernández
Holz—The Militant focuses on an idiosyncratic loner struggling to find his rhythm with the people
around him.
In this case, our protagonist is Ariel, a taciturn student organizer who relocates from Montevideo to his
rural hometown Salto after the passing of this father. There, Ariel struggles to connect to the less-disciplined student groups in Salto, who seem big on self-important talk, but small on results. At the same
time, he finds that his father left behind him unfinished business both personal and financial—loose
ends that have a host of strange characters looking to Ariel for answers he doesn’t have.
With The Militant, Manolo Nieto has delivered a rich concoction that feels at once both otherworldly
and familiar. Argentine filmmaker Lisandro Alonso (a guest at MFF 2010 with Liverpool) is a producer
here, and his stark aesthetic is reflected in some aspects of this film. But The Militant functions also as
a multi-faceted comedy: a wry character study, a good-humored portrait of a quirky community, and
a toothy satire of both contemporary protest tactics and the counterculture of the 1960s-70s (albeit a
satire that feels simpatico with the rebellious spirit and political goals of its characters). In short, it’s a
smart and artistically rewarding slice of global cinema—not to mention one that stands up to the true
test of a great film: it will live on in your imagination long after the viewing experience ends. (Eric Allen
Hatch)
Biography John Magary attended Columbia University’s graduate film program. His short film The
Second Line was a national finalist for the Student Academy Awards, and has played at festivals around
the world, including Sundance, SXSW (Special Jury Prize), Tribeca, AFI Dallas (Grand Jury Prize,
Best Short), Edinburgh, and Torino. He has attended the Sundance Directors/Screenwriters Labs and
received a Time Warner Storytelling Fellowship and Annenberg Film Fellowship.
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mdfilmfest.com
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fri may 9th, 11:30am & 11:30pm • windup space sat may 10th, 11:59pm • mica gateway
sat may 10th, 4:15pm • mica brown cntr moebius
obvious child
south korea • 2013 • 88 minutes
Director Kim Ki-duk
cast Jae-hyeon Jo, Eun-woo Lee, Young-ju Seo
Director/Host Gillian Robespierre
cast Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffmann, David Cross, Gabe Liedman, Richard Kind
Synopsis Looking for the most deranged and graphic feature film in this year’s lineup? You’ve found
it. Kim Ki-duk’s name is synonymous with insane concepts and brutal visuals, as anyone who’s seen
his early features The Isle and Bad Guy can attest. But as unnerving as his imagery can be, it’s always
in the service of a compelling narrative and profound insights. Moreover, in Kim’s filmography one will
also find works such as 3-Iron and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, elegant films that, if still
punctuated by moments of startling violence, find their heart in the human search for tenderness, selfknowledge, and spiritual fulfillment.
Synopsis Jenny Slate, a veteran of Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation and trained in
improv as well as comedy, gives an extraordinary central performance as standup comedian Donna
Stern. She is a preternaturally funny and honest 27-year-old who is struggling with life’s surprises and
her own missteps. She gives and asks for no quarter, but life doesn’t get easier just because she’s trying.
She understands Beckett’s dictum to “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” And, she appreciates the
humor.
Moebius brings all elements of Kim’s career together into a wallop of a statement about cruelty,
identity, and catharsis that’s absolutely not for the squeamish or faint of heart. This wordless but
sonically dynamic film opens with a domestic fight between a couple as their son looks on. The fight
quickly escalates into an act of violence as extreme as any previously depicted on film—a scene that
had audience members at its Toronto International Film Festival premiere variously running for the
exit, squealing in horror, or laughing in maniacal shock (all equally valid reactions). The story that
follows is an unhinged mix of dark comedy, thriller, Oedipal tragedy, family drama—and, in its own
strange way, romance.
If intense scenes of sex and violence turn you off, and unflinching exploration of transgressive
concepts isn't your cup of tea, this isn’t the film for you. But if you believe cinema should sometimes
use extreme means to cut through layers of societal falsity to larger truths, you might just be ready for
Moebius. Oh, and if you’re already a fan of Kim Ki-duk, run don’t walk: this may just be the glorious
madman’s masterpiece. (Eric Allen Hatch)
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Written and directed with unflinching conviction by Gillian Robespierre, Obvious Child gathers a
perfect cast, and deploys them around Slate in a way that is harsh and tender, often at approximately
the same time. The result is as fresh, startling and insightful as the best work from Louis C.K. or Tig
Notaro. Obvious Child may shock you, and it will certainly make you laugh out loud. It is a knowing
look at what it means to be young and female in contemporary urban America, and it will get you to
thinking about some of our most profound human issues in a new way. (Jed Dietz)
Biography Gillian Robespierre was born and raised in New York, and, having spent a year at college
in Boston, graduated from NYC’s School of Visual Arts. Obvious Child is her first feature and was
developed from a 2009 short by the same name. The feature has played Sundance, international
festivals, and was selected for MoMA's and The Film Society of Lincoln Center's acclaimed series, New
Directors/New Films. Her next feature is a comedy about divorce.
Sponsored by
mdfilmfest.com
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sat may 10th, 7:00pm • mica brown cntr sun may 11th, 4:30pm • mica brown cntr
fri may 9th,11:00am • walters museum
ping pong summer
point and shoot
Director/Host Michael Tully
cast Susan Sarandon, Marcello Conte, John Hannah, Lea Thompson, Amy Sedaris, Robert Longstreet,
Myles Massey, Judah Friedlander
Director/Host Marshall Curry
subjects Matthew VanDyke
Synopsis Ocean City, Maryland is not just any beach resort. It has a very specific feel—exuberant,
raucously commercial, and totally unpretentious. In 1985, it must have meant everything to the
young Michael Tully, because as he began to form his artistic vision as a filmmaker, he never forgot
it. The place and time of this loving, often hilarious film are defined with the deep understanding
and precision that is essential to great moviemaking. But, in the spirit of this time and place, Ping
Pong Summer tells a story with a clear eye and zero pretension. There are beautiful and therefore
unattainable girls and mentoring neighbors, but there are also racist bullies and clueless adults. Mostly,
there are arcade games and ping pong, and lots of music.
All of this is seen through the 13-year-old eyes of Radford “Rad” Miracle, effortlessly portrayed by
newcomer Marcello Conte. Rad is hoping for some way to prove himself, and that’s where ping pong
and hip-hop come in. The cast is full of seasoned performers like Amy Sedaris, Susan Sarandon, Lea
Thompson, and Robert Longstreet—who fit in as though they’ve been going “downy ocean” for years.
And the music, the music! The perfect complement to a movie that feels as though it was actually
made in 1985, the tunes will have you clicking your fingers and humming along. (Jed Dietz)
Biography After his directorial debut Cocaine Angel world-premiered at the 2006 International Film
Festival Rotterdam, Michael Tully was named one of Filmmaker’s "25 New Faces of Independent Film."
His follow-up film, Silver Jew, world-premiered at the 2007 SXSW Film Festival. In 2011, he wrote,
directed, and acted in Septien, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. All four features have
played the Maryland Film Festival. Since 2008, he has been the head writer/editor of Hammer To Nail,
a website devoted to championing ambitious cinema.
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Sponsored by
sat may 10th, 2:15pm • walters museum
Synopsis Matthew VanDyke, born and raised in Baltimore, seemed to exhibit all the normal young
American male fascination with faux adventure; videogames consumed lots of his time. As he
grew older, Matthew’s interest in adventure went beyond fantasy. He got degrees from UMBC and
Georgetown, and then took off on a solo motorcycle journey through North Africa and the Middle East
in 2007. It involved risk and danger, all of it real and some of it foolish.
Along the way, Matthew made friends in many places, and later, when some of his new friends in
Tripoli joined the rebellion against the Gaddafi regime in 2011, Matthew decided to leave the comforts
of Baltimore to fight alongside them. He had no military training and the rebels were woefully
overmatched by Gaddafi’s forces. Mathew was captured and spent months in Libyan jails, much of it
in solitary confinement. This unbelievable story uses remarkable footage that Matthew shot, and is
brought to us by a masterful filmmaker, Marshall Curry. While exploring the motivation of an unusual
young American, Curry also makes sure we notice the new world of war, where street fighters are often
surrounded by as many cell-phone cameras as weapons. The film's observational style raises more
questions than it answers, but you will never forget it. (Jed Dietz)
Biography Marshall Curry has made three documentary films, Street Fight (MFF 2005), Racing
Dreams (MFF 2009), and If A Tree Falls… (MFF 2011), two of which were nominated for Academy
Awards. An Executive Producer on the recent hit, Mistaken for Strangers, Marshall is also familiar to
MFF audiences because he participated in our 2011 discussion with broadcast journalist Meredith
Vieira, “Are Documentary Filmmakers the New Journalists?”
Sponsored by
mdfilmfest.com
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sun may 11th, 11:00am • walters museum
fri may 9th, 1:45pm • mica gateway putney swope presented by dj spooky
september
Director Robert Downey, Sr.
cast Arnold Johnson, Stan Gottlieb, Allen Garfield, Archie Russell
Host Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky
greece • 2013 • 105 minutes
Director/Host Penny Panayotopoulou
cast Kora Karvouni, Maria Skoula, Nikos Diamantis, Christos Stergioglou, Anastasios Tzertzemelis
Synopsis Maryland Film Festival’s guest-host program asks personalities known primarily for work
outside the world of film—writers, visual artists, and frequently musicians—to select and host a favorite
film. This year we have two very exciting such screenings, and by happy coincidence both guests
chose cult favorites from the same era: Matmos’ presentation of Barbarella, and this special screening
of Robert Downey, Sr.’s satirical landmark Putney Swope, introduced by composer, visual artist, and
author Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky).
Putney Swope tells the story of the new head of a stodgy advertising agency (Arnold Johnson) who
transforms the painfully white business into Black Power outfit Truth and Soul, Inc. He quickly
introduces a new policy of refusing work from alcohol, tobacco, and weaponry companies, fires most of
his white employees, and produces ads that are bold, revolutionary, and deliriously R-rated. But how
long can Putney Swope’s subversive activities continue without drawing the attention of The Man?
For a low-budget underground film, Putney Swope intriguingly enjoyed a particularly strong multi-year
run here in Baltimore, screening on as many as four screens at once during its original release and
living on for years afterwards as a drive-in staple. It’s a particular pleasure to bring Putney Swope back
to Bmore in 2014. We can’t wait to hear what DJ Spooky—who, among his many creative projects, is
himself a filmmaker and film theorist—has to say about it. (Eric Allen Hatch)
Biography DJ Spooky, aka Paul D. Miller, is the executive editor of ORIGIN Magazine and is a
composer, multimedia artist, editor and author. He's produced and composed works for such artists as
Yoko Ono and Thurston Moore, and scored award-winning films, including Alex Winter's Downloaded
(MFF 2013). Miller's work as a media artist has appeared in such museums and galleries as Whitney
Biennial; The Venice Biennial for Architecture; the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany; Kunsthalle,
Vienna; and The Andy Warhol Museum. His book Sound Unbound, an anthology of writings on
electronic music and digital media is a best-selling title for MIT Press. Recently, he has been an artistin-residence at MICA.
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Synopsis Penny Panayotopoulou’s striking and poetic second feature September is a stirring
examination of the themes of loss and transition. The film follows Anna (Kora Karvouni), a solitary
woman who eschews most human interaction in favor of lavishing all of her affection and attention
on her dog. When her only companion dies suddenly, she is left grief-stricken and rudderless. Living
in a city apartment and without a yard, she is faced with the difficult task of finding a place to inter
her beloved pet. She begins coveting the land of a neighboring family who owns a single home with a
spacious yard. Finally breaking her solitude, Anna approaches Sophia (Maria Skoula), the mother of
the family, about the possibility of laying her dog to rest in Sophia’s garden. Caught off guard, Sophia
grants the stranger’s request and begins an uneasy acquaintance with Anna. Anna finds solace in the
presence of Sophia and her family and begins to avail herself of their company more and more, not
always considering that her presence is at times disruptive to the family’s day-to-day functioning. As
her dependence on them grows, so does the turmoil it causes within the family unit.
Panayotopoulou is a filmmaker with wonderful insight and a keen sense of her characters, able to build
complex emotional realms which offer a rich viewing experience. While her film is bold and formally
audacious enough to be considered with the works of her Greek new wave contemporaries, it offers
a maturity and depth of character beyond that of many of her younger counterparts, avoiding the
direct assault of such lauded contemporary Greek films as Dogtooth or last year’s MFF shocker Boy
Eating The Bird’s Food in favor of a more subtle and emotionally resonant tone. Flirting in the realms
of psychological thriller and adult drama, the film defies the expectations of either category. (J. Scott
Braid)
Biography Penny Panayotopoulou was born in Athens. She studied law and political sciences at
the University of Athens. She then moved to London, where she received her BA in film directing
from Polytechnic of Central London (University of Westminster). Her debut film, Hard Goodbyes: My
Father, premiered at 55th Locarno Film Festival, and won the Golden Leopard for Best Actor. The film
received several festival prizes internationally and has been theatrically released in the US, UK, Japan,
and Germany, among others. Since then she has been writing directing and producing a number of
creative documentaries. September is her second feature film.
mdfilmfest.com
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fri may 9th, 4:30pm • mica gateway
sun may 11th, 2:30pm • ub business cntr
thu may 8, 4:00pm • mica brown cntr fri may 9th, 6:45pm • mica gateway
the strange little cat
stray dogs
germany • 2013 • 72 minutes
Director Ramon Zürcher
cast Jenny Schily, Anjorka Strechel, Mia Kasalo, Luk Pfaff, Matthias Dittmer, Armin Marewski, Leon
Alan Beiersdorf, Sabine Werner, Kathleen Morgeneyer, Monika Hetterle, Gustav Körner, Lea Draeger
taiwan • 2013 • 138 minutes
Director Tsai Ming-liang
cast Lee Kang-sheng, Yang Kuei-mei, Lu Yi-ching, Chen Shiang-chyi, Lee Yi-cheng, Lee Yi-chieh
Synopsis The Strange Little Cat pulls off a tone arguably never before delivered on film: gentle and
playful from its first moment to last, yet maintaining a sustained, indescribable air of eerie tension
hanging thick in the air throughout. Set in a Berlin apartment on a sunny afternoon, a compact
domestic scene soon bustles with activity as food is prepared, plans are made, and extended family
arrive. People, objects, and pets move in and out of the frame with a visual sensibility that owes
something to Robert Bresson and Chantal Akerman, yet with a lighter touch and sense of surprise all
its own.
Synopsis Tsai Ming-liang, whose feature I Don't Want to Sleep Alone and short Walker screened
within past MFFs, has always specialized in painterly long takes limited only by the length of a reel of
film. In this first digital feature, those limits no longer apply. The result is a master filmmaker pushing
his aesthetic to its extreme, holding some frames beyond the mark which film has led us to view as
some sort of “natural limit”—and breaking through this construct into terra incognita.
Director Ramon Zürcher conceived this film as a sort of moving-image sculpture—but if that sounds
dry, the results are anything but, delivering both brisk visual pleasure and ample moments of
accessible humor. It’s also perhaps worth mentioning that this project was developed in part through a
workshop with retired filmmaker Béla Tarr, and so may be of special interest to his fans—although it’s to
the credit of both Tarr and Zürcher that The Strange Little Cat looks and feels nothing like a Tarr film,
except in that it masterfully realizes its very idiosyncratic goals.
As with each of his prior features, Tsai's latest film finds its focus in enigmatic leading man Lee
Kang-sheng. This unique collaboration has extended over 25 years, and while each film functions
perfectly as a complete work in isolation, they can also be read collectively as one continuous
piece. Here Tsai situates Lee as a homeless guardian to two children in Taipei, thanklessly earning
meager pocket change braving the elements as a living billboard for a new condo development. With
moments both mundane and painful, as well as a few welcome explosions of Tsai’s truly bizarre sense
of humor, we experience with them lives lived on the margins of a rain-swept metropolis. Tsai has no
pat resolutions for his characters, but he clearly believes that life, even when lived under the worst of
circumstances, can offer a few glimpses of otherworldly beauty.
A standout at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, The Strange Little Cat is both a filmmaker’s
film and a highly enjoyable treat for audiences. It reminds us that are no limits to what film can
express—indeed, there are as many potential modes of cinema as there are facets to the human
personality. Happily, this is one of the freshest new modes of cinematic expression to emerge in some
time. (Eric Allen Hatch)
Never let it be said that our program notes are anything less than honest: Stray Dogs is a slow film,
one that may feel too slow for some viewers. But for the brave and the bold among you, the sort of
festivalgoer who cheered our 35mm print of The Turin Horse and luxuriated in all of Leviathan’s digital
dissonance, Stray Dogs might just be a revelation. And if you're already a Tsai convert, you know that
each new work from this master of cinema is a cause for celebration. (Eric Allen Hatch)
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thu may 8th, 10:00pm • mica gateway
sat may 10th, 9:00pm • windup space
summer of blood
thou wast mild and lovely
Director Onur Tukel
cast Anna Margaret Hollyman, Onur Tukel, Dakota Goldhor, Dustin Guy Defa, Melodie Sisk
hosts Anna Margaret Hollyman, Onur Tukel
Director/Host Josephine Decker
cast Joe Swanberg, Sophie Traub, Robert Longstreet, Kristin Slaysman, Matt Orme
Synopsis Ever wondered what would happen if a perpetual manchild with a crippling fear of
commitment had to commit to something that would far outlast any marriage—or any lifetime? Writer/
director Onur Tukel gives us the hilarious answers in his riotous dark comedy, Summer Of Blood.
Tukel stars as Erik, an immature and abrasive NYC dipster bumbling his way through life. Somehow,
he’s landed a decent job and a loving girlfriend, but as usual Erik can’t see the forest for the trees and
blows off the chance to take his relationship with Jody (Anna Margaret Hollyman) to the next level.
It’s a decision that may prove more costly than Erik could have imagined. After Jody is rebuffed she
checks out of the relationship, and Erik begins a freefall. Attempting to go on a dating and sex binge to
prove he made the right decision, Erik quickly finds out that Jody may have been one of the few that
could tolerate him, let alone tell him he was okay in bed. Walking home after a not-so-smooth attempt
to hit on a co-worker, Erik pauses at a deserted side street to stare at the water, in a rare moment of
introspection. As he stands there, a mysterious stranger (Dustin Guy Defa, director of MFF 2014’s
Person To Person) asks to join him. This chance meeting might finally change Erik’s ways... FOREVER!
Wickedly funny from start to finish, this biting (literally) dark comedy features fantastic performances
all around with Girls star Alex Karpovsky in a hilarious cameo as Erik’s co-worker and Dakota Goldhor
(of MFF 2013 shorts Lydia Hoffman Lydia Hoffman and Cavalier) as the object of Erik’s workplace
desire. If you love fast-paced humor, bad sex followed by good sex, gobs of gore, and a sizeable body
count, then you’ll want to sink your teeth into Summer of Blood. (J. Scott Braid)
Biography Onur Tukel is a filmmaker, writer/illustrator, and occasional actor. He co-starred in
Michael Tully's Septien (MFF 2011) and Alex Karpovsky's Red Flag, and recently wrote and directed
Richard’s Wedding. Anna Margaret Hollyman attended Sarah Lawrence College and graduated with
a concentration in Theater Arts and Art History. Among her many film credits are the shorts Adelaide
(MFF 2010) and Social Butterfly (MFF 2013's Opening Night) and the features The Color Wheel (MFF
2011), Gayby (MFF 2012), and White Reindeer (MFF 2013).
46
Synopsis Last year, MFF had the distinct pleasure of hosting the world premiere of director Josephine
Decker’s first solo feature film Butter On The Latch. That film, a dark rumination on jealousy and
alienation between two female friends, received great critical praise from its Baltimore screenings and
went on to great festival success, including the 2014 Berlinale back in February. Hot on the heels of
that film’s triumph, the prolific Decker has gifted us yet another bold work.
In many ways, Thou Wast Mild And Lovely (which premiered at Berlinale 2014) expands upon and
refines some of the themes explored in her previous film while offering a totally unique and surprising
viewing experience of its own. Akin (Joe Swanberg), a seasonal laborer, is hired at the farm of Jeremiah
(Robert Longstreet) and his daydreaming daughter Sarah (Sophie Traub). Akin’s presence only adds
to an already tumultuous father-daughter mix as the eerily overprotective Jeremiah is less than
pleased with Sarah’s attraction to his helper. Akin isn’t exactly an innocent bystander in all this, as he
has been less than forthcoming about the fact that he has a wife and child back home. Suffice it to
say, Sarah’s lusty feelings for him do nothing to dissuade this lack of disclosure. As the days pass, the
tension mounts—be it of the erotic or jealous variety—and the relationship between the three veers on
instability. When Akin’s wife shows up for a visit, the pot just might boil over, and the consequences
could be devastating for all involved.
Decker’s skillful direction maximizes wonderful performances from the perfectly understated
Swanberg, the scene-stealing Longstreet and the hauntingly haunted Traub. Lensed by DP Ashley
Connor, Thou Wast Mild And Lovely is filled with breathtaking imagery and infused with playful visual
surprises that keep the viewer guessing right up to the film’s audacious conclusion. (J. Scott Braid)
Biography After earning a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature and creative writing at
Princeton University, Josephine Decker studied literature, film studies, and political science in Buenos
Aires, Argentina. She began shooting her own short films in 2003. Today she works as a screenwriter,
director, editor, actress and producer. Her previous features Bi The Way (as co-director), Butter On The
Latch and her short Me The Terrible have all screened within previous MFFs.
mdfilmfest.com
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sat may 10th, 4:45pm • mica gateway
sun may 11th, 5:00pm • mica studio cntr
fri may 9th, 1:30pm • mica studio cntr sun may 11th, 11:00am • mica gateway
the vanquishing of the witch baba yaga
water like stone
USA/RUSSIA • 2014 • 73 minutes
Director/Host Jessica Oreck
Directors Zack Godshall and Michael Pasquier
subjects Roy Martin, Windell Curole, Paul Chiquet, Jeffrey Bennet, Bobby Bryan, Songa Gardner
Host Zack Godshall
Synopsis Jessica Oreck’s excellent earlier features Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (MFF 2009) and
Aatsinki: The Story of Arctic Cowboys (MFF 2013) reorient viewers to another corner of the globe, and
dig deep into a specific bond between the people of that region and the natural world: in the former,
Japanese insect collectors, and in the latter, reindeer herders of the Finnish Lapland. Each film also
approached its subject with a different energy—Beetle Queen kinetic and mysterious, Aatsinki quiet
and immersive.
Oreck’s stunning new feature shares these concerns, yet feels without precedent. The Vanquishing
of the Witch Baba Yaga takes us deep into Eastern Europe’s haunted woodlands for a meditation on
collective memory. Various accounts of the mythic forest-dwelling witch Baba Yaga are assembled
into one unified narrative that serves as the connective thread running through an anthropological
exploration of a contemporary Eastern Europe marked by memories of war, famine, and other
disasters.
In approaching this material, Oreck has created a tour-de-force that bridges experimental film,
documentary, animation, folklore, and essay. Integral to this project are expressive cinematography
from Sean Price Williams (known for films as different as Beetle Queen, Frownland, and Listen Up
Philip), and complex sound design that adds to these visuals a fascinating layer of friction at once
psychedelic and futuristic. The sum total reminds one of nothing so much as Chris Marker’s Sans
Soleil, another brilliant film that wove multiple techniques and subjects into a profound statement that
felt simultaneously modern yet timeless, personal yet universal, foreign yet close to home. (Eric Allen
Hatch)
Biography Jessica Oreck's award-winning first feature-length documentary Beetle Queen Conquers
Tokyo played MFF 2009, had a world-wide theatrical release, and aired on PBS' Independent Lens
series in 2011. Her second feature Aatsinki: The Story of Arctic Cowboys screened at MFF 2013 and
went on to an international realease.
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Synopsis Leeville, Louisiana is a town in jeopardy, threatened by the fast-disappearing coastal
wetlands of the Gulf Coast. It’s not just a piece of land that is at stake here, but a centuries-old way of
life, and the only home many of its residents have known.
A community brimming over with colorful characters and a vibrant history, Leeville is a fishing village
which dates back to the early 1800s. The town exists on the outskirts of the existing levee system,
prey to rising sea levels, and powerful storms. Trouble began in the early 20th century when oil and
gas interests began carving up the wetlands with canal systems. The town has now been reduced to a
narrow strip of land with much of its formerly protective wetlands now under water. A shocking illustration of this is that many of its historic graveyards are now subject to daily tidal flooding. Each year
and increasingly with each major storm that comes ashore, the town loses more land area, more homes
and thus more of its residents. Given the accompanying economic decline, some residents are unable
to rebuild and others are understandably just looking for a more stable place to live. Regardless, many
hang on, in the face of what seems like an inevitable downward spiral and find ways to make it work. It
is the inspirational character, resolve, and resilience of these earthy people that makes this community
so fascinating and this story so special.
Directors Zack Godshall and Michael Pasquier craft a hauntingly beautiful portrait of a threatened way
of life in a community that could just as easily exist on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Their
keen eyes and warmly humanistic approach to telling the stories of the everyday people of Leeville
remind us that there are big lessons to be learned even in the smallest of places. (J. Scott Braid)
Biography Zack Godshall lives in South Louisiana, where he makes fictional and documentary
films. His first two narrative films Low and Behold (MFF 2008) and Lord Byron (2011), both doc-fiction
hybrids, premiered at Sundance. Lord Byron was a New York Times Critics’ Pick. His first documentary,
the award-‐winning God’s Architects (MFF 2010), screened at film festivals and in museums around the
country before being broadcast on the Documentary Channel.
Sponsored by
mdfilmfest.com
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fri may 9th, 4:00pm • mica brown cntr
fri may 9th, 9:00pm • walters museum
whitey: united states of america v. james J. Bulger
who took johnny
Director/Host Joe Berlinger
subject James J. "Whitey" Bulger
Directors/Hosts David Beilinson, Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley
subjects Noreen Gosch, John Walsh, John Gosch
Synopsis The notorious Boston crime kingpin James “Whitey” Bulger ran South Boston for years, but
his reputation went far beyond his neighborhood. Whitey worked with the FBI and others for years,
using bits of information to keep them away from his operation, but he has vehemently denied being
an informant. In 1995, he was indicted for racketeering and disappeared for 16 years, despite being on
the FBI’s Most Wanted List for much of that time. In 2013, at the age of 84, he was finally convicted on
31 counts, including 11 murders. He is now serving two life sentences in federal prison in Arizona.
Synopsis Early one morning in 1982, West Des Moines paperboy Johnny Gosch disappeared in the
midst of his route, presumed abducted. With few clues as to his whereabouts, and frustrated by the
local authorities’ response, Johnny’s parents launched a very public campaign seeking information
about his whereabouts. Johnny’s face began appearing on milk cartons, not only publicizing his case
but also helping catapult the issue of missing children into the public consciousness... yet Johnny
remained missing. Over the decades, disturbing allegations and shocking theories have come forward—
some pointing to a conspiracy of horrific proportions.
Joe Berlinger’s films have always demonstrated his unusual ability to get subjects to trust him, and this
film has extraordinary interviews with FBI agents, various prosecutors, and intimate encounters with
Bulger’s former crime associates, some of whom became victims of his violence. Most amazingly, this
is the first time Whitey Bulger has participated with any media in his long career, and it will likely be
the last. While Bulger is still focused on his image, this film asks profound questions about how law
enforcement and crime figures can intermingle in ways that have little to do with justice. (Jed Dietz)
Biography Joe Berlinger has been a noted documentary filmmaker since Brother’s Keeper won the
Audience Award at Sundance in 1992. The fascinating Paradise Lost trilogy changed the legal course of
a murder trial, and Crude is a key part of the ongoing discussion about protecting filmmakers’ sources.
MFF audiences have been longstanding admirers of his work, including Under African Skies (MFF
2012).
sun may 11th, 1:30pm • walters museum
The only comparisons that do Who Took Johnny justice are to some of the all-time heavy-hitters of
true-crime documentary—films like Capturing the Friedmans, The Thin Blue Line, and the Paradise
Lost trilogy. It’s a viewing experience of that magnitude, keeping viewers on the edge of their seat as
mind-blowing new details continue to come forward, calling into question everyone on screen and
everything we think we know. In the process, it delivers an unsettling descent into the troubled psyche
lurking just beneath the idyllic veneer of Reagan-era America.
The team behind Battle for Brooklyn and Horns and Halos (MFF 2003) has uncovered an incredible
story full of mystery, shock, and suspense, and their presentation of it is masterful. For those willing to
grapple with the dark side of human nature and the American experience, there isn’t a more gripping
documentary experience than Who Took Johnny. (Eric Allen Hatch)
Biography The partners behind production studio Rumur Inc., David Beilinson, Michael Galinsky
and Suki Hawley, have collaborated on award-winning documentary films for over 10 years, including
Horns and Halos (MFF 2003), Code 33 (2005), and Battle For Brooklyn (2011). Their collaborations
with HBO, A&E, MSNBC, and PBS have garnered critical acclaim.
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Sponsored by
stephanie & ashton carter
mdfilmfest.com
51
Fri may 9th, 4:30pm • ub langsdale
sat may 10th, 7:15pm • ub langsdale
fri may 9th, 6:00pm • ub business cntr sat may 10th, 11:30am • ub business cntr
wild canaries
young bodies heal quickly
Director/Host Lawrence Michael Levine
cast Sophia Takal, Lawrence Michael Levine, Alia Shawkat, Annie Parisse, Jason Ritter, Kevin Corrigan
Director/Host Andrew T. Betzer
cast Julie Sokolowski, Hale Lytle, Gabriel Croft, Daniel P. Jones, Kate Lyn Sheil, Alexandre Marouani
Synopsis Writer/director Lawrence Michael Levine (MFF 2010’s Gabi On The Roof In July) makes a
fantastic return to the festival with this smart and hilarious feature, comprising a highly entertaining
blend of screwball comedy and murder mystery wrapped around the core of a relationship film.
Synopsis Young Bodies Heal Quickly is a picaresque road movie adventure, stocked with some of the
most confounding images you’ll find at the festival. At times strange, humorous, and poignant, director
Andrew T. Betzer’s feature debut quietly observes the psychological wear of two brothers thrust into
the world and forced to mature.
Wild Canaries centers on bumbling twenty-something Brooklynite, Barri (played with great aplomb by
MFF regular Sophia Takal), as she becomes convinced that foul play was involved in the death of her
elderly neighbor. Meanwhile, her thirty-something, jaded and grumpy husband-to-be, Noah (a hilarious
and adept performance from Levine), does everything in his power to reign in what he sees as foolish
speculation and meddlesome tendencies on the part of his fiance. Enter the couple’s roommate Jean
(an outstanding turn by Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat), whose maybe-not-so-platonic feelings
towards Barri increase tensions in the household and may help to inform her belief that Barri is on
to something. As the plot thickens, so too does the pre-marital discord. An outstanding ensemble
cast fleshes out the rest of the film including Kevin Corrigan (Martin Scorsese’s The Departed) as the
decedent’s vaguely creepy son and Jason Ritter as the couple’s boozing artist landlord who has secrets
of his own.
Wild Canaries’ interplay between genres and themes forms an elegant and uproarious whole that
showcases the filmmakers’ many talents, upping the ante on their previous works. A highly entertaining
and carefully crafted film that gleefully and smartly references the likes of Woody Allen’s Manhattan
Murder Mystery and Peter Bogdanovich’s What’s Up Doc? and their genre-classic forebearers, while
maintaining a thoroughly modern sense of life in 21st century New York. As if the pressures of big city
living and an impending marriage weren’t enough, there just might be a killer loose in the building! (J.
Scott Braid)
Biography Lawrence Michael Levine is the award-winning writer, director and star of the critically
acclaimed feature film, Gabi On The Roof In July (MFF 2010). Lawrence also produced and starred in
Sophia Takal’s Green (SXSW, MFF 2011). Wild Canaries is his third feature as a writer/director.
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Sponsored by
Reunited after the elder escapes incarceration, the two brothers revel in their summer days, shooting
BB guns and trashing abandoned cars, until their accidental killing of a young girl forces them to flee.
The siblings’ abetting mother sends them off in seek of refuge, supplying them with a car and a modest
wad of cash. Down the road, chance encounters with outlandish characters await. They enrage their
unwelcoming older sister, entertain a troubled hotel maid, and feud with a violent French chef. When
they eventually arrive at their estranged father’s place, it becomes clear why they were separated in
the first place.
Primarily shot handheld, the off-the-cuff look of Young Bodies perfectly complements the sense of
immediacy in its narrative. The 16mm grain instills a sense of nostalgia, fitting for the road movie
subject. Where Betzer’s film especially succeeds however, is in your memory of it—images ferment,
revealing their significance over time. The movie may be quiet, but it’s also transgressive in both
content and structure, unfolding with an episodic and cyclical form in which each major event is a
seeming reference to, or inversion of, another. (Mitchell Goodrich)
Biography Andrew T. Betzer’s short films have played in numerous festivals, including Cannes,
London Film Festival, Rotterdam, AFI, Torino, and Slamdance. In 2009, he was named one of
Filmmaker’s "25 New Faces Of Independent Film." His short film, Small Apartment (MFF 2008), won
the Grand Jury Award for best narrative short film at the SXSW; and another short, John Wayne Hated
Horses (MFF 2009), was an official selection of the 2009 Cannes Directors' Fortnight. Young Bodies
Heal Quickly is Andrew’s first feature film as writer and director.
mdfilmfest.com
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free outdoor screenings in the tent village
friday may 9th at 9pm • double feature
free outdoor screenings in the tent village
saturday may 10th at 9pm
brewmore | baltimore • usa • 2014 • 65 minutes
positive force: more than a witness • usa • 2014 • 85 minutes
directed by Nicholas Kovacic II
Brewmore | Baltimore is the story of one of the largest industries in the United States:
beer. At nearly $100 billion in annual sales, the U.S. beer market is ever growing. This
film focuses on the beer industry from a localized perspective in the city of Baltimore,
Maryland. Like many urban centers across the country, Baltimore is seeing revitalization
in its downtown and expanding city limits as well as a reemergence of its beer industry.
Authors Maureen O’Prey (Brewing in Baltimore) and Rob Kasper (Baltimore Beer)
chronicle the rich, storied history of beer in Charm City along with an eclectic cast of
local brewers and entrepreneurs. Brewmore | Baltimore is not just about beer making in
one city, but about an economy that shaped American culture.
directed by Robin Bell
This exciting documentary skillfully mixes rare archival footage (including electrifying
live performances from Fugazi, Bikini Kill, One Last Wish, Nation of Ulysses, Crispus
Attucks, Anti-Flag, and more) with new interviews with key Positive Force activists
like co-founder Mark Andersen (co-author of Dance of Days) and supporters such as
Ian MacKaye, Ted Leo, and Riot Grrrl co-founder Allison Wolfe. Covering a span of 30
years, More Than A Witness documents Positive Force’s Reagan-era origins, the creation
of its communal house, FBI harassment, and the rise of a vibrant underground that
burst into the mainstream amidst controversy over both the means and the ends of the
movement.
welcome to deathfest • usa • 2014 • 48 minutes
directed by Tom Grahsler & Alicia Lozano
Each year, metalheads and mutants descend on downtown Baltimore like a brood of
cicadas. They make the pilgrimage from across the region, country and world. They
come to see bands like Bolt Thrower, Electric Wizard and Neurosis, waiting all year for
the four days that make up Maryland Deathfest, and then they rage.
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While other fests lean on corporate sponsors and beer banners to pay for everything,
Ryan Taylor and Evan Harting have dedicated their lives to doing it on their own. They
book the bands, they book the hotels, they book the vendors and they book the venue.
This is a peek at what goes on behind the scenes of the country’s premier extreme
music festival.
mdfilmfest.com
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fr may 9th, 8:45pm mica studio • sa may 10th, 1:30pm windup • su may 11th, 2:15pm mica studio
animated shorts
animated shorts (continued)
77 Minutes
77 Minutes
ALFRED JARRY & ‘PATAPHYSICS
the alligator
2 Minutes
Director Skizz Cyzyk
2 Minutes
Director Alexandra Barsky
In this 2-minute animated documentary, an oral
report on French writer Alfred Jarry is given
stop-motion treatment with the help of talking
t-shirts, flip-book pages, and time-lapse lino-cut
printing. Jarry is best known for his play, Ubu Roi,
and his pseudo-science, 'Pataphysics.
Two creatures are trapped together in a swamp.
Tension escalates between them when an
alligator haunts the waters outside.
CAVEIRÃO (THE MASTER'S VOICE) i love you so much
10 Minutes • Brazil
Director Guilherme Marcondes
4 Minutes
Director Leah Shore
Caveirão imagines the secret night activities of
São Paulo’s spirits. Inspired by the darker side of
Brazilian pop culture, the film crosses over genres
and techniques. Fantasy, horror and cartoon
meet through live-action and animation.
Two people who love each other so much.
56
LORD I: THE RECORDS KEEPER
move mountain
15 Minutes
Director Lori Damiano
11 Minutes
Director Kirsten Lepore
The story of a distracted yet devoted archivist
learning to shake off the mental barnacles of
the past and evade egocentric projections of the
future in order to locate and witness the present
moment.
A girl journeys through a vibrant, pulsing,
macrocosmic landscape, but a precipitous
incident compels her to venture up a mountain in
an attempt to save herself. A story about illness,
perseverance, and our connection to everything
around us.
the orphan and the polar
bear
symphony no. 42
9 Minutes
Director Neil Christopher
According to Inuit oral history, long ago animals
had the power of speech, could shift their
appearances, and could even assume human
form. In The Orphan and the Polar Bear, a
neglected orphan is adopted by a polar bear
elder. Under the bear's guidance, the little
orphan learns the skills he will need to survive
and provide for himself.
10 Minutes • Hungary
Director Réka Bucsi
The film presents 47 observations on the
irrational connections between human and
nature.
mdfilmfest.com
57
th may 8th, 7:30pm mica studio • fr may 9th, 4:30pm windup • sa may 10th, 11:00am windup
animated shorts (continued)
avant-garde shorts
77 Minutes
82 Minutes
unicorn blood
yearbook
9 Minutes • spain
Director Alberto Vazquez
5 Minutes
Director Bernardo Britto
Two teddy bears go hunting unicorns, their
favorite prey. Unicorns have tender flesh and
delicious blueberry-flavoured blood which the
bears need to stay cute-looking…
A man is hired to compile the definitive history of
human existence before the planet blows up.
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DEAD RATS OF BALTIMORE
eager
6 Minutes
Director Jimmy Joe Roche
8 Minutes
Director Allison Schulnik
Dead rats in the streets of Baltimore are like
stains we'd rather ignore, psychological blind
spots that we've built in our minds. My video
work often deals with these stains. I identify with
the dead rats. I’ve been in the street with my
insides bleeding. We are not so far from dead
rats, always teetering on the edge of wretchedness and the possibility of a meat grinder
scenario.
Eager is a traditional, stop-motion and
clay-mation film ballet by painter/animator
Allison Schulnik. It is a celebration of the moving
painting. Although there is a beginning, middle
and end, what it retains in traditional material
and methods, it avoids in narrative structure. It is
an uncertain account of what exists somewhere
between tragedy and farce.
home near water
THE NOVICE CLAIRALIENT
16 Minutes
Director Christopher Lange
10 Minutes
Director Tom Borax
Brad attempts to preserve love within his dying
marriage, which coincides with his gradual
transformation into a fish-like creature. Filmed
in a painterly style, this experimental drama
flows with visual and musical vigor, reflecting
the existential and spiritual transformation of its
main character.
The Novice Clairalient is a dark/olfactory
comedy/fantasy set in a city not unlike Baltimore
during the silent film era. It abuses the sorcerer's
apprentice narrative cliché in order to imagine
a state of mind in which all information, from
the mundane to the numinous, enters the self
through the nostrils.
mdfilmfest.com
59
avant-garde shorts (continued)
avant-garde shorts (continued)
82 Minutes
82 Minutes
real ethereal
14 Minutes
Director Evan Mann
pull/drift
10 Minutes
Director Margaret Rorison
Constructed without regard to a preconceived
plot, this video was formed like a puzzle. Each
video segment was shifted in various orders
and a loose narrative began to form. Transitions
were then created to link ambiguous sections of
video together. The end result creates a video
organism, with many parts that come together to
form a whole.
Baltimore filmmaker Margaret Rorison has
documented a special dance performance
choreographed by Clarissa Stowell Gregory and
performed by The Effervescent Collective. This
unique performance took place on September
8, 2013 in Patapsco State Park in Maryland. The
16mm footage has been hand edited by Rorison
to create a new imaginary narrative. Soundtrack
written and composed by musician Josh Millrod.
A TONGUE SILENT LIKE YOUR
WORDS
6 Minutes • taiwan
Director Vita Weichen Hsu
A journey in search of our essential self. To
understand and to believe in who we are. Of our
given identity, sexuality and the unspeakable
and unreachable desire, the longing even we,
ourselves, regard as unbearable to look at. It
is not possible to utter a word for a forbidden
thought. A contradictory craving for a simultaneous intimacy and separation, distance is
unmeasurable and unbearable both physically
and mentally. The body is the house is the body
of the house of desire.
xxx
4 Minutes
Director Julie Orser
XXX appropriates porno magazines in an
animated video to take an abstract and satirical
look at the porn industry of the late 1970’s and
early 1980’s when the use of videotape gained
popularity.
through the hawthorn
8 Minutes • uk
Directors Anna Benner, Pia Borg, Gemma Burditt
Sam has stopped taking his medication - he still
doesn't think he is ill. His mother found him
swimming naked in a freezing river in the middle
of the night. The doctor thinks Sam should try a
different medication. Three directors follow one
of the characters through their experience of the
session in a triptych exploring three very different
senses of reality.
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mdfilmfest.com
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fri may 9th, 8:45pm • ub business cntr
sat may 10th, 4:00pm • windup
chaos reigns shorts
character study shorts
76 Minutes
79 Minutes
buffalo juggalos
former things
30 Minutes
Director Scott Cummings
15 Minutes
Director Adam R. Brown
An experimental exploration and celebration
of the Juggalo subculture in Buffalo, New York.
Long and static takes of Juggalos engaged in their
favorite activities, first and foremost: causing
mayhem. Among these seemingly random acts
of the everyday preening, sexual gratification,
backyard wrestling, explosions and destruction, a
tentative narrative begins to emerge.
A travel-worn survivor returns home to take care
of his father's body.
gary has an aids scare
master muscles
17 Minutes
Director Joe Callander
14 Minutes
Director Efrén Hernández
A found footage nightmare about one man's
personal hell. “She said she had a latex allergy.”
Veronica and Efrén go on a trip.
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be with me (the notebook)
the immaculate reception
16 Minutes
Director Zach Clark
17 Minutes
Director Charlotte Glynn
A woman walks into a video store and makes a
sad, strange request.
It's 1972 in the hardworking steel town of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sixteen-year-old Joey
has the chance to prove himself when his crush
ends up at his house to watch the infamous
football game between the Steelers and the
Raiders.
i will paint your spirit
nailed it
6 Minutes
Director Jason Giampietro
8 Minutes
Director Jean-Paul DiSciscio
An abstract portrait artist buys a laptop from a
shady character in a city park. After opening it
at home, he finds images of a beautiful woman, a
man who adores her, and a link to a mysterious
website.
A struggling actor finds work modeling, but at the
price of his dignity.
mdfilmfest.com
63
sat may 10th, 4:00pm • windup
th may 8th, 5:00pm mica studio • fr may 9th, 2:00pm windup • su may 11th, 2:30pm windup
character study shorts (continued)
documentary shorts
79 Minutes
88 Minutes
person to person
super sleuths
18 Minutes
Director Dustin Guy Defa
14 Minutes
Director Benjamin Dickinson
Waking up the morning after hosting a party, a
man discovers a stranger passed out on his floor.
He spends the rest of the day trying to convince
her to leave.
Marie and Sally Blue Frankenfrass are your
average best friends cum actresses cum
detectives. One day, Marie takes a break from
her own heartache/horniness to help Sally find
her missing boyfriend, Bernard. Their journey
takes them all over town. Along the way, the team
experiences moments of contradiction, stupidity,
astral projection, nonsense, and sadness.
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80 to 90 ft
bingo night
8 Minutes
Director Jason Kohl
22 Minutes
Director Conor Fetting-Smith
A Native American fishing couple negotiate the
changing waters beneath them.
What do over-sized sunglasses, leopardprint tights, and fake eyelashes all have in
common? Bingo, apparently. The subjects of the
documentary Bingo Night are all bingo hosts
who put their own zany spin on an old game and
create a unique show of their own.
the chaperone
cinema time capsule
13 Minutes • canada
Directors Fraser Munden, Neil Rathbone
6 Minutes
Director Scott Norwood
The previously untold, true story of a lone
teacher chaperoning a school dance in 1970s
Montreal, when a menacing motorcycle gang
invades.
The Avon Cinema in Providence, Rhode Island
opened its doors for the first time in 1938. Join
its owner and staff for the celebration of its 75th
anniversary.
mdfilmfest.com
65
th may 8th, 5:00pm mica studio • fr may 9th, 2:00pm windup • su may 11th, 2:30pm windup
thu may 8th, 8:00pm • windup space
DOCUMENTARY shorts (continued)
drama shorts
88 Minutes
68 Minutes
david hockney in the now
(in six minutes)
the silly bastard next to the
bed
6 Minutes
Director Lucy Walker
11 Minutes
Director Scott Calonico
The sexy story of the iconic British artist David
Hockney, who is adamant about living life in the
now.
JFK handles a scandal over some pricey
bedroom furniture in the last summer of his
presidency.
fri, may 9th, 1:00pm • ub business cntr
baby mary
big girl
9 Minutes
Director Kris Swanberg
16 Minutes
Director Lisa Melodia
Shot with non-actors on the west side of Chicago,
Baby Mary is the story of eight-year-old Kiara,
who finds a neglected toddler and decides to
take her home.
A six-year-old girl tries to maintain a sense of
control on the day her mom lies to keep her out
of school.
fruit
11 Minutes • australia
Director Madeleine Parker
that b.e.a.t.
WHAT KIND OF MAN
9 Minutes
Director Abteen Bagheri
13 Minutes
Director Kamau Bilal
That B.E.A.T. delves deep into the sensational
sounds of New Orleans’ bounce music, paying
particular attention to the phenomenon of the
sissy bounce sub-culture. Beware: Booty poppin.
Little league, high school and college: Nate
Brinkley has been playing football his entire
life. Now, as an adult with a family, he plays in a
semi-pro league for the love of the game. But in
the first game of the 2011 season, an injury forces
him to consider his life’s priorities.
66
In an inner-city brothel, a naive newcomer asks
an experienced working girl a question, which
forces one of them to make a choice and the
other to accept the one she has already made.
mdfilmfest.com
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fri, may 9th, 1:00pm • ub business cntr
fr may 9th, 11:15pm mica studio • sa may 10th, 6:30pm windup • su may 11th, 4:45pm windup
drama shorts (continued)
during laughter comes tears shorts
68 Minutes
80 Minutes
housekeeping
skunk
16 Minutes
Director Catherine Licata
16 Minutes
Director Annie Silverstein
Charlotte and Elliott's domestic idyll is destroyed
by an unexpected arrival.
Raised by a single mother on an isolated
subdivision in rural Texas, fourteen-year-old
Leila's deepest connection is with her pack of
rescued dogs. When her beloved pit bull is stolen
by an aspiring dog fighter, Leila is forced to stand
up for herself, at the cost of her own innocence.
68
chocolate heart
cruising electric (1980)
6 Minutes
Director Harrison Atkins
2 Minutes
Director Brumby Boylston
Owen never learned about sex or relationships
from his parents, since they turned into cats. But
today, with the help of a human girl, Owen is
going to learn a lot.
The marketing department green-lights a
red-light tie-in: 60 lost seconds of modern movie
merchandising.
funnel
peepers
7 Minutes
Director Andre Hyland
6 Minutes
Director Ken Lam
When a man’s car breaks down, it sends him on a
quest across town that slowly turns into the most
fantastically mundane adventure.
A couple fears they are being watched and find it
impossible to eat soup.
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69
during laughter comes tears (continued)
during laughter comes tears (continued)
80 Minutes
80 Minutes
rat pack rat
shawnsey's revenge
18 Minutes
Director Todd Rohal
5 Minutes
Director Linas Phillips
A Sammy Davis, Jr. impersonator, hired to visit
with a loyal Rat Pack fan, finds himself delivering
last rites at the boy's bedside.
Shawnsey is struggling to become a famous
comedian so he can win back the heart of his
ex-girlfriend. He finally gets her to come to an
open mic, only to be cock-blocked by a heckler.
But Shawnsey gets the last laugh. Co-directed by
Christian Anderson.
waiting for berta
whiffed out
14 Minutes
Director Laimir Fano
12 Minutes
Director Jason Giampietro
Two Miami women in their 80's rekindle a blood
feud that dates back 50 years and 90 miles to the
Cuban Revolution. Now Adela seeks retribution
for the terrible things Berta did to her when she
was in the revolutionary Communist army.
An abandoned bicycle in a narrow hallway ruins
an anxious New Yorker's summer, while his shifty
friend hopes to stave off eviction from a charity
foundation's apartment by getting hired as a pizza
deliveryman.
ving rhames
10 Minutes
Director Dean Peterson
Things have been better for Dani: she got kicked
out of her apartment for drunkenly mistaking
her boyfriend's boss for Ving Rhames, she's out
of money and her rent is due. Despite all that
she manages to form an unlikely bond with
a mysterious stranger wearing an Air Jordan
windbreaker.
70
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th may 8th, 10:00pm mica studio • fr may 9th, 11:00pm ub biz • sa may 10th, 11:30pm windup
th may 8th, 10:00pm mica studio • fr may 9th, 11:00pm ub biz • sa may 10th, 11:30pm windup
faster, wtf shorts! kill! kill!
faster, wtf shorts! kill! kill! (continued)
85 Minutes
85 Minutes
beasts in the real world
best sound
8 Minutes • canada
Director Sol Friedman
6 Minutes
Director Josh Polon
An experimental mixed-media short that
explores the tenuous connections between a
naturalist, a rare land-mammal, some ghosts and
a pair of sushi chefs.
Trent and Chris go on a sonic journey.
chapel perilous
the greggs
14 Minutes
Director Matthew Lessner
20 Minutes
Directors Bruce Bundy, Nigel DeFriez, Jessie
Levandov, Robert Malone, Alex Mechanik, Kira
Pearson, Jonathan Rosenblit
Levi Gold is paid an unexpected visit by Robin,
a door-to-door salesman with nothing to sell.
The ensuing encounter forces Levi to confront
his true mystical calling, as well as the nature of
reality itself. A metaphysical comedy freakout
with Sun Araw.
The esoteric and secluded group responsible
for the creation of the world's standardized tests
must find a way to adapt when their way of life is
threatened by dissent within their ranks.
box room
c#ckfight
pineal warriors
wawd ahp
15 Minutes • ireland
Director Michael Lathrop
10 Minutes
Director Julian Yuri Rodriguez
10 Minutes
Directors Otto von Schirach, Egon von Schirach
2 Minutes
Director Steve Girard
A strange and solitary boy discovers a seductive
creature growing in his bedroom wall.
A deconstructed adaptation of “Dante’s Inferno,”
taking place at a bath-salt fueled fighting ring in
Miami’s underworld.
Miami Bass legend Otto von Schirach saves
Miami from the evil inter-dimensional reptiles
known as the Annunaki, with some help from
friends Blowfly and Rat Bastard in the world's
first Cuban-American superhero story.
A man raps in the mirror, cuts his head off, and
has sex with it. There is also a cartoon.
72
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fri may 9th, 11:00am • mica studio cntr
fri may 9th, 11:00am • mica studio cntr
international shorts
international shorts (continued)
89 Minutes
89 Minutes
la hija (the daughter)
lambing season
perfidia (gloom)
teufel (devil)
5 Minutes • spain
Director Jazmín Rada
15 Minutes • ireland
Director Jeannie Donohoe
25 Minutes • Mexico
Director David Figueroa García
29 Minutes • germany
Director Lisa Bierwirth
Fátima wants to play, but her father is too busy.
She has imagination and some special balloons...
An American woman travels to the Irish
countryside in search of her long-lost father,
only to find her path full of sheep, secrets, and
shenanigans.
When Lucia’s father dies under mysterious
circumstances, the hierarchies of the household
shift, and Lázaro, the driver, feels that this might
be his only chance to resolve his desire for
her. Without realizing it, Lázaro will be caught
between Lucia’s attempts to exorcise the demons
left from the relationship with her father and
this attraction, which, slowly, is turning into an
obsession.
May is a 14-year-old girl, raised by her grandparents in a provincial German village. Behind a
seemingly idyllic facade, rigid structures shape
her everyday life. On a hot summer day, May’s
interest in the Polish boy Piotr, who is doing
repair work on her grandparents’ house with his
father, is sparked by pure boredom. May faces
Piotr provocatively at first. Finally, the two get
closer. A story that began with a brief moment of
tenderness ends with betrayal.
MORE THAN TWO HOURS
15 Minutes • iran
Director Ali Asgari
It’s 3 a.m. A boy and a girl are wandering the city.
They are looking for a hospital to cure the girl,
but it’s much harder than they thought.
74
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75
fri may 9th, 3:45pm • mica studio cntr
sat may 10th, 2:15pm • ub business
fri may 9th, 3:45pm • mica studio cntr
sat may 10th, 2:15pm • ub business
narrative shorts
NARRATIVE shorts (continued)
89 Minutes
89 Minutes
afronauts
aftermath
13 Minutes
Director Frances Bodomo
20 Minutes
Director Jeremy Robbins
It's July 16, 1969: America is preparing to launch
Apollo 11. Thousands of miles away, the Zambia
Space Academy hopes to beat America to the
moon in this film inspired by true events.
In a new, predatory ice age, two brothers search
for a place to call home.
possum
straight down low
17 Minutes
Director Eleanor Wilson
25 Minutes
Director Zach Wechter
On the weekend of Halloween, an unsettling
encounter with a dead possum forces a grieving
young couple to reconnect.
Straight Down Low is a neo-noir set in the inner
city. A shrewd high school detective must solve
a curious gangland crime to protect the girl he
loves.
jonathan's chest
14 Minutes
Director Christopher Radcliff
Everything changes one night for Alex, a troubled
teenager, when he is visited by a boy claiming to
be his brother—who disappeared years earlier.
76
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77
the 2014 maryland film festival staff
special thanks to:
year-round staff
Kristen Anchor
Rob Dickerson
Aurora Lagang
Fred Scharmen
Jody Andrade
Debbie Donaldson Dorsey
Katie Lambright
Cara Shaffer
Ray Astor
Bruto Dougherty
Victoria Legrand
Kendra Shaw
Abby Baer
Caitlín Dougherty
Clay Liford
Alan Shecter
Mathew Bainbridge
Carla Dunlap
Jon Lipitz
Alison Shecter
Baltimore Video Collective
Clyde Duplichan
Joe Long
Mike Shecter
Hanly Banks
Jared Earley
Christopher Mahoney
Paul Siegel
"Secret Weapon" Dave Barresi
John Eaton
Susan Malone
Ravinder Singh
Bennu Coffee
Wilfried Eckstein
Jeremy Martin
Josh Sisk
Katy Bishop
Angie Elliott
Melissa Mauro
Krystala Skordalos
Jessica Bizik
Adama Fall
Maureen Masters
Kyle Smith
Amy Blomquist
Khadim Fall
Mark Max
Soup's On
Rachel Bone
Liam Flynn
Jaimes Mayhew
Anne South
Michael Bouyoucas
April Forte
Dick McClary
Alix Tobey Southwick
Audrey Bowman
Marian Glebes
Jeff McGrath
Heather St. Clair
Bill & Andy Braid
Eon Gattignolo
Joe McNeely
John Standiford
Mariel Braid
Jack Gerbes
Scott Meixel
Patrick Storck
Pam Braid
Sara Gerrish
Anthony Mills
Nolen Strals
Hannah Brancato
Adrienne Gieszl
Jennifer Mizgata
Reggie Stroud
Dan Brawley
Greg Golinski
Becca Morrin
John Sturgeon
Bill Butler
Joan Grabowski
Christian Mortlock
Sarah Templin
Ron Cabral
Matt Grady
Bryan Morton
Tricia L. Thomas
Winona Caesar
Allison Gulick
Keith Mullaney
Sarah Tooley
Bill Callahan
Kevin Haberl
Kevin Mullaney
Lucia A Treasure
Canteen
Randy Hadaway
Manny Nicolaidis
TriBeCa Coffee Roasters
Fran Carmen
Siobhan Hagan
David O'Brien
Jennifer Troy
Miranda Carnessale
Jina Hall
Scott Opirhory
Natasha Tylea
William Cashion
Morgan Hammond
Jay Orr
UMBC Cinematic Arts
Charmington's
Phil Hartman
Ryan C. Ortman
Zack Vabolis
Rose Chase
Sun Hashmi
Asa Osborne
Ashland Viscosi
Wigam Chase
Pat & David Hatch
Ziggy Otter
Ken Wallace
Mark Colegrove
Mark Heishman
Mark Peightel
Meredith Ward
The Compound
Holly Herrick
Scott Pennington
Melissa Warlow
Adrienne Conn
Christine Herz
Jacob Perlin
David Wells
Rococo Conn
Russell Hite
Lola Pierson
Gerrit Welmers
Ann Costlow
Joanne Huey
Matt Porterfield
Sarah Werner
Eric Cotten
Stephanie Hughes
Nick Prevas
Shan White
Erin Coyle
Iggies
Matt Purdy
Varnis Whitley
Monique Crabb
Ray Iturralde
Gerry Quinn
Bruce Willen
Fiona Crowley
Alison James
Benn Ray
Sean Williams
Brian Daniloski
Ady Lopez Jimenez
Red Emma's
Nick Wisnewski
Anna Danz
Lee Johnson
Frances Rehak
Fred Worden
Navin Dass
Elena Johnston
Frank Rehak
Patrick Wright
Amy Davis
Jacob Joseph
Bryan Reisberg
Karen Yasinsky
Phil Davis
Sam Juengel
Kitt Repass
Amanda Yonkers
Za Dawson
Pat Karzai
Melanie Robey
Landon Zakheim
Dan Deacon
Karen Kaskel
Jimmy Joe Roche
Jon Zerivitz
Russell de Ocampo
Bob Keal
Katie Rose
Steve Ziger
Brian Denny
Julia Keller
Mika Sam
David Zimmerman
Gus Diakoulas
Jen Kirby
Michelle Sann
Rebecca Diamond
Jenn Ladd
Alex Scally
Jed Dietz
Director
Eric Allen Hatch
Director of programming
Scott Braid
programming administrator
operations &
Development Manager Rahne Alexander
Angie Young
membership Manager
festival staff
pr, outreach &
tent village coordinator
box office director
Melina Giorgi
Troy Warner
Eric Voboril
volunteer coordinator transportation &
hospitality manager
Madeline Peters
Bri Merkel
technical director
assistant technical
director
filmmakers lounge
concierge
Chris Hogan-Roy
Camille Blake Fall
merchandise captain
Jennifer Burdick
festival consultant Skizz Cyzyk
assistant volunteer
coordinator
tent village &
operations assistant
venue managers
KJ Mohr
Tori McReynolds
Matt Hall
Jenne Matthews
Karol Martinez
Kali Stull
interns
Joshua Harmon
Tiffany Lee
Will Rogers
projectionists
Jeff Enssle
Katya Gorker
Justin LaLiberty
Harry Shock
Kognea Wonlin
Minlo Wonlin
Sara Meyers
Zaida Souissi
Jane Westrick
a/v technicians
Garrett Cheshire Jesse Newcomb
dolby engineer Paul Capuano
photographers
Adrian Himes
Kathy McClean
Jason Putsche
Bill Redelius
Ira Silverberg
Josh Sisk
Casie Smith
Anastasia Tantaros
graphic design &
concept
Post Typography
screening committee
committee coordinator Erin Coyle
Aurora Lagang
merchandise assistant
transportation assistant
Alison James
Shan White
main box office managers
Jennifer Eden
Philip Lentocha
Kevin Haberl
Jennifer Troy
Keely Knopp
Ken Wallace
main box office captains
Keryl Cryer
Mary Romeo
Karen Gordon
Imani Spence
Ashley Jeffreys Tarek Turkey
Peter Lomuscio Bridget Williams
Tracey Pittman
Darryl Yetman
Valerie
Knight-Young
78
Eric Allen Hatch
Rahne Alexander
Scott Braid
Dankwa Brooks
Winona Caesar
Ben Claassen III
Kevin Coelho
Eric Cotten
Skizz Cyzyk
Camille Blake Fall
Mitchell Goodrich
Amy Grace
Max Guy
Kirsten Haley
Siobhan C. Hagan
Eric Allen Hatch
Tim Kabara
Ben O'Brien
Matt Porterfield
Mika Sam
Margaret Rorison
Neil Sanzgiri
Emily Slaughter
Thomas Treasure
Joe Tropea
Angie Young
Special thanks to Eric Cotten for the hundreds
of hours of viewing and invaluable feedback he
gives the committee each year.
mdfilmfest.com
79
friends of the festival membership
Join the MFF community and help support the Maryland Film Festival’s mission to bring quality films,
filmmakers, and audiences together in an atmosphere that’s both comfortable and totally fun. Friends
of the Festival enjoy special discounts, early purchase windows, special access at our annual festival,
and dozens of FREE screening opportunities year-round! Groundbreaking films. Independent films.
Classic films. Big studio pre-release films. You’ll have opportunities to experience them all and see
something that’s truly different. Support the work of the Maryland Film Festival by joining Friends of
the Festival today! Stop by the Friends of the Festival table in the Tent Village and receive a free gift
when you sign up for a new membership during the Festival.
membership levels & benefits
($50) Presenter-Level/($25) student-level Membership Benefits:
Opportunities to see free movies year round, including award winning documentaries,
film classics, premieres, Hollywood blockbuster sneak previews, our Gunky’s
Basement repertory series and our MFF/WYPR Spotlight Series!
FREE admission to all films before 6pm on Friends of the Festival Friday, during our annual
festival
Pre-purchase Festival All-Access Pass before public at exclusive discount.
FREE admission to our Members Only Festival Preview – see a selection of trailers from the
upcoming festival, followed by a Q&A with MFF Programming staff! Exclusive for FoF!
Discount on all Film Festival merchandise
MFF e-newsletter with special invitations to exclusive Baltimore preview screenings
and all the latest industry news and updates
($125) Award-Level Membership Benefits (all of the above, plus):
-
1 FREE pass to year-round Friends of the Festival screenings including premieres, sneak
previews, award-winning documentaries, film classics and our exclusive film series.
Recognition in Festival Program Book
($250) Red Carpet-Level Membership Benefits (all of the above, plus):
-
2 FREE passes to year-round Friends of the Festival screenings including premieres, sneak
2 screening vouchers for Maryland Film Festival
Access to Filmmaker’s Lounge at Maryland Film Festival
friends of the festival
as of
4/1/2014
Premiere ($2000+)
Ellen Bernard
Tad & Martha Glenn
Perfect Brew Services
GeorgeRoche
Monica & Arnold Sagner
Mike Schecter
Andrew & Jodi Schuleman
John Waters
best supporting ($1000+)
Taylor Branch & Christy Macy
Jennifer Burdick
Suzanne Cohen
Connie Wheeler & Stephanie Czyrca
Patricia & Qayum Karzai
Amy Macht
Esther Pearlstone
Lindy Lord & Ed Peres
Lynn & Philip Rauch
Becky Swanston
Sharon & David Tufaro
White Star Sales
($500) Supporting-Level Membership Benefits (all of the above, plus):
4 FREE passes to year-round Friends of the Festival screenings including premieres, sneak
2 tickets to Opening Night Gala featuring our Shorts program followed by our famous after-party with delicious food and drinks at the MICA Brown Center
($1,000) Best Supporting-Level Membership Benefits (all of the above, plus):
-
6 FREE passes to year-round Friends of the Festival screenings including premieres, sneak previews, award-winning documentaries, film classics & our exclusive film series.
2 tickets to Closing Night Film and Party in the Tent Village
($2,000) Premiere-Level Membership Benefits (all of the above, plus):
8 FREE passes to year-round Friends of the Festival screenings including premieres,
sneak previews, award-winning documentaries, film classics & our exclusive film series.
4 tickets to Opening Night Gala featuring our Shorts program followed by our famous
after party with delicious food and drinks at the MICA Brown Center
4 tickets to Closing Night Film and Party in the Tent Village
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81
award ($125)
supporting ($500+)
Deborah Armstrong
Gregory Bergey
Cheryl Casciani
Norma & Joel Cohen
Nancy Dorman
Beth Falcone
Michelle Fleming
Jonna & Fred Lazarus
Peter Leffman
Ashton Newhall
Seska Ramberg
Patrick Rife
Paula Rome
Charles & Lucy Samorodin
Jerry Schaefer
Georgia Smith
Barry Vaughan
red carpet ($250+)
Anonymous
Joy & Rob Astle
Taunya Banks
Daisy Barquist
Mary Beckley
Emile Bendit
Brenda Bodian
Susan Bridges
Christie Coe
Ward Coe
Ed & Phyllis Cohen
Tom Crusse
Julie Cumm
Keelan Diana
Dragonfly Farms
Denise Duplichan
Suzan Garabedian
Joel Gaydos
Ron Gray
Kevin Haberl
Carole Hamlin
Janice Head
Al Honick
Stephanie Hunter
John Meyerhoff & Lenel Srochi Meyerhoff
Bob Kent
Kathy Krampien
Ron & Sally Lesser
82
Carolyn Lynch
Mary MacDonald
Mark Max
John Messmore
Ellen Meyer
Doug Miller
Kenneth Moore
Terry Morgenthaler
Mouth Party Caramels
Charles Neill
Nina Noble
Jackie Noller
Gary Pasternack
Leslie & Gary Plotnick
Hunter Purcell
John Radabaugh
Ted Ralph
John Reynolds
Tobey Roland
Nancy Rome
John & Nancy Sandbower
Brian Schmidt
Emily Sienicki
Tatiana Tenreyro
Frederick Thomas
Alix Tobey Southwick
David Warfield
Meadow Lark Washington
Maria Wawer
Alice & Gerrit Wessendorf
Lauren Williford
Anonymous
Amy Grace & Karen Blood
Michael Baker
Baltimore Montessori School
Eric Bannat
Don Bartling
Carol Beck
Rheda Becker
Jay Berg
Michelle Bond
Lee Boot
James & Francine Brady
Marc Chidester
Peter Clements
Ruth Coleman
Kelly Conway
Anita Criswell
John Cromwell
Jim Dale
Nancy Davis
Camilla Deline
Jane Detwiler
Robin Weiss & Tim Doran
Carol Eisenrauch
Richard Fairman
Lois Feinblatt
Beth Fredrick
Judy Frumkin
Aaron Fuller
Maurice & Debra Furchgott
Carol Geidt
Gian Bonetti & Margaret Henn
Diane & Steve Goldbloom
Karen Gordon
James Gossard
Michael Grabauskas
Robert Grace
Anne Haddad
Jennifer Haire
Tom Hall
Virginia Hanson
Heather Heilman
Aaron Heinsman
Gary Hersey
Barbara & Sam Himmelrich
Janet Hopkins
Ann Jacobson
David & Claudia Jaffa
Carrie Johnston
Joan Kanner
Lisa Karasek
Elsa Katana
Julia Keller
Robert Kirchenbauer
Amy Kitchens
Eric Klingman
David & Ann Koch
George & Thelma Krainak
Dan Krovich
Bonnie Kutch
Norman La Cholter
Justin Lessler
Naomi Letschin
Susan Leviton
Henry & Sarah Lord
Marion Lyttle
Jennifer McBrien
Denise McElroy
Robert Meyerhoff
Pat Moran
Jon Munn
Tanya Murray
Alyce Myatt
Paul & Lucy Naden
Harriett Nusbaum
Terrie O'Sullivan
Otterbein Cookies
Frank Pratka
Eugene Pulley
Darius Rastegar
Mike Riley
Anna Romaniuk
Judy Rosewag
Terry Rubenstein
Lynn Rubin
Dianne Schwartz
Sharon Scott
Pamela Scott
Zed Smith
Jeffrey Smith
Karen & Richard Soisson
Mark Stewart
Michael Styer
Susan Sweitzer
Iris Taylor
Carolyn & Toby Tighe
Trader Joe's
Peter Warren
Nanny & Jack Warren
Brandy Washington
Rae Whelchel
Tricia Whiteside
Phyllis Wilkins
Kevin Wolff
mdfilmfest.com
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maryland film festival - Board of directors
Gordon “Tad” Glenn, Chair
Stephanie Carter, Vice Chair
Christie C. Coe, Secretary
Andrew Schuleman, Treasurer
Jed Dietz, Director
Suzan Garabedian
Rachel Grady
Michael Mandel
Edward Peres
Jina M. Hall
J. Michael Riley
Paula Rome
Jerome D. Smalley
David Tufaro
John Waters
Jack Gerbes, Ex Officio
Debbie Donaldson Dorsey, Ex Officio
maryland film festival - film industry advisory board
Gordon Becker
Rick Hess
Mark Johnson
Barry Levinson
Dan Myrick
Edward Norton
Marc Platt
Jessica Lindsay
Paul Sulsky
Kelly Swickard
Matthew Hall
Chris Lines
Nneka Nnamdi
Jineara Hampton
Heather Locke
Marlys Norman
James Reynolds
Patrick Swickard
Nia Hampton
Margaret Locklear
Dael Norwitz
Judi Reynolds-Stokes
Jenny Tak
Jessica Handy
Kathryn Lockwood
Miceal O'Donnell
Khristina Rhead
Ted Tak
Dwight Hargrave
Gina Lofaro
Louise Ogunnaike
Paul Richardson
Joanna Taylor
Stuart Hargrave
Elizabeth Loomis
Paul Oh
Victoria Ristenbatt
Marie Teemant
Estelle Harris
Marti MacKenzie
Richard Oloizia
Roger Rosenblatt
Belie Teganda
Michele Hax
Geralyn MacVittie
Helen Orme
D. Zola Rowlette
Tatiana Tenreyro
Robert Haynes
Kali Madden
Robert Ovesen
Joan Royals
Jeremiah Thompson
Barbara Heazel
Colette Mallon
Lawrence Owens
Nick Salacki
Pete Thompson
Irene Heigh
Desiree Marcano
Julie Oxenhandler
Daniela Sambataro
Brandy Tomhave
Corey Pack
Gino San Gabriel
Lyn Townes
Stephen Packard
Connie Sanabria
Timothy Vaughan
Elizabeth Padian
JaNeene Sanders
Giulio Venezian
Damian Paige
Sandy Sause
Jill Venezian
Allison Panetta
Giselle Scherle
Emily Vitek
Cassidy Vogel
Antonia Marshall
Natasha Henderson Edward Marshall
Charlie Herrick
Mia Hill
Richard Hillis
volunteers, we thank you!
Justin Reifert
Harry Respass
Heather Heilman
Kelly G. Ripken
James G. Robinson
Tom Rothman
Eduardo Sanchez
Steve Schwartzman
Tom Sherak
Sharon Weiss
Shannon Nickey
Nadja Martens
Luis Martinez
Mila Matveeva
Susan Hillis
Suzy Mazer
Norman Parker
Nick Schiller
Chelsie Hinds
Perry McAlister
Sidney Parker
Dave Schott
Laurie Waldo
Sailor Holobaugh
Devin McBay
Kiersten Patron
Ilya Schroeder
Ruby Waldo
Andy Horbal
Denise McElroy
Marcia Pearl
Dana Seibert
Chanet Wallace
Anne Hoskins
Sarah McHugh
Marie Pessagno
Lauren Seserko
Frances Warner
Connie Hudson
Devin Mckay
Mashawna Peterson
Scott Shane
Benia Washington
Ray Iturralde
Valerie McKeiver
Pamm Peterson
Danielle Shapiro
Alia Webb
Brian Adams
Mark Benson
Vivian Chait
Maura Dwyer
Cheryl Geiser
Arinze Iwudyke
Misty Melton
Elisabeth Petras
Carolyn Shayte
Cynthia Webb
Tiffany Adams
Adam Bezold
Jason Chesnut
Felice Dyson
Chris George
Lauren Jackson
Julie Mendez
Jack Pinder
Elizabeth Sheehy
Monda Webb
Alexandra Ade
Brandon Block
Vicki Clark
Drew Edwards
Tanja George
Randi Jackson
Miguel Mendias
Laura Pogliano
Andrea Shreiner
Francie Weeks
Mahnoor Ahmed
Flo Blum
Sharlet Claros
Willarda Edwards
Shelby Geter
Takeisha Jackson
Tony Mendiola
Ellie Pollack
Kristine Sieloff
Angelique Weger
Titilaya Akanke
Michael Bollinger
Joanna Cole
Sarah Ehrman
Mark Gilbert
Robin Poponne
Christopher Sikora
Clara West
Kescia Alexander
Philip Bolton
Kimberly Coleman
Adeena Ellison
Lee Gilman
Jack Powell
Akeem Silva
Harrison West
Andrew Alleman
David Bonnett
Nia Coleman
Jessica Eroglu
Wesley Godbout
Nicole Powell
Samantha Silver
Aurelia Whelchel
Daniel Allman
Brittany Boyd
Joshua Conner
Sidiki Fadika
Michael Golob
Ryan Powell
Ira Silverberg
Dave Wilhoit
Stephen Ames
Katie Brennan
Erin Coyle
Kamau Fahie
Lynda Gomeringer
John Price
Emily Silverman
Megan Wilkins
Darrell Anderson
Ashley Brinegar
Gena Craemer
Tom Faison
Andrew Gorzsas
Diane Miller
Daria Pugh
Angela Singleton
Archie Williams
Natalie Arteen
Katherine Brois
Tawana Crawford
Ann Feild
Jonas Gottlieb
Abbe Karp
Douglas Miller
Kayla Pumphrey
Angelo Skarlatos
Skye Williams
Raymond Astor
Lauriel Brooks
Kevin Crawley
Sarah Ficenec
Joan Grabowski
Dawn Kelley
Hannah Miller
Thelma Purdie
Elizabeth Skates
Genevieve Wilson
Tristan Baboolal
David Brown
Susan Crowley
Cheryl Fields
Jessica Graham
Caitlin Kelly
Shelly Mintz
Trenita Purdie
Krystala Skordalos
Minlo Wonlin
Jihwan Baek
Terrell Brown
Keryl Cryer
Emily Finch
Megan Gratz
Allison Killon
Samantha Mitchell
Ani Queen
Chanel Smith
Michelle Wood
Kara Barbes
Tiffani Brown
Georgette Csobaji
Monique Fisher
Diane Gray
Makea King
Cindy Mobley
Alison Quinn
Cheyenne Smith
Kylene Woods
Stephen Bartosz
Elizabeth Bruen
Lisa Daigle
Erin Fitzpatrick
Crystal Green
Safina Kleinman
Isabella Montoya
Amanda Quinn
Clifford Smith
Reginald Wright
Ayana Bass
Michael Burgess
Alison Daniels
Philneda Foster
Frank Green
Katie Kopajtic
Jean Moore
Marguerite Quinn
Ellen Smith
Nicole Yeftich
Lorrie Batton
Richard Bussey
Matthew Datcher
Sheila Frank
Mira Green
Debra Korb
Maria Moore
Kathleen Ramirez
Linda Smith
Darryl Yetman
Julien Bavoil
Christine Buttorff
Jermaine Davis
Alvin Friendlich
Ronnie Green
Joseph Kortash
Becca Morrin
Emily Baxter
Klara Cachau-Hansgardh
Stacey Dennis
Louise Friendlich
Hannah Greenberg
Daniel Kruk
Brittany Morton
Sarah Ramirez Cross Pamela Smith
Valerie Smith
Christina Ramsey
Gabrielle Becker
Winona Caesar
Allen Derriso
Corey Frier
Nancy Greenberg
Lareina La Flair
Tiffany Morton
Jeremy Randall
Andrew Sobel
Bob Zdenek
Jasmine Bell
Pat Callahan
Stephanie Dinkelaker
Samantha Frost
Greg Greene
Nanci Rankin
Susan Soohoo
Christopher Zdenek
Amy Belton
Rejjia Camphor
Alex Dishal
Judy Frumkin
Patricia Greenwell
Brad Ranno
Janina Soriano
Dan Zinkevich
Alison Benowitz
Annie Caporellie
Nyasha Dixon
Tamara Gabai
Clarissa Gregory
Chris Leicht
Tucker Neill
Dan Rappazzo
Imani Spence
Amber Benson
Susan Carey
Mary Do
Krista Gallegos
Erica Gresham
Sara Leitzel
Bowtie Bob Nelson
Sarah Rauscher
Palmer Sperau
Jessica Benson
Mitch Case
Carolyn Donohue
Zachary Garmoe
Ruth Grossinger
Andrea Leiva
Tri Ngo
Kenya Ray
Cara Steiner
Bridget Cavaiola
Monique Dove
Sheila Gaskins
Ashley Hackel
Heidi Leneau
Penny Nichols
Marie Razulis
Alicia Stewart
Philip Chait
Shon Downing
Agnes Gaweda
Siobhan Hagan
Yiting Lim
Carole Nicholson
Bry Reed
Brian Suhr
84
Rachel James
McMahon Jean
Denise Johnson
Micheal Johnson
Jana Jones
Patrick Kammar
Tye Lane
AB Leasure
Veronica Menefee
Pat Meyer
Michael Miles
Russ Milheim
Bonnie Miller
Jeremy Myers
Michelle Nasab
Max Young
Michael Young
mdfilmfest.com
85
index of short films (feature films appear alphabetically)
80 To 90 Ft......................................65
I Was A Teenage Girl...............................5
Afronauts.........................................76
I Will Paint Your Spirit..........................63
Aftermath ........................................76
Jonathan’s Chest.....................................76
Alfred Jarry And ‘Pataphysics.....56
La Hija (The Daughter)..........................74
Alligator, The..................................56
Lambing Season......................................74
Baby Mary........................................67
Lord I: The Records Keeper.................57
Beasts In The Real World.............72
Master Muscles.......................................62
Best Sound.......................................72
Master's Voice, The (Caveirão)............56
Be With Me (The Notebook).......63
More Than Two Hours.......................5, 74
Big Girl.............................................67
Move Mountain.......................................57
Bingo Night.....................................65
Nailed It...................................................63
Box Room........................................72
Novice Clairalient, The.........................59
Bravest, The Boldest, The.............4
Orphan And The Polar Bear, The.......57
Buffalo Juggalos............................62
Peepers.....................................................69
C#ckfight.........................................72
Perfidia (Gloom)......................................75
Caveirão (The Master’s Voice)....56
Person To Person....................................64
Chapel Perilous...............................73
Pineal Warriors........................................73
Chaperone, The..............................65
Possum......................................................77
Chocolate Heart.............................69
Pull/Drift..................................................60
Cinema Time Capsule...................65
Rat Pack Rat............................................70
Cruising Electric (1980)................69
Real Ethereal..........................................60
Daughter, The (La Hija).................74
Shawnsey’s Revenge..............................70
David Hockney In The Now.........66
Silly Bastard Next To The Bed............66
Dead Rats Of Baltimore................59
Skunk........................................................68
Devil (Teufel)...................................75
Straight Down Low.................................77
Eager.................................................59
Super Sleuths..........................................64
Easy.....................................................4
Symphony No. 42...................................57
Former Things.................................62
Teufel (Devil)...........................................75
Fruit...................................................67
That B.E.A.T. ..........................................66
Funnel..............................................69
Through The Hawthorn........................60
Gary Has An Aids Scare...............62
Tongue Silent Like Your Words, A......61
Gloom (Perfidia)..............................75
Unicorn Blood.........................................58
Greggs, The......................................73
Verbatim.....................................................5
High Five, The................................20
Ving Rhames............................................70
Home Near Water...........................59
Waiting For Berta....................................71
Housekeeping.................................68
Wawd Ahp................................................73
I Love You So Much.......................56
What Kind Of Man................................66
Immaculate Reception, The.........63
Whiffed Out.............................................71
86
XXX.............................................................61
Yearbook..................................................58
festival program credits
editor
Eric Allen Hatch
Post Typography
Program Design
layout
Scott Braid
laurels designed by
Megan Downey
special thanks
Scott Opirhory
content providers
Rahne Alexander
J. Scott Braid
Dankwa Brooks
Jed Dietz
Mitchell Goodrich
Eric Allen Hatch
Emily Slaughter
Joe Tropea
Angie Young
mdfilmfest.com
87
Festival venues
film festival tent village & box office 131 W. North Ave.
In the lot between MICA Lazarus Studio Center and Joe Squared
Tickets for all venues will
be available from the film
festival box office in the Tent
Village. Tickets for individual
screenings can also be
purchased at each venue.
mica lazarus studio center 131 W. North Ave.
Next to the Tent Village: venue is on the ground floor. (Seats 135)
Windup space 12 W. North Ave.
At the NW corner of Charles St. & North Ave. (Seats 100)
UB langsdale auditorium 101 W. Oliver St.
At the corner of Maryland Ave. & Oliver St. (Seats 400)
In addition to the Festival
Shuttle, several MTA bus
routes and the free Charm
City Circulator run between
Penn Station and downtown
Baltimore via Charles Street
and Saint Paul Street. Light
Rail service within walking
distance to all venues.
See mta.maryland.gov for full
schedules and routes.
ub BUSINESS center 11 W. Mt. Royal Ave.
At the SW corner of Mt. Royal & N. Charles St. (Seats 160)
mica brown center — falvey hall 1301 W. Mt. Royal Ave.
Our largest venue; location of Opening/Closing night (Seats 540)
mica gateway—bbox theater 1601 W. Mt. Royal Ave.
At the SE corner of North Ave. & Mt. Royal Ave. (Seats 220)
the walters art museum 600 N. Charles St.
Enter on Centre Street; theater on ground level. (Seats 420)
For general information please call 410-752-8083
or visit mdfilmfest.com
Festival shuttles depart approx. every 10 minutes from starred locations on map-->
approximate venue walking times
Tent
Village /
MICA Studio
Center
Times in
minutes
Tent Village
/ Studio
center
88
Windup
Space
UB
Langsdale
Auditorium
UB
BUSINESS
Center
MICA
Brown
Center
MICA
Gateway
3
8
10
7
10
9
12
10
12
2
5
9
7
11
Windup
Space
3
Langsdale
Auditorium
8
9
BUSINESS
Center
10
12
2
MICA Brown
Center
7
10
5
7
MICA
Gateway
10
12
9
11
4
4
ll walking times are estimated based on the most direct routes. Add several minutes to your walking time
A
when using Charles Street or other wheelchair accessible routes.

The photo you`re looking at is Baltimore`s Parkway Theatre, opened

Transcription

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